Corrie's Ken in Piers shocker

Actor reveals sordid details during interview...

12:21 16 March 2012

Coronation Street veteran Bill Roache has told Piers Morgan that heÂ’s slept with 1000 women.

The actor opened up about his love life, as well as rumours of a fling with former co-star Pat Phoenix.

The long-serving soap star, who plays Ken Barlow on the ITV1 soap, discussed the rumours during an episode of Morgan's Life Stories.

Speaking of his night with Phoenix, who played battleaxe Elsie Tanner, Roache said:

"It was just a one-off. It was just something that happened one night when we were together. We weren't right for each other.

"She invited me round to her flat and we had a few drinks, then one thing led to another. At that time, she had a reputation and I had a reputation, and she felt we should meet, as it were. It just happened."

The aged actor also claimed that he was given the nickname 'C**k Roache' because of his uncontrollable sex drive and revealed that he cheated on his former wife, Anna Cropper.

He initially said that he had slept with "more than 100" women, but when pressed by Morgan whether the number was closer to 1,000, he replied:

"Well, I'm not denying it."

Roache also discussed the fallout from his infidelity and breakdown of his marriage to Cropper in 1974 with the former newspaper boss, saying:

"There were plenty of girls around. I shouldn't have done it. I didn't have any control over my own sex drive. I didn't have the strength to control it.

"It depressed me. I'm so sorry for the things that I did. The hurt was the children. I'll always regret that. Every morning I woke up regretting and hurting."