Roy Barraclough, MBE (12 July 1935 – 1 June 2017) was an English comic actor who portrayed Alec Gilroy in 1972, 1975 and on a regualr basis from 1986 to 1992 then 1995 to 1998. Prior to playing Alec, Roy played four minor roles.
Biography[]
Career[]
Prior to his appearance as Alec, he portrayed several different characters.
- Tour Guide in June 1965.
- Electric guitar Salesman in July 1967.
- Window cleaner I-spy Dwyer in June 1968
- Restaurant diner Harry in June 1970
He appeared in the show for a guest stint as Alec in 1972, before reprising the role for more episodes in 1975. But
Roy as a Tour Guide in 1965. His first pre Alec Gilroy role in Corrie.
due to his comic career outside of the show, the producers were unable to keep him on for the time being. Eleven-years later, he was finally persuaded to return full time in 1986. He was close to quitting the show in 1988, and his exit storyline was being planned, but Roy had a sudden change of heart and stayed on. In 1990, he said he planned to carry on playing Alec for the foreseeable. He finally left in 1992, six-years following his full-time return.
He returned as Alec briefly in 1995, the same year that Julie Goodyear would depart her role as Alec's wife Bet Lynch. He returned that same year for the feature length special Coronation Street - The Feature Length Special. The following year, he returned once again as a regular cast member. 2 years later, in September 1998, he announced his resignation from the show, and soon after he departed the show once again, this time for good.
Roy's character Alec's final exit scenes aired at Christmas 1998 where he left to run a wine bar in Brighton with his granddaughter Vicky.
After his final exit from Coronation Street[]
Roy appeared in an episode of Casualty in 1999 as Arthur Lyle. He then had many more TV roles such as Heartbeat and Last Tango In Halifax.
In 2014, Roy understandably expressed his disapproval of the direction the show had gone in since he left 16 years earlier. He said that all soaps seem to copy one another now, if one soap has a rape story, another soap has to have one to compete. This referred to the Coronation Street, EastEnders and Emmerdale ongoing battle where the 3 main soaps try and outdo one another in the TV ratings. If there is a baby swap in EE, Corrie has to have one for example. Roy did praise other modern TV shows such as Last Tango In Halifax, which he appeared in.
Roy passed away on the 1 June 2017, aged 81.