Roy Senior Barraclough (12 July 1935 – 1 June 2017) was an English
comic
a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...
actor
An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...
. He was best known for his role as Alec Gilroy, the devious, mournful landlord of the Rovers Return in the long-running
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
soap
Soap is a salt (chemistry), salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually u ...
''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
Roy Barraclough began his career as a draughtsman, taking time off to work as an entertainer in a holiday camp on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
. Combining his day job with local amateur theatre for several years, he was eventually offered a full-time acting contract by repertory theatre producer Nita Valerie with her company in
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
. Barraclough regularly appeared on stage and at times played piano in the pit, including for comedienne Hylda Baker.
Barraclough later joined the repertory company at Stoke (appearing alongside
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Ben Kingsley, various accolades throughout Ben Kingsley on screen and stage, his career spanning fi ...
) and then
Oldham
Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
in 1966, appearing alongside Barbara Knox and Anne Kirkbride, who later both became colleagues on ''Coronation Street''. Whilst at Oldham he made his first TV appearances for Granada Television, including ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
'' in 1964.
In 1969, he was cast as Harry Everitt in
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
's first soap opera '' Castle Haven'' with Kathy Staff as his on-screen wife. Although the soap only lasted a year, Barraclough became a regular guest actor on Yorkshire TV shows.
Throughout the 1970s, he formed a partnership with
comedian
A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
Les Dawson. They played two gossipy old ladies '...of a certain age...': Dawson playing Ada Shufflebotham, and Barraclough playing Cissie Braithwaite, the more 'refined' of the two. Barraclough also had a significant role playing Mr. Cobbledick in the children's TV show Pardon My Genie. He also made guest appearances in the sitcoms '' The Lovers'', '' Rising Damp'' and '' George and Mildred''.
Barraclough made occasional appearances in ''Coronation Street'' in 1972 and 1975, playing the sleazy Alec Gilroy, theatrical agent to night club singer Rita Littlewood. He returned permanently in 1986 and a marriage to Bet Lynch was included in his character's narrative. After several departures and comebacks, Barraclough finally left ''Coronation Street'' for good at the end of 1998.
In 1986 he guest starred as 'Hickory Dickory-Dock' the town crier, in the second series of children's TV show T-Bag (T-Bag Strikes Again).
He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1987 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
Barraclough was later to appear in a sitcom, ''Mother's Ruin'' (1994), in which he played a bachelor dominated by his belligerent mother (
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was an English actress of stage, film and television. He made a guest appearance in ''
Last of the Summer Wine
''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first seri ...
'' (2005), playing opposite both Bryan and his friend Kathy Staff, and appeared in a variety of TV shows including '' Casualty'' (1999), '' Peak Practice'' (1994 and 2001) and '' Funland'' (2005). In 2005 he appeared in '' Heartbeat'' series.
In 2009, he played the vicar in the BBC drama '' All the Small Things'' and from 2012 to 2013 he played Maurice in '' Last Tango in Halifax''. In 2016, he played Mr Grainger in a one-off revival episode of ''
Are You Being Served?
''Are You Being Served?'' is a British television sitcom that was broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was created and written by David Croft (TV producer), David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd. Croft also served as executive producer and television directo ...
Gypsy
{{Infobox ethnic group
, group = Romani people
, image =
, image_caption =
, flag = Roma flag.svg
, flag_caption = Romani flag created in 1933 and accepted at the 1971 World Romani Congress
, po ...
''), straight drama (''
Death of a Salesman
''Death of a Salesman'' is a 1949 stage play written by the American playwright Arthur Miller. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. It is a two-act tragedy set in late 1940s Brooklyn told through a ...
'') and Christmas shows and pantomimes. He created the role of Santa in the lavish stage musical ''Santa Claus'', which he reprised for several Christmases.
In the 2006 New Year Honours, Barraclough was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to drama and to charity in the region of
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...
.
Personal life
Barraclough was gay, and was in a long-term relationship with Mark Llewellin.
Death
Barraclough died aged 81, at the Willow Wood Hospice in
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...
, Greater Manchester, on 1 June 2017, following a short illness.
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...