Bill Roache has recalled his final conversation with friend and Coronation Street co-star Anne Kirkbride before she died.
The actress, who played Deirdre Barlow in the hugely popular UK soap, passed away last year at the age 60 after a battle with cancer. Roache was Deirdre's former on-screen husband Ken Barlow.
"I talked to Annie, I held her hand and said goodbye," he told The Mirror. "She looked really peaceful and really, really beautiful.
"I said, 'Goodbye Annie, you know you're going to a beautiful place'. I said, 'Go on, you'll be in a lovely place now, everything will be much happier, lots and lots of love'.
Roache added that when he visited Kirkbride before she died, she wasn't conscious when he spoke to her.
"There was a little movement in Annie's hand, she was unconscious but whether she took things in on a different level, I don't know. I would have been mortified if I'd missed her."
The Coronation Street veteran added: "You can grieve that you're missing them but not for them. I know Annie's in a very lovely place, enjoying herself.
"I remember her as a happy, lovely and outgoing person and I only think of those memories."
