Ken Barlow: A fascinating prism?

Many people have long thought the character of Ken Barlow as boring. Joe Moran of the Guardian doesn't think so. In this piece, he talks about how Ken is reflective of his generation. He was a student, wanting more than his working class roots.Yet those roots kept him on the ground instead of achieving and lofty upperclass (or at least upper middle class) life. He still believes in the rights of the everyday person. He sticks with the intellectual snobbery and doesn't buy into the upwardly mobile trend for voracious consumerism. But because Ken never did get all that far from his roots, the public has seen him as dull, boring, and even cowardly when he just can't bring himself to follow his dreams.

By the way, Monday is the official day when William Roache becomes the record-holding actor playing a single role for the longest period of time though he was given the award last month. Coronation Street is also the longest running soap currently on television now that the American soap, As The World Turns finished it's 54 year run in September.