Tony Warren: William Roache and Michelle Keegan lead tributes to Coronation Street creator
Soap stars have paid tribute to Tony Warren, MBE, who has died, aged79.
The legendary writer, famed for creating Coronation Street, was surrounded by friends when he died on Tuesday.
William Roache - who plays the soap's longest running character, Ken Barlow - described Warren as the "father of Coronation Street" as he lead the tributes.
In a statement he said: "When I first met Tony I couldn't quite believe he'd created and written Coronation Street because he was no more than a young boy. It was his boyish energy even recently when I saw him again that I'll remember. I loved Tony's energy.
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"He was the father of Coronation Street and he gave us all so much. He will be so desperately missed because of who he was and what he did. We owe him so much."
Current stars Anthony Cotton and Samia Ghadie also paid tribute as well as Michelle Keegan and EastEnders star Adam Woodyatt and Jessie Wallace.
Helen Worth, who plays Gail Platt deemed him a "genius" saying: "Tony was a genius of our time, the dearest funniest and most inspirational man of his generation.
"He brought real life into our homes for us all to relate to and enjoy. He will of course live on forever through Coronation Street."
Warren, whose real name was Anthony McVay Simpson, came up with Coronation Street, which was originally titled Florizel Street, in his 20s.
The first episode aired on December 9, 1960.
He was made an MBE in 1994 for his services to television drama and received several accolades for his work including the Special Achievement Award in Soap at the British Soap Awards 2000, the National Television landmark award in 2005 and was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the Royal Television Society awards.
