Coronation Street actor Roy Barraclough has died aged 81 following a short illness.

The actor had roles in Holmfirth TV sitcom Last of the Summer Wine and Last Tango in Halifax, but was most well known for playing Rovers Return barman Alec Gilroy in the soap.

Roy started his career as a comedian and pianist before joining the Huddersfield Repertory Company – a theatre company.

He later went on to make an appearance as a character named Crowcroft alongside Compo and the cast and played Maurice in several episodes of Last Tango in Halifax which was written by Huddersfield screenwriter Sally Wainwright.

Former Coronation Street actress Julie Goodyear led tributes to her former co-star from the soap.

She said: “We kept in close touch and spoke to each other at least two or three times every week.

“I will treasure all the happy times we had working and laughing together. We were just like a married couple – crazy, I know, but true.”

The actor made a number of brief appearances in Coronation Street throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, before becoming a regular face on the cobbles from 1986 until 1992 and returning again in 1996 for two years.