You Can Now Buy Virtual Hugs From Coronation Street Star William Roche

You can now buy a 'virtual hug' from Coronation Street actor William Roache, who stars in the long-running soap as Ken Barlow.

Roache, who has been playing Corrie's Barlow since the show began in 1960, has joined the hordes of celebrities dishing out personalised video messages, having sighed up to a company called Celeb VM to reach out to his fans.

A post on the company's Facebook page announced Roache had joined the site, saying: "We are really excited that William Roache from #CoronationStreet is now recording personal video messages for fans! Book yours now and get a virtual hug from WIlliam at https://celebvm.com/williamroache."

An accompanying video featured Roache himself, who spoke to the camera from a sunny garden.

He said with a smile: "People often come up to me and say, 'Oh hello, would you give a good word to my girlfriend?' or 'Wish my mother a happy birthday!' and you know something? I'll always do it because I find it wonderful to be part of making somebody's day.

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"Now, if you want to do that - send a message to anybody about anything at all or about nothing at all if you want - say what you want me to say and then I'll add some of my words to it and hopefully we'll make somebody's day.

"Let's do it!"

A 'customized, personalized and unique' video message from Roache will set you back £35 ($45), with the website saying clips are usually recorded within 4-7 days and completed within 1-2 weeks.

"Great way for fans and celebrities to connect in a unique and fun way," the website says.

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"Great as gifts for birthdays, Christmas, weddings, personal connections and much more.

"You can watch, download, share, and keep your video forever."

It added: "Enter detail such as interests, hobbies, hometown, birthday, age etc, so that William Roache can make the video as interesting and personalised as possible."

You can even send off a picture of yourself or a loved one so Roache can see who the message is for while he's recording the bespoke message, and can cancel your request for an automatic refund at anytime - for example, if you do not get it in time for a birthday.

If you're in need of a virtual hug from William Roache, check out his listing on Celeb VM here.

Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, Coronation Street, UK Entertainment

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman