Roy Senior Barraclough (12 July 1935 – 1 June 2017) was an English comic actor. He was best known for his role as Alec Gilroy, the devious, mournful landlord of the Rovers Return in the long-running British TV soap Coronation Street, and for the double-act Cissie and Ada with comedian Les Dawson.
Career Roy Barraclough began his career as a draughtsman, taking time off to work as an entertainer in a holiday camp on the Isle of Wight. Combining his day job with local amateur theatre for several years, he was eventually offered a full-time acting contract by repertory theatre producer Nita Valerie with her company in Huddersfield. Barraclough regularly appeared on stage and at times played piano in the pit, including for comedienne Hylda Baker.
Barraclough later joined the repertory company at Stoke (appearing alongside Ben Kingsley) and then Oldham in 1966, appearing alongside Barbara Knox and Anne Kirkbride, who later both became colleagues on Coronation Street. Whilst at Oldham he made his first TV appearances for Granada Television, including Coronation Street in 1964.
In 1969, he was cast as Harry Everitt in Yorkshire Television's first soap opera Castle Haven with Kathy Staff as his on-screen wife. Although the soap only lasted a year, Barraclough became a regular guest actor on Yorkshire TV shows.
Throughout the 1970s, he formed a partnership with comedian Les Dawson. They played two gossipy old ladies '...of a certain age...': Dawson playing Ada Shufflebotham, and Barraclough playing Cissie Braithwaite, the more 'refined' of the two. Barraclough also had a significant role playing Mr. Cobbledick in the children's TV show Pardon My Genie. He also made guest appearances in the sitcoms The Lovers, Rising Damp and George and Mildred.
Barraclough made occasional appearances in Coronation Street in 1972 and 1975, playing the sleazy Alec Gilroy, theatrical agent to night club singer Rita Littlewood. He returned permanently in 1986 and a marriage to Bet Lynch was included in his character's narrative. After several departures and comebacks, Barraclough finally left Coronation Street for good at the end of 1998.
In 1986 he guest starred as 'Hickory Dickory-Dock' the town crier, in the second series of children's TV show T-Bag (T-Bag Strikes Again).
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1987 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
In 1994, Barraclough appeared in the sitcom, Mother's Ruin, in which he played a bachelor dominated by his belligerent mother (Dora Bryan). He made a guest appearance in Last of the Summer Wine (2005), playing opposite both Bryan and his friend Kathy Staff, and appeared in a variety of TV shows including Casualty (1999), Peak Practice (1994 and 2001) and Funland (2005). Later the same year, he appeared in Heartbeat as Ellis.
In 2009, he played the vicar in the BBC drama All the Small Things and from 2012 to 2013 he played Maurice in Last Tango in Halifax. In 2016, he played Mr Grainger in a one-off revival episode of Are You Being Served?.Are You Being Served Cast at Radio Times Retrieved 29 August 2016
On stage, Barraclough appeared in musicals (The Boy Friend and Gypsy), straight drama (Death of a Salesman) and Christmas shows and pantomimes. He created the role of Santa in the lavish stage musical Santa Claus, which he reprised for several Christmases.
In the 2006 New Year Honours, Barraclough was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to drama and to charity in the region of North West England.
Personal life Barraclough was homosexual, and was in a long-term relationship with Mark Llewellin.
Death Barraclough died aged 81, at the Willow Wood Hospice in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, on 1 June 2017, following a short illness.
Selected Filmography YearTitleRole Notes1965It's Dark OutsideBarmanEpisode: "Specimens Walk on Their Hind Legs Too"1967City '68Estate AgentEpisode: "The Waiting Game"1968GazettePhotographerEpisode: "It's All Happening"Tom Grattan's WarCoastguardEpisode: "The Wreckers"1969Castle HavenHarry Everitt107 episodes1970Nearest and DearestVicar Episode: "An Open-and-Shut Case"The LoversWaiterEpisode: "A Pipe and a Moustache"Queenie's CastleHerbert CooneyEpisode: "Just Good Friends"Z-CarsGeorge ToddEpisode: "It Could Happen to a Nicer Girl: Part 1"1971HadleighSchoonerEpisode: "Breakdown"Never Mind the Quality, Feel the WidthBarmanEpisode: "There's No Smoke, Without Fire"Play for TodayClaudEpisode: "The Piano"1972Man at the TopReporterEpisode: "The Foreman's Job at Last"Public EyeM.C.Episode: "Horse and Carriage"The Last of the BasketsThe Rev. Henry SmockEpisode: "Its a Living"1972 - 1973Pardon My GenieMr. Cobbledick26 episodes1972 - 1976Sez LesVarious9 episodes1972 - 1975, 1986 - 1998Coronation StreetAlec Gilroy850 episodes1973Billy LiarBernard DobsonEpisode: "Billy and the Monster"1975Dawson's WeeklyRoy5 episodes1976The Slipper and the RoseTailorFilm1977George and MildredHenryEpisode: "No Business Like Snow Business"The XYY ManCharlieEpisode: "The Missing Civil Servant"1978Rising DampBarmanEpisode: "Pink Carnations"1979 - 1980The Dawson WatchCissie19 episodes1980Spooner's PatchLandlordEpisode: "Spooner's Box"1981 - 1987The Les Dawson ShowVarious20 episodes1982The BounderAssistantEpisode: "Suspicion"1984BergeracHodgeEpisode: "The Company You Keep"Foxy LadyMan from Chappels Music PublishersEpisode #2.21986Car TroubleMan with DogFilmLost Empires Albert Brentwood2 episodesThe Return of the AntelopeProfessorEpisode: "The Lost Park"T-Bag Strikes AgainHickery2 episodes1994CadfaelWalter AurifaberEpisode: "The Sanctuary Sparrow"Mother's RuinLeslie Flintcroft6 episodesPeak PracticeJoe WilsonEpisode: "Power Games"Woof!The Great DementoEpisode: "The Great Demento and Rex"1999Bostock's CupArthur SwarbrickTV movieCasualtyArthur LyleEpisode: "Face Value"Dr Willoughby The FunnelEpisode: "Awards"2000The Mrs Bradley MysteriesDr. SimmsEpisode: "Death at the Opera"2001BarbaraVernonEpisode: "Mate"Peak PracticeMayor Joss BrownEpisode: "Private Eyes, Public Eye"2004A Thing Called LoveHarold Waterman6 episodesRevolverVarious5 episodesThe Basil Brush ShowKindly ManEpisode: "It's a Wonderful Brush"2005FunlandOnan Van Kneck10 episodesHeartbeatEllisEpisode: "Off the Rails"Holby CityLeslie SharpeEpisode: "The Honeymoon is Over"Last of the Summer WineCrowcroftEpisode: "Has Anyone Seen a Peruvian Wart?"2008Doctors Stan JamesonEpisode: "Cat Fight"2009All the Small ThingsRev. Barticle5 episodes2012 - 2013Last Tango in HalifaxMaurice4 episodes2013A Ghost Story for ChristmasHodgsonEpisode: "The Tractate Middoth"2015PompidouAlbertEpisode: "Hunger"2016Are You Being Served?Mr. GraingerTV movie
References
External links Roy Barraclough at the British Film Institute
Corrie.net Profile Biography on the Coronation Street Blog