Veteran British soap star, William Roache, has defended fellow cast member Michael Le Vell, who has been charged with 19 sexual offences against a child.

William Roache, who's played Ken Barlow for 53 years on Coronation Street, the world's longest running soap, said everyone's innocent until proven guilty.

"If someone has done something wrong, that will go to, the law will take its course but even so, whatever, whether they are proven guilty or not, we should not be judgemental about anybody, ever. We shouldn't go around condemning, unforgiving. We should always be totally forgiving about everything," he said.

Forty-eight-year-old Le Vell, who plays Kevin Webster the mechanic in Coronation Street and whose real name is Michael Turner, denies the charges.

He's due back in court in Manchester later this week, local media said.