Corrie legend's son involved in real-life controversial group after ITV soap fame

Coronation Street’s Bill Roache’s eldest son surprised fans when he announced his unusual career change when he swapped life on screen for life as a spiritualist healer

His most well-known role is that of the dependable regular on the adored soap opera Coronation Street.

It’s also safe to say that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because Linus and James Roache, William Roache’s two sons, quickly followed in father footsteps and entered the acting profession. Linus, his oldest son, had the good fortune to collaborate with his father on the renowned cobbles multiple times.

In 1975, he made his acting debut as Peter Barlow, the son of Ken, the character his father played. The fourth actor to perform the part was the soap opera star, Chris Gascoyne most recently.

Though he played a different function when he returned to Weatherfield in 2010, Linus remained a member of the Barlow family. He portrayed Lawrence Cunningham, Ken’s long-lost son, this time. James Cunningham, Bill’s youngest son, was also present on TV with him.

So it’s fair to say his eldest son surprised everyone when he stepped away from showbizness to follow a new passion in a complete career U-turn. The actor – who has starred in films such as The Wings Of The Dove and Batman Begins – moved to New York to help run a worldwide sect called EnlightenNext.

He said at the time: “I realised working as an actor alone wouldn’t make me happy. I needed to explore my spiritual side in more depth.”

The growing company was founded by none other than American guru Andrew Cohen back in 1988, who calls himself a spiritual teacher and cultural visionary. Since then, the spiritual network now claims to have thousands of disciples in 20 countries across the globe.

Roache, who met Cohen in 1994, has been climbing the organisation’s ranks ever since. In 2012, the star was appointed to managing director of the New York offices while his wife Rosalind organises the CEO’s PR.

Speaking about his enlightenment, the star previously said: “I’ve looked at it solidly for three years and I don’t find anything weird about it. There’s a lot of meditation and question and answer dialogue and investigation with other people from all over the world.

“To sit and think about these things and just put acting and schmoozing away for a while is really good. This modern-day philosopher has managed to frame a spiritual path that fully meets the time in which we live.

“It’s the marriage of traditional enlightenment from the East with the Western scientific understanding of cosmic evolution and it shows a deeper meaning and purpose for the 21st century.”

More than a decade later, the star appears to hold the same opinion. The website claims it is a “global non-profit organisation dedicated to catalysing evolution in consciousness and culture.”

However, Cohen is something of a controversial figure in the spiritual community. His mother Luna Tarlo wrote the book Mother of God in which she accused her son of being a manipulative spiritual teacher and said he turned into an “unrecognisable tyrant”. The pair have since reconciled.

But this wouldn’t be considered unusual in the Roache household. Linus grew up watching his father and mother – the late actress Anna Cropper – exploring the world of spirituality. The pair even briefly embraced druidism and celebrated the summer solstice at Stonehenge.

He confessed: “Dad has always been a great influence on me. He has always stood up for spirit, staying true to his beliefs and I like to do the same with regard to my own beliefs, regardless of potential criticism or mockery.”

Speaking about his childhood, he added: “My parents were receptive to the emerging wave of spirituality in the Sixties and the way they embraced it opened me up to new dimensions. Mum read tarot cards and she and dad became druids for a while.

“I went to a couple of the ceremonies as a kid but wasn’t particularly into the ritual side of things. But I admire anybody who is seeking to find some real answers.”