There are times, when he’s sharing a stage with the likes of Hilda Ogden and Bet Lynch, that Roy Barraclough blinks back a tear or two.

Roy spent more than a quarter of a century in Coronation Street, mainly playing Rovers Return landlord Alec Gilroy, and now he’s returned to the famous cobbles.

The Preston-born actor is the Narrator in Corrie!, a stage show which crams 50 years of Coronation Street into a two-hour performance.

Written by Coronation Street scriptwriter Jonathan Harvey, the show, which arrives in Bradford next week, is a funny, affectionate tribute to Britain’s longest-running soap.

Some of its biggest storylines history have been condensed into bite-size scenes and a cast of six play more than 55 characters, including Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Raquel Wolstenhulme and Steve and Becky McDonald.

“It’s great fun,” says Roy. “I was asked to be in it when it opened in Salford, but I must admit, I thought ‘this could be awful’. Then I went to see it and realised they’d got it just right, and I thought, ‘darn it, I wish I’d said yes’. When I was asked to join the tour I was thrilled.

“I’m more or less retired now, but this is my 50th year in the business, and with this show celebrating Coronation Street’s 50th anniversary, it felt right to do it.”

Chatting to Roy, 76, is like catching up with an old friend. Polite and softly-spoken, he’s one of our treasured old-school entertainers. He says retreading the cobbles has evoked memories. “We have a fabulous cast –they capture the essence of each character beautifully,” says Roy.

“I get really drawn into scenes. I’ll be standing there thinking, ‘Gosh, she looks just like Annie Walker or Hilda’. That’s been quite moving for me. Sometimes those scenes bring a lump to my throat.

“The show blends comedy with poignancy, which is, of course, a great strength of Coronation Street itself.” As the Narrator, Alec links scenes together and guides the audience through the action. “The set is wonderful, with a street and viaduct backdrop and the Rovers and corner shop, but I’m up and down a staircase like nobody’s business – at 76! I love it, though.

“It’s a great tribute to Coronation Street and it strikes the right balance between humour and respect. There are plenty of whoops of delight from the audience, and you see people saying things like, ‘ooh, remember her’.

“There are characters older viewers remember, and some younger ones.”

The show includes such gems as the Ken, Deirdre and Mike Baldwin love triangle and villainous Alan Bradley’s sticky end under a Blackpool tram. “That gets one of the biggest laughs,” says Roy.

“The Tony Gordon factory fire is performed as a ballet and the tram crash is done as a silent movie. Alec appears briefly, much to my mock indignation!”

Roy won awards for playing shifty Alec Gilroy, who first turned up as a chain-smoking theatre agent working with nightclub singer Rita Littlewood and went on to marry Bet Lynch. Together they ran the Rovers and were one of the Street’s memorable double acts. “We were in the show when it was at its height, and the accent was on comedy,” says Roy.

“I first joined in 1964 and before Alec I played several roles, including the window cleaner who sold his round to Stan Ogden.”

Roy left the Street in 1988, partly due to the workload. “One of the reasons I left was because they went from three episodes to four,” he says. “Now it’s five, I don’t know how they do it. At least we had some rehearsal time – now they just go into it, sometimes working on ten episodes at once, stretching over several weeks.” After school, Roy trained as a draughtsman, but, having caught the showbiz bug during theatre trips as a child, he started entertaining holidaymakers on the Isle of Wight.

He cut his acting teeth in rep and went on to appear in hundreds of radio plays, stage productions and TV shows including Rising Damp, Bergerac and Last Of The Summer Wine. He’s a legendary pantomime dame, and in recent years has starred in a series of lavish Santa Claus musicals.

He enjoyed a 20-year comedy partnership with Les Dawson, and their Cissie and Ada routines, playing two ladies of a certain age, became a comedy classic.

“If you watch them now, they’re still funny,” says Roy. “I loved working with Les. We just nattered away as if we really were two old dears. I did panto with him at the Bradford Alhambra, and I’ve appeared there many other times. It’s a theatre I’m very fond of.”

Sounds like Roy will have more than Corrie memories flooding back when he steps on to the Alhambra stage.

* Corrie! runs at the Alhambra from Tuesday to next Saturday. For tickets, ring (01274) 432000.