Coronation Street star died penniless on benefits after 23 years on ITV soap

One Coronation Street star died reliant on benefits despite more than two decades of starring as Len Fairclough in the ITV soap. Actor Peter Adamson died at the age of 72 in 2002, in his Bury home - and was a "virtual recluse" in his last years after his acting career collapsed in the eighties.

The actor made his name as Len for 1,730 episodes of Corrie, from 1961 until 1983. It would turn out to be his final acting project, as the actor was accused of indecently assaulting two eight-year-old girls at Haslingden Baths, where he worked as a swimming instructor, that same year. He was eventually acquitted of the charges at Burnley Crown Court, but his next move would prove controversial to ITV bosses.

He decided to sell his story to The Sun at the time - while heavily drunk - and appeared to admit to the crime in a rambling interview. He was quoted as saying: "I am totally guilty of everything the police said. But what I hope you will print - there was no sexual intent." He was paid £110,000 for the interview.

That was the end of Adamson's career, and he was sacked by ITV bosses and written out of the soap for good. A desperate Adamson fled to Canada to start a new life, but soon returned to the UK and was declared bankrupt in 1991.

After years on a £10,000 a year salary from Corrie - the equivalent of around £190,000 in today's money - he was forced to live in a rented flat and relied on benefits to get him through when he could no longer find work.

Adamson died on benefits, but that wasn't his first run-in with financial trouble. The actor was drinking heavily on the job and by the late 1960s owed tens of thousands to Inland Revenue, before he was suspended from Corrie in 1969 due to his alcoholism.

The legal bill from his trial compounded his financial woes, and when his wife Jean died shortly after the trial, things went from bad to worse for the actor.

His final projects included acting work on radio and a West End production of Dial M for Murder, along with a stint in Vanburgh's The Relapse in 1988. The star left behind two sons when he died in 2002.