In what could have been a plotline from beloved British TV drama Coronation Street, the show’s elder statesman, William Roache, was charged with two counts of rape involving a 15-year-old girl in 1967.

Roache, 81, was arrested early Wednesday and will appear in court May 14. He has played retired teacher and frustrated intellectual Ken Barlow on the series since its first episode in 1960 and is the longest-serving cast member.

The soap, set in a fictional northwestern town of Weatherfield, is among the most popular and longest-running programs on British television and a hit with loyal Canadian fans. It airs on CBC.

Queen Elizabeth is said to be a fan and Prince Charles has had a guest spot. Even Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper loves his Corrie: he had a private meeting with Roache at 24 Sussex Drive when the actor was in Ottawa on a Canadian appearance tour in 2012.

The arrest is not part of Operation Yewtree, the sex abuse investigation established after revelations about the late entertainer Jimmy Saville.

The news comes on the heels of a bizarre statement Roache made to a New Zealand TV reporter that victims of sexual abuse were being punished for misdeeds in previous lives and that celebrities should be forgiven if “caught in the trap” of having sex with underage females. He later apologized.

In 2012, Roache admitted on Piers Morgan’s British TV show Life Stories he’d slept with close to 1,000 women.

Roache, an MBE, will not appear on Corrie while the investigation proceeds. He is the second cast member to face charges this year.

Michael Le Vell, 48, who has played troubled garage owner and mechanic Kevin Webster on the show for 30 years, has a September trial date on 19 charges relating to alleged sexual offences against a child between 2001 and 2010.

With files from Associated Press