Two women told a court how the Coronation Street actor Bill Roache sexually assaulted them in the toilets at the programme's television studios when they were teenagers.
The alleged victims, now 63 and 65, are two of five women who accuse Roache of sex crimes in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The 63-year-old told Preston crown court on Wednesday that she met the actor in 1965 when she visited the Granada Studios set in Manchester, when she was 14.
She claimed Roached "pulled" her into the men's toilets and forced her to masturbate him.
On another occasion, she said, he asked when she would be 16 and whether she had ever had oral sex.
She told the court how she had first met Roache when taking part in a talent contest with a school friend. After the pair failed their audition, they decided to "explore" the studio complex, she said.
She described meeting Roache, now 81, whom she knew as Ken Barlow. He invited the two girls into the dressing room he shared with another Coronation Street star, Alan Rothwell, who played Peter Barlow, Ken's brother.
She said Roache took her into the corridor and "pulled" her into the men's toilets. There, he put her hand on his penis and moved it up and down, she said. The woman described not understanding what was going on. "It was outside my experience. But I knew it was wrong. This might sound strange, but my main worry was that I was in the gents' toilets. I was in the wrong place."
Afterwards, she said she didn't tell her friend what had happened and handed over her address to Roache when he asked for it. "I was on autopilot. I was bewildered," she told the jury. "I was ashamed at what had happened."
Several weeks later she received a signed photograph of Roache, along with a short letter, which was read to the jury. Signed, "Bill xx" it thanked her for her "marvellous letter" and asked her to write back "when you start school again".
The woman, who cannot be named, said she was confused by mention of the letter because she hadn't written him one. But she nonetheless later agreed to return to Granada Studios for a tour of the Coronation Street set.
After the tour, she described going for a drive with Roache in his car, and him turning the conversation to sex. "He asked me if I had ever had 'it' in my mouth," she told the court, explaining that she took that to be a penis, despite her sexual inexperience. "I said no. I had no concept of oral sex." She claims he then told her: "I won't do it properly until you are 16."
Under cross-examination the woman admitted she couldn't remember anything about the car, nor the journey. She said she "believed" he had masturbated again in the car as a prelude or postscript to the sex talk, but could not be sure.
She said she didn't tell anyone what had happened despite knowing it was wrong. "I was a naive young girl," she said. "I thought we were having a relationship, no matter how misguided and naive that might be."
Challenged by Roache's barrister, Louise Blackwell QC, about gaps in her memory, the woman insisted she was telling the truth. "I'm not making it up. I would have no reason to," she said.
She denied going to the media to tell her story, complaining that she had been "doorstepped" by various journalists, including a female reporter from the Sun, whom she accused of lying in order to try to gain access and of misrepresenting who she was. Journalists from ITV and the BBC also called, asking for interviews.
Asked if she wanted media attention, she said: "Quite the contrary … It was completely unwarranted and unexpected … I never talked to the press and nor shall I."
She said she had been assured by the police that her identity would not be revealed and was upset to be contacted at home, to the point that she almost pulled out of giving evidence at the trial. The unwanted media "intrusion" was "tantamount to interfering with the course of justice", she said.
Both women said they came forward last year after hearing in the media that another woman had accused Roache of raping her when she was 15 in 1967.
The 63-year-old alleged victim said: "I was concerned that the [rape] allegation should be taken seriously because I felt that I had information that suggested his inclinations were towards young girls."
The 65-year-old woman, who was a teenage actor, described how Roache followed her into the ladies' toilets at Granada Studios in 1965 when she was 16. He was already a well-known figure at the time, having played Ken Barlow since Coronation Street began in 1960.
She told the jury that he put his hand up her top and squeezed one of her breasts over her bra. Afterwards, he suggested he could arrange a part for her on the soap, she alleged.
The woman claimed she didn't report him at the time because she worried it would affect her acting career: "He was established. I wasn't." She claims to have told two relatives at the time, both now dead.
Her husband also gave evidence on Wednesday, saying she told him of the alleged assault about 20 years ago. "She's referred to him as a 'dirty old man' for years," he said.
Roache sat impassively in the dock, listening to the witnesses with his hearing aid turned up. He denies all of the charges.
The case continues.
