Speaking ahead of Anne Kirkbride’s memorial tomorrow, William, who worked with Anne for 35 years said: “I probably spent as much time with her as I did with my family and [we] certainly got on very, very well.”
Speaking from Manchester Cathedral, where the memorial will take place, the real-life Ken Barlow continued: “The day after she died… I walked towards that set, I felt her presence.
“She did have an incredible presence.”
And William is convinced that Anne - who played his on-screen wife, Deirdre, in the ITV soap - will be watching over her character’s final scenes in the show.
Speaking from the heart, he said: “Doing the funeral that we’re doing of Deirdre next week, Annie will be there - we’re just feeling her there the whole time.”
He added: “I know I have never heard a single bad word or criticism about Annie, you couldn’t.
“I used to call her a love bomb because she exploded with love… she liked that.”
William, who will be doing a reading at Anne’s memorial tomorrow, continued: “I saw her the day she died.
“She died in the evening on the Monday and I went that afternoon and I was warned she’d lost a lot of weight…
“When I saw her, she’d lost some weight but it had all gone back onto her beautiful bone structure and she looked beautiful, really beautiful.
“She was a very, very beautiful woman but she had no vanity. She wanted to be robust, crude, rude, whatever you wanted there were no laws or limitations for Annie.
“She lived life to the full but she was an extraordinary beautiful person inside and out.”
He added firmly: “Tomorrow at her memorial service there’ll be laughter, that’s what she wants.
“She was a fun-loving person, she grabbed life, she loved life. An indication to how loved she was on all sides of the camera, three members of the crew are going to get up and do a piece at the memorial.
"She loved everybody.”
Our thoughts are with Anne Kirkbride and her loved ones ahead of tomorrow’s service.