Knockin’ on Corrie’s Door: Bob Dylan offered role in legendary soap

The multiple Grammy winner said he had recently “binge-watched” episodes of the soap, alongside Father Brown, the crime series loosely based on the work of GK Chesterton and The Twilight Zone.

ITV producer Iain MacLeod told The Daily Telegraph that he would “dine out” on Mr Dylan’s support for the show “forever,” and suggested that he might appear at an open mic night at the fictional streets local, the Rovers Return, with erstwhile cabaret singer character Rita Sullivan.

In a 2019 plot, long-time Weatherfield resident Ken Barlow— portrayed by 90-year-old William Roache — is revealed to have been the fan who famously heckled Mr Dylan during a 1966 Free Trade Hall gig in Manchester, during which a man yelled “Judas” at the star for using an electric guitar instead of his traditional acoustic.

“Ken Barlow heckled Bob Dylan? I can’t see Ken heckling," one character remarks during the episode.

The ground-breaking kitchen sink drama was commissioned in 1960 while Granada Television was headed by Jewish entrepreneur Sidney Bernstein, who initially disliked the pitch.

The programme has employed scores of Jewish creatives in the 62 years since its swinging sixties inception, including BAFTA-winning writer Kay Mellor, playwright Jack Rosenthal and actress Maureen Lipman.