CORONATION Street star William Roache has pleaded not guilty to committing historic sexual offences against five girls.

The 81-year-old actor formally denied the charges in a hearing at Preston Crown Court.

The veteran soap star was arrested at his home in Wilmslow, Cheshire, in May and charged with two counts of raping a 15-year-old girl in East Lancashire in 1967.

He was later additionally charged with five indecent assaults involving four girls aged between 11 or 12 and 16, allegedly committed in the Manchester area between 1965 and 1968.

Roache entered the dock and confirmed his name to the clerk.

The indictment containing the seven counts was then read out to him and on each allegation he responded with a firm, clear answer of "not guilty".

Roache's trial will begin at Preston Crown Court on January 14 and is scheduled to last four weeks.

He remains on bail with various conditions including residence, no direct unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 and not to approach named witnesses.

Meanwhile, fellow Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell appeared in court today accused of raping a young girl.

The actor stood in the dock at Manchester Crown Court as the charges were read out to him before the start of his trial.

Le Vell, 48, who plays car mechanic Kevin Webster in the ITV soap, is facing 12 charges in all - five counts of rape, three of indecent assault, two counts of sexual activity with a child and two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

A slightly different indictment, or list of charges, had been drawn up after a previous hearing, when Le Vell pleaded not guilty to 19 charges.

Before the trial began today the new indictment had to be put to Le Vell.

The actor, who is charged under his real name of Michael Turner, was asked to stand in the dock. He shook his head and repeated "not guilty" in a strong voice twelve times to each charge.

The charges span a period of nine years.

ITV has said he will not be appearing in any further episodes of the soap pending the outcome of legal proceedings.

His trial before Judge Michael Henshell is scheduled to last around two weeks.