Members of Anne Kirkbride’s on-screen family are reported to have joined her real-life relatives at the Coronation Street actress’s funeral.

Bill Roache, who plays her soap husband Ken Barlow, and Kate Ford, who plays her daughter Tracy, were said to have attended alongside her widower David Beckett.

The 60-year-old actress , who starred in the ITV soap for 44 years, died in a Manchester hospital last week.

Bill Roache
Co-star Bill Roache, who gave a speech about Anne Kirkbride at last week’s National Television Awards (Yui Mok/PA)

She had been away from the screen since September after taking a break from Weatherfield following her diagnosis with cancer.

The star was one of the soap’s best-know performers and was loved by millions for her portrayal of husky-voiced Deirdre, famed for many years for her oversized spectacles.

Anne appeared in many colourful storylines over the years, including one of her most memorable soap moments when Deirdre was jailed after being duped into a mortgage fraud by fiance Jon Lindsay.

Kate Ford
Kate Ford plays Tracy Barlow in Coronation Street (Ian West/PA)

The storyline even led then prime minister Tony Blair to give his support to the Free The Weatherfield One movement to get her released.

The actress previously took a break from the soap after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1993.