1 December 2012 Last updated at 04:57 ET

Ex-Coronation Street actor Andrew Lancel faces child sex charges

Andrew Lancel Andrew Lancel played Frank Foster in Coronation Street

Former Coronation Street actor Andrew Lancel has been charged with historical child sex offences, police have said.

The 42-year-old, who played Frank Foster in the ITV soap, faces five counts of indecent assault on a child under 16.

Mr Lancel, from Gateacre in Liverpool, was charged on Friday under his real name Andrew Watkinson.

Merseyside Police said he had been bailed to appear at South Sefton Magistrates' Court on 19 December.

Mr Lancel appeared in Coronation Street from January 2011 until March this year.

He is currently playing the lead role of Brian Epstein in Liverpool in the play Epstein: The Man Who Made The Beatles, and is scheduled to head the cast in the pantomime Sleeping Beauty at the city's Echo Arena.

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