Ken Farrington

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Ken Farrington

Birth name	Kenneth Farrington
Born	April 18, 1936 (age 70)

Ken Farrington (born April 18, 1936, Dulwich, London, England) (sometimes credited as Kenneth Farrington) is a British actor.

He first found fame playing the role of Billy Walker, wayward son of publican Annie, in ITV1's long running soap opera, Coronation Street. He joined the series in 1961, playing the role on and off until leaving the show in 1984.

Starting in 1997 he played the key continuing role of Jack Gates, father of Hart family matriarch Annie Hart, in Family Affairs. His character was killed-off in late 1998 (several weeks prior to the entire Hart family being killed-off) as part of a drastic revamp of that series. In 2004, he returned to the small screen in the role of Tom King in ITV1 soap opera Emmerdale.

Prior to his career in soap opera, Farrington played a number of supporting roles in drama series, including The Saint, playing long-suffering Chief Inspector Teal's right-hand man.

On 8th August 2006, ITV announced that Ken Farrington had decided to leave Emmerdale after 3 years. He said, "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Emmerdale but feel it is time to move on". Speaking about his decision to quit the show, Farrington said: "I originally came to 'Emmerdale' for just six months and I have ended up staying for three years. Even during my 25 years at 'Coronation Street', two years at a time was my longest stint". "I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at 'Emmerdale' but feel it is time to move on," he said.

Emmerdale series producer Kathleen Beedles said: "Ken has been an asset to the show and will be greatly missed but his exit storyline is going to be extremely dramatic and memorable for viewers, which we're very excited about."

Farrington was written out in dramatic fashion in an episode which aired on Christmas Day, 2006 which saw his character being pushed to his death from a bedroom window.