Barbara Knox Arrested for Driving Drunk: 80-Year-Old Soap Actress Approached Police Over Daughter's DUI Arrest

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Friday, March 28, 2014

Barbara Knox was arrested on suspicion of drink driving earlier this month in Knutsford, Cheshire in the U.K. The 80-year-old British TV actress had driven to the police station to argue for the release of her daughter, Maxine Ashcroft, who was arrested for driving while under the influence earlier in the day.

Barbara Knox, who has played Rita Tanner on soap opera "Coronation Street" since 1972, had been out with 56-year-old Ashcroft having an afternoon together. Apparently the two had been drinking, but then Ashcroft decided to drive her mother home, according to police.

"Police stopped a car in Hollow Lane, Knutsford, and a 56-year-old woman from Gloucestershire was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving," a Cheshire police spokeswoman told the BBC.

Ashcroft submitted to a breathalyzer test, but failed horribly: she was almost three times the U.K. legal limit, which is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath. The Gloucestershire woman was hauled off to the police station to be questioned by the authorities.

However, Knox got herself in trouble by following them. When she arrived to argue about how her daughter was arrested, they realized she had driven herself there and arrested her as well.

"An 80-year-old woman from Knutsford later arrived at Knutsford Police Station and was also arrested on the suspicion of drink driving," the spokeswoman said.

Knox later made bail pending more inquiry into the incident. Her daughter Maxine has agreed to appear at Macclesfield Magistrates April 2.

Knox has played the same character on "Coronation Street" for decades, earning a TV Times award for best actress in 1989, a British Soap Award in 2004 and an MBE award for her services to drama in 2010.