The son of British actors William Roache and Anna Cropper, the attractive sandy-haired Roache gained prominence with his strong performance as a clergyman struggling with his vocation and his homosexuality in Antonia Bird's "Priest" (1994). While the film won critical acclaim, it was also the subject of controversy in the USA. Attacked as anti-Catholic by Cardinal John O'Connor of New York and as presenting a biased view of the clergy by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, "Priest" was far better received in England where it stirred little protest.

Roache began his career as a child, appearing as his father's son on the long-running British soap opera "Coronation Street". After studying at a London drama school, he joined the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company where he performed the classics for four years. He joined the National Theatre in 1989 where he appeared in Sean O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock". Roache made his film debut in a small role in "No Surrender" (1986). Director Antonia Bird had spotted Roache in drama school and remembered him when she was casting the title role in "Priest". In 1997, he was teamed with Allison Elliott and Helena Bonham Carter as the journalist caught between the two in Iain Softley's adaptation of Henry James' novel "The Wings of the Dove".