life
For Corrie
As the soap’s first transgender character, Hayley Cropper
went on to find a special place in
viewers’ hearts. As her story came
to an emotional conclusion in
a controversial right-to-die storyline in February, actress Julie
Hesmondhalgh reflects now with
Susan Griffin about her memorable moments on the cobbles, and
what the future holds now she has
well and truly left The Street.
4
It’s Julie Hesmondhalgh’s last day on
Coronation Street and it’s only lunch time,
but there have already been tears.
“Jennie [McAlpine, who plays Fiz]
got me going with her card,” says Hesmondhalgh, who’s played Hayley Cropper
for the last 16 years.
Her departing storyline’s been one of
the most talked about in soap history, not
only because she and husband Roy (David
Neilson) were such well-loved characters,
but because of Hayley’s controversial
decision to end her own life after being
diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Hesmondhalgh, 43, knew the moment
she told the show’s producer Stuart Blackburn she wanted to leave, that it wasn’t
going to be in the back of a taxi.
“It wasn’t necessarily what I wanted,
but I knew it had to be that way for
Hayley and Roy,” explains the actress.
“It wouldn’t have made any sense to do
anything else. Had I gone off to Africa [as
the character did in 2007 when Hesmondhalgh had a break], I would’ve been ringing Roy all the time.”
Blackburn, a former Corrie scriptwriter, was on his way home following his
first day in charge, when he received the
call.
“Stuart, bless him, doesn’t mince his
words at the best of times,” say Hesmondhalgh, chuckling as she recalls their
conversation.
“I said, ‘Stuart, I can’t couch this with
any other term but I’m going to leave,’
and he went, ‘Oh my God!’”
Roy and Hayley were introduced by
Alma Baldwin back in 1998, when Hayley
was a shy shop assistant at Firman’s