Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper actress Julie Hesmondhalgh reveals she was cast as a ‘joke’ by producers before becoming one of the most loved characters
The actress was determined to make something more of the iconic character
CORONATION Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh has revealed that bosses originally cast her transgender character Hayley Cropper as a JOKE.
The star went on to play Hayley for 16 years on the ITV soap before the much loved character took an overdose due to her struggle with incurable cancer, however she was only meant to be a two-week punchline.
Speaking to The Telegraph’s Stella magazine, Julie said: "I wasn't meant to be in Coronation Street for any longer than two weeks.
"The character of Hayley was originally written as a joke. It wasn't a politically correct one, but this was back in 1998.
"The joke was that Roy Cropper (David Neilson) was going to go on a series of disastrous blind dates, one of them being with a man who had transgendered to a woman."
The 46-year-old went on to explain how she was determined to make soap’s first transgender character more than a joke and aimed to make the audience fall in love with her.
She also pointed out that the positive political aspects of the public becoming familiar with a transgender character every evening.
"To me, that was it. You make people like this woman - understand her - and you say more than any political speech or lobbying."
Julie scooped six major awards during her time on Corrie, and her controversial assisted suicide scenes pulled in audience figures of over 9.5 million, despite thousands of fans boycotting the show as they were “too traumatised” to watch her die.