Yahoo News Corrie star says it would be wrong to still play Hayley
National treasure Julie Hesmondhalgh will be appearing in the third series of Broadchurch very soon – and she's been reflecting on her famous Coronation Street character Hayley Cropper.
Julie opened up about playing Hayley from the late nineties until 2014 to The Mirror. Hayley was a first for transgender characters on TV, being the first in a British soap and the first permanent trans character in a serialised drama.
But Julie has explained why she thinks that it would be "absolutely wrong" for her to play the role nowadays.
"(Hayley's story) ended just as there was this whole movement of young trans actors coming through and it would have been such an anomaly," she said. "It would have been absolutely wrong for me to be playing that part now.
"It just happened at the right time that I went and everyone else took over.
"It felt the right moment and it would have been anachronistic for me to be playing that part now, it would have been strange."
Julie is still very fond of her iconic character, adding that "she will always be part of me".
"I love that part and I love that whole time in my life but I feel very separate from it now."
Since leaving Coronation Street, Julie Hesmondhalgh has appeared in Cucumber (where she was very good), Happy Valley and the upcoming series of Broadchurch, which begins on Monday, February 27 at 9pm.
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