Julie Hesmondhalgh has praised 'Coronation Street' for covering a "massively important" hate crime plot - and her husband has written one of the "key episodes".
Julie Hesmondhalgh
The former 'Corrie' favourite - who played Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap from 1998 to 2014 - is a patron of The Sophie Lancaster Foundation, which was set up following the death of the 20-year-old woman, who was kicked to death in 2007 for "looking different".
'Corrie' are to play out a hate crime plot inspired by the real-life events, and Julie is both delighted they are covering the storyline and that her significant other Ian Kershaw has penned May 5th's important ep.
She wrote on Twitter: "As a proud patron of @sophie_charity, along with my @Iankershaw who wrote Wednesday’s key episode, and knowing how telly can change hearts and minds, I’m so so pleased that @itvcorrie are dealing with this massively important issue
"*next Wednesday, 5 May xx (sic)"
The plot will see Harry Visinoni and Mollie Gallagher's characters Seb Franklin and Nina Lucas attacked over the way they look.
In November last year, Julie, who played the first transgender character in a British soap, admitted she still watches 'Corrie' "religiously".
She said: "I love that programme. I still watch it.
"My husband is a writer on it. I watch it religiously, I absolutely love it, but my time on it has definitely ended."
Julie's final scenes aired in January 2014 when Hayley tragically took her own life as part of a "right to die" storyline, after she was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.
And the 51-year-old star has since admitted her character "had to die" because she would never split up from husband Roy Cropper (David Neilson).
She said: "When I said I was going to leave 'Corrie', I knew the door wasn't going to be left open. Because Roy [Cropper] and Hayley would never split up.
"So unless David [Neilson] was ready to leave as well, which he wasn't, Hayley would have to die."
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