11:47am Tuesday 31st August 2010
By David Watkinson
ACCRINGTON actress Julie Hesmondhalgh said she would be ‘happy to stay forever’ in Coronation Street.
Julie, who went to Moorhead High School and Accrington and Rossendale College, revealed her wish as on-screen character Hayley gets married to long-term partner Roy Cropper in the soap this week.
The actress has played trans-sexual Hayley for 12 years and is one of the show’s most popular characters.
Viewers have been watching the wedding unfold in comic fashion, with Hayley battling to get to the wedding on time after meddling from a vengeful rival.
Hayley and Roy had a blessing back in 1999 when it was illegal for transgender people to marry.
But script writers have given them a lavish wedding after a change in the law meant they could officially become Mr and Mrs Cropper.
Julie, a patron of Accrington charity Maundy Relief, used the big story to reflect on her time in Coronation Street.
She said: “The way I feel at the moment I am happy to stay forever. It’s not a very good negotiating tool to have it in print that I want to be here ’til I’m 100, but I do.
“I’m incredibly happy here. I’m not ambitious. I am where I want to be in my life and not many people can say that.”
Julie added that she was ‘circumspect’ about the tram crash set to kill off characters in December.
“If it’s my time, it’s my time. But I would very much like to keep on going a bit longer,” she said.
Julie, 41, said highlight of filming the wedding scenes was taking a ride on the East Lancashire Railway which took guests to the ceremony.
She said: “The steam train was gorgeous. Cast members usua-lly hate being invited to weddings and funerals because it means sitting in church for hours on end.
“But this was different because we got to go through the Lancashire countryside on a steam train.”
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