A weekend in the life of Corrie star
FAMOUS as Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper, Julie Hesmondhalgh left the show in 2014. Since then, she’s appeared in Broadchurch, Doctor Who and various theatre productions. She met her husband, Corrie writer Ian Kershaw, in her first week on the soap. They have two teenage daughters, Martha and Lyss, and live in Manchester.
EVERY weekend is different. Last weekend we went up to the North East coast because it was Lyss’s birthday. We had a nice time just walking the cliffs and eating chips.
When I’m rehearsing for a play, like I am now, I spend a lot of time walking our dog, Bridie, an 11-year-old rescue lurcher. So people see this mad woman walking along talking to herself.
I run a charity called 500 Acts of Kindness, an amazing thing where people donate £1 a week and anyone in the group can nominate someone who needs something.
So my weekend begins on Fridays, when myself and Chris – a pal of mine – go through nominations for that week, decide who we will support and let them know. We’ll then put it on Facebook and Twitter and email everyone in the group.
We try to have family time over the weekend. I don’t usually see my mum because I see her during the week. I lost my dad in 2013 but at 85, my mum is doing well. Lyss works at a charity shop on Saturday morning, Martha sometimes works on a weekend too.
We go to a lot of theatre shows because there’s so much on in Manchester. We always seem to know someone who is in something.
My favourite thing to do is to sit with the papers but it doesn’t happen that often. Life is hectic.