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TS Character to Join UK Soap
By Peter Beal, PA News
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
London
January 16, 1998
New character Hayley Patterson is to join TV's Coronation Street as the
first transsexual in a British soap opera.
But programme chiefs at Granada TV say the delicate subject will be
treated
sensitively and not introduced as a "soap-box cause".
Actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, 27, plays Hayley, a timid clerk at Firman's
Freezers who arrives on the Street hiding her secret that she is awaiting
final surgery to complete her transformation from a man to a woman.
She confides in lonely cafe owner Roy Cropper as the couple strike up a
relationship together. Only he and Alma Baldwin are told the truth before
Hayley leaves the Street to undergo her final operation.
Granada said they were confident the way the subject will be handled on
screen would not affect some of their more staid viewers.
Producer Brian Park, brought in to spice up Coronation Street
story-lines in
the fierce battle with BBC rival EastEnders said: "It's never been tackled
before in a soap and we felt it was a challenge for the Street.
"We are approaching it sensitively. We'll get to know Hayley as a
person, not
a soap-box cause."
Accrington-born Julie, who lives in Camberwell, South London, with actor
friend Joseph Alessi, said she had initial reservations about the part
because of her womanly appearance. But Street wardrobe and make-up experts
came up with the desired effect.
"It's a privilege to play a character like Hayley and to carry a
responsibility for all those people who have gone through what she has," said
Julie, who has also appeared in The Bill.
Her character first appears on screen in two weeks time, although
Granada are
not saying how long she remains in the plot.
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