Julie Hesmondhalgh couldn't resist The Celebrity Traitors offer
Julie Hesmondhalgh didn't hesitate to sign up for The Celebrity Traitors as she is "obsessed" with all iterations of the reality show.
Julie Hesmondhalgh "couldn't say no" to The Celebrity Traitors.
The former Coronation Street star was part of the line-up for the second series of the BBC's smash-hit reality series – before being banished from the castle in episode four – and didn't hesitate about saying yes to the programme because she is "obsessed" with the show.
Julie told Good Housekeeping UK magazine: "I couldn't say no! I'm obsessed with it. I watch every iteration, even the one in New Zealand in which they drive their own cars and stay in a s*** hotel. I was so chuffed to be asked."
The 56-year-old star explained how she forged close bonds with comedian Romesh Ranganathan and former EastEnders star Ross Kemp in the castle, where the sheer amount of time the contestants spent together led to "accelerated friendships".
Julie said: "The extraordinary thing is that you're all on the same footing. There's no status at all. You have these accelerated friendships because there's a lot of time off-camera when you're travelling in cars together and aren't allowed to discuss the game.
"People tell you about their lives; I found out so much about people and I was really touched that they trusted me."
She added: "Romesh is one of the greatest human beings. We were in there right at the start, alongside Ross Kemp. The three of us were a very unlikely little threesome. I adored Ross, too."
Hesmondhalgh is best known for playing Hayley Cropper – the first transgender character in a British soap opera – in Coronation Street from 1998 to 2014 and revealed that her alter ego's love story with husband Roy Cropper (David Neilson) came about "by accident".
She said: "The short storyline was supposed to be Roy Cropper falling for Hayley, then running for the hills when she comes out as trans.
"But everybody loved the relationship. It became a key storyline almost by accident, which was the best way, because it wasn't an issue that was shoehorned in."
Julie departed the cobbles in 2014 when Hayley took her own life in a "right to die" storyline after being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and feels that it would have been "embarrassing" had she kept playing the trans character as a non-trans performer.
Reflecting on her Corrie exit, the Broadchurch star said: "There's a photo of me on the floor, foetal. I was like, 'What have I done?'
"I have no regrets about leaving, but when I watch the credits and see that so many of the cast and crew names are the same, it feels a bit strange.
"(But) had I stayed, it would have become embarrassing. Anachronistic. But I maintain that Hayley and Roy's love story was important. It got people talking. It's so upsetting that trans rights have now gone backwards."
The full interview can be read now in the December issue of Good Housekeeping UK.
