Julie Hesmondhalgh, the actress famed for playing Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, is married to actor and screenwriter Ian Kershaw, whom she met on the set of the ITV soap in 1998. The couple share two daughters.
Julie's role in Celebrity Traitors
The 56-year-old is among the contestants in the second series of Celebrity Traitors, which returned on Thursday evening (October 1) on BBC One. The show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, sees celebrities compete for the chance to win up to £100,000 for a charity of their choice. Other contestants include Ross Kemp, James Blunt, and Rob Beckett.
Hayley Cropper's tragic storyline
Julie first appeared as Hayley Cropper in 1998 and left the soap in 2014. Her character, the first transgender character in a British soap opera, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2013 after a CT scan. Despite surgery to remove a tumor, Hayley was told the cancer was terminal, with six months to a year to live. She chose to end her own life, spending her last Christmas with husband Roy Cropper (David Neilson) in 2013 before ingesting a lethal cocktail of drugs.
The role earned Julie the Best Serial Drama Performance award at the 2014 National Television Awards and Best Actress at the 2014 British Soap Awards. After leaving Coronation Street, she appeared in shows including Broadchurch, Catastrophe, Happy Valley, and Mr Bates vs The Post Office.
Stage success and upcoming roles
Julie won the 2026 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Joan in the play Punch, based on the real story of Jacob Dunne, a teenager from Nottingham who threw a punch that killed James Hodgkinson. Earlier this year, she joined the cast of Call the Midwife prequel Sisters in Arms, playing Sister Alice in the period drama set in 1939 London.
Meeting Ian Kershaw
Julie met Ian on the Corrie set in 1998, when he was playing Malcolm Bradford. Ian has had other roles on the show, including Duncan Stott and Mick Crompton, and has worked as a scriptwriter on EastEnders, Casualty, Corrie, and Holby City. Between 1998 and 1999, he played PC Garratt in Casualty before starring in Fat Friends, with stints in Heartbeat, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, and Clocking Off.
Julie previously told The Irish Mirror how she knew she wanted to marry Ian from the beginning. She explained: "It was on my first week of Corrie, he was an actor then but now is a writer, in fact, he writes for Corrie. We became really good pals, then we went out one night for a mate’s birthday, and we had been full-on flirting all night."
"At the end of it I said, 'I'm going to marry you', he laughed, and we kissed. He was going for an audition the next day, and I texted him saying, 'I hope you get this job today, because I will expect to be kept in the manner I've become accustomed to when we get married and have our two kids'."
"He texted back saying, 'What do you want from me!?' I said, 'Not much, just a top wedding and kid by next Christmas!' He answered, saying, 'Martha or Arthur?'. Our Martha was born by the next Christmas."
Celebrity Traitors airs on Thursday and Friday nights at 8pm on BBC One.
