Julie Hesmondhalgh is sick of people asking her if she’s retired.
The 46-year-old actress is constantly asked if she is enjoying retirement since she quit ‘Coronation Street’, in which she played factory worker Hayley Cropper until her tragic death in 2014, three years ago – despite continuing to work on shows such as ‘Happy Valley’, ‘Cucumber’, ‘Banana’ and ‘Moving On’ – and is hoping her next big role in ‘Broadchurch’ will prove she’s still very much working.
She said: "Every time I go to the local supermarket, somebody says to me ‘Are you enjoying retirement?’ ‘Are you still doing your acting or have you stopped now?’ I’m hoping this might change it, I hope it makes me more profile enough for the people of Tesco Hattersley."
And the TV star claimed she is "nervous" to watch her new role on the screens when the forthcoming series comes out on Monday (27.02.17) as she portrays a rape victim, which highlights the reality of sexual abuse.
Speaking on ITV’s ‘Lorraine’ on Tuesday (21.02.17) she said: "I am quite nervous about it. I’m quite nervous because of the subject matter, This series of ‘Broadchurch’ isn’t about murder, it’s a series about sexual assaults so a lot of work went in to it with rape crisis and a few other sexual assaults charities to make sure we got it right, we tried to be true to women in particular who have been through this experience and so I’m quite nervous for the responsibility of that and the portrayal of that. It’s very often sexualised so very often it’s a beautiful young woman being pursued through the woods and doesn’t have any agency of their own, what I think they wanted to do with this is be very clear and show it’s an act of violence and it can happen to anybody.
"So for me to be doing it and being a middle aged woman, I think is different and an important thing to get a crossed."
Julie Hesmondhalgh: Broadchurch will prove I haven’t retired
