Former Corrie favourite Julie Hesmondhalgh has spoken about her role alongside David Tennant and Olivia Colman in the final series of Broadchurch for the first time.
After departing the cobbles in January 2016, in a heartbreaking storyline in which her character Hayley, suffering from terminal cancer, killed herself, Julie’s had numerous roles.
Read more: Julie Hesmondhalgh makes a confession about Corrie’s Hayley
She starred in Channel 4 drama Cucumber, and had a role in the third series of Happy Valley, but Julie’s toughest challenge comes soon when she takes on the part of Trish Winterman in Broadchurch.
The third series of the show, which regularly brought in 10 million viewers in its first two runs, is set to be the the last ever, and the focus has changed from the original murder case plot to a rape.
DI Alec Hardy (Tennant) and DS Ellie Miller (Colman) are investigating the assault, which shocks the small Dorset community.
Julie plays the rape victim, and she told The Mirror Online that she feels “there is a lot of criticism about how sexual assault and rape is portrayed on television with it being sexualised.
“It is not an act of sex, it is an act of violence. It is very often young beautiful girls that it is happening to. I agree and I am sick of seeing it.
“So the very fact they cast me was immediately interesting. Obviously rape and sexual assault can happen to anybody.
“But to get someone like me in, as an ordinary middle-aged woman, that is one of the things they wanted to get across, that this could happen to anybody.”
Explaining that she has worked hard with Dorset Rape Crisis and Dorset Sexual Assault Referral Centre, she also told how Trish feels in the first episode following the attack.
“She’s in total shock and trauma.
“What I hope happens is you get a sense of who she was before. She was an ordinary woman with a life and a past.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve had loads of sex before or an hour before, you can still be raped.”
The BBC has just finished screening Apple Tree Yard, which also depicted a middle-aged woman being attacked by a colleague at work.
The drama received rave reviews for its honest portrayal of how a woman copes with that type of assault.
Read more: If you loved Apple Tree Yard, watch this next
Julie also admitted she was a bit of a fan girl when she met David and Olivia. Reporting from a press conference about the latest series of Broadchurch, The Irish News told how she said:
“After my first day I had to apologise to David and Olivia and say I’d be less of a competition winner the next day!”
We’d be starstruck too, Julie!
The third series of Broadchurch begins this month on ITV.