Catalogue Number
NMLH.2019.53
Object Name
Jacket
Title
Hayley Cropper's red anorak
Place
Manchester
People
Coronation Street (TV show), Julie Hesmondhalgh, Hayley Cropper (character)
Description
Red hooded anorak, worn by Julie Hesmondhalgh when she played Hayley Cropper on Coronation Street.
Hayley Cropper was the UK's first transgender soap character, first debuting in 1998. However, feelings about the character vary, as Hesmondhalgh is cisgender and some people feel that, for true transgender representation, a transgender actor should have been cast. Hesmondhalgh herself has acknowledged this in the years since and admitted she likely wouldn't play the role if offered to her now. Despite this, the character is still seen as a landmark moment for trans people within British TV history, and some credit the storylines given to Hayley with raising public awareness of discrimination experienced by transgender people in the UK at the time, including a landmark story around marriage inequality at a time when legislation was being put forward that would allow transgender people to marry as the gender they identify as, even if this isn't what is recorded on their birth certificates.
