Article: THE ODD COUPLE! As transsexual Hayley Patterson, actress Julie Hesmondalgh has won the hearts of the nation in Coronation Street. GRAHAM YOUNG, the Mail's Mr Telly, meets the actress who has achieved the impossible.

IT'S the most unlikely story ever seen in Weatherfield - but actress Julie Hesmondalgh has pulled off the arrival of a transsexual in Coronation Street brilliantly.

Even transsexuals themselves, worried about an actor taking the part instead of someone who has experienced the transition for real, have fallen for the determination, charm and sheer humanity of Hayley Patterson.

When the planned storyline inevitably hit the headlines, they thought that Coronation Street would play it for laughs. Instead, like all viewers, they have been moved virtually to tears by her unlikely relationship with Roy Cropper, a near middle-agedvi rgin who found it almost impossible to get close to anybody. Julie, ...

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