Television In the 1990s, Hesmondhalgh appeared in such television dramas as
The Bill,
Catherine Cookson's
The Dwelling Place, She is most known for playingl[Hayley Cropper in the
ITV soap opera
Coronation Street. On 11 January 2013,
ITV announced that Hesmondhalgh would be leaving
Coronation Street in January 2014 after 15 years on the show, and that her character Hayley was to leave in a controversial
right-to-die storyline, following a battle with
pancreatic cancer. Hesmondhalgh won a
National Television Award for Best Performance in a Serial Drama, which she shared with her longtime co-star,
David Neilson. She appeared in the
BBC Four film
Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, a television film about the
murder of Sophie Lancaster. She played the role of Sophie's mother, Sylvia Lancaster, a role which she previously portrayed on stage. Hesmondhalgh was friends with Sylvia Lancaster is a former patron of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. In 2015, Hesmondhalgh won a
Royal Television Society Award for
Best Female Actor in a Drama for her role as Sylvia. In 2017, Hesmondhalgh played the role of
rape victim Trish in the third and final series of
Broadchurch on
ITV. Her performance as Trish earned her a nomination for
BAFTA award for best supporting actress (TV). She appeared as a guest star in the
Doctor Who episode "
Kerblam!". In 2019, she starred alongside
Rob Delaney and
Sharon Horgan, when she played Amanda in the first episode of the final season of Channel 4's
Catastrophe. Also in 2020, Hesmondhalgh played Heather in the third series of
The A Word. In 2021, Hesmondhalgh began narrating the revival of
The Weakest Link, taking over from
Jon Briggs. In January 2024, she starred as Suzanne Sercombe, wife of subpostmaster
Alan Bates, the main character in the ITV1 drama
Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which was based on true events surrounding the
British Post Office scandal. Hesmondhalgh is set to appear on the
second series of
The Celebrity Traitors in autumn 2026.
Stage From 19–29 September 2012, Hesmondhalgh appeared at the
Royal Exchange Theatre in
Manchester, portraying Sylvia Lancaster in
Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster opposite Rachel Austin. In February 2018, she starred as Renee in
The Almighty Sometimes by Kendall Feaver. It was directed by Katy Rudd at the
Royal Exchange. In February 2019, she performed the title role in
Mother Courage and Her Children by
Bertolt Brecht, adapted by Anna Jordan. It was directed by Amy Hodge at the Royal Exchange, Manchester. For her performance as Joan in the
James Graham play
Punch (2025), she won the 2026
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Writing and other activities In 2019
Methuen Drama published her
Working Diary as part of their
Theatre Makers series. She is a founder member of a Manchester-based grassroots theatre collective creating work about social issues, Take Back, which she runs with Rebekah Harrison and Grant Archer, and to which she has contributed as a writer and actor. == Activism and fundraising ==