Back to nature

Julie Hesmondhalgh on embracing the great outdoors and why Corrie is still close to her heart

- TESS LAMACRAFT

SPRING INTO SUMMER

LAST ONE MONDAY / ITV / 8PM (TIMES VARY) / EP 9 of 9 / LIFESTYLE

Explore Julie Hesmondhalgh’s back garden and you might spot frogs and ducks in a pond, badgers sloping off into the undergrowth, and maybe even the odd heron.

‘We live in a little terraced house, but it came with a patch of land attached to the back of it. It was very wild at first, but, over the years, we’ve slowly made something resembling a garden,’ smiles the actor, who played Coronation Street favourite Hayley Cropper between 1998 and 2014, and recently starred as brewery worker Nancy in BBC1 thriller The Pact.

This week, Julie, 51, is sharing her love of nature with Alan Titchmarsh on his ITV series, Spring into Summer. Here, in an exclusive interview, the always lovely star tells TV Times more…

Did you know Alan beforehand?