Finding out she fathered a son when she was a man is too much for Hayley, says Coronation Street star Julie Hesmondhalgh! How does Hayley find out about her son> "The shock comes when she attends the funeral of her Aunt Monica and finds some letters addressed to Harold when she's sorting through her aunt’s things. They're from a boy called Christian who's trying to track down his dad. And his dad is Harold!" Oh. My. God. So Hayley is a father! How complicated is that? "Christian was the result of a one night stand - Harold's one and only encounter with a woman as he desperately tried to live as a heterosexual man. He knew from a very young age he wanted to be woman but he also wanted to conform. Finding out she's a dad is about as complicated as it can get. She's in such shock that she rips the letter to shreds." But of course that doesn't make Christian go away and Julie reveals that Hayley does actually want to meet her son. "She's in a real quandry. She's always been desperate for a child - but how can she ever tell him who she is?" And it doesn't help that Roy believes her first-ever sexual encounter was as Hayley and with him. Why did Hayley lie about that? "Because she felt as Hayley that she was a virgin. She'd tried to bury her past life as Harold, including her one and only sexual encounter as a man. But now that's impossible. The desire to meet her son is overwheming and Hayley's desperate to tell someone so she confides in Becky who suggests getting a private detective on the case." Wouldn't it be best to come clean to Roy sooner rather than later? "Possibly, but she can't at this stage. Roy's a very black and white person. There are no grey areas with him and he's a very honest man who's probably never told a fib in his life. Hayley's told him a huge one. She knows Roy loves her but she doesn't know if he'll be able to forgive her for lying to him or come to terms with the fact that the woman he's married is a dad! It's an extremely difficult situation." If Hayley does find her son and get to meet him how do you yourself think he will react to the news that his father is actually a woman? "Not that well I wouldn't have thought. It could be that she ends up lying to her son too. Maybe she'll say she's a friend of his father's or a relative. It's a very complex storyline. I can't imagine there are many transexuals who find themselves in such a situation..." And is it one Hayley and Roy's marriage will survive? "I hope so. They belong together don’t they?"
