Who is Julie Hesmondhalgh’s husband Ian Kershaw? Meet the Celebrity Traitors and Coronation Street star’s partner

JULIE Hesmondhalgh is taking on a very different kind of drama in The Celebrity Traitors.

The former Coronation Street favourite is competing in the second series of Claudia Winkleman’s hit BBC show.

But away from the , Julie Hesmondhalgh has been with husband Ian Kershaw for more than two decades – and their whirlwind romance has a strong Weatherfield connection of its own.

Who is Julie Hesmondhalgh’s husband Ian Kershaw?

Ian is an award-winning writer for , and .

He grew up in Oldham and worked as a joiner on building sites before training as an actor.

Ian later turned his hand to writing after taking part in a playwriting event organised by North and Manchester’s Contact Theatre.

His TV credits include , , , , and .

And his career eventually brought him back to the place where he met Julie way back in 1998.

Ian joined the writing team in 2018 and remains a regular writer on the long-running soap.

He has also written for the stage, including The Greatest Play in the History of the World, a one-woman show created especially for Julie.

How did Julie Hesmondhalgh meet Ian Kershaw?

on the set of , although the pair were friends before romance eventually blossomed.

Speaking to Notebook magazine in 2019, Julie recalled: “It was on my first week of Corrie, he was an actor then but now is a writer – in fact, he writes for Corrie.

“We became really good pals, then we went out one night for a mate’s birthday and we had been full-on flirting all night.

“At the end of it I said, ‘I’m going to marry you.’”

Ian had an audition the following day and Julie sent him a message joking about their future together.

She recalled: “I hope you get this job today, because I will expect to be kept in the manner I’ve become accustomed to when we get married and have our two kids.”

When Ian replied asking what she wanted from him, Julie responded: “Not much, just a top wedding and kid by next Christmas!”

Ian then asked: “Martha or Arthur?”

Julie added: “Our Martha was born by the next Christmas.”

Things moved quickly once the pair became a couple.

Julie said: “We went out on the Thursday night, I moved in with him on the following Wednesday and I was pregnant within six weeks.”

The couple discovered they were expecting during a road trip across America.

Julie took a pregnancy test on Santa Barbara pier before asking a stranger to photograph the pair pointing at the result.

She said: “It’s just been like the greatest thing in my life.”

The pair married in 2003 and have remained together ever since.

Do Julie Hesmondhalgh and Ian Kershaw have children?

Julie and Ian have two daughters – Martha, born in 2001, and Lyss, who followed in 2004.

The couple decided early on that becoming parents so quickly would not mean putting their own relationship on the back burner.

Julie explained: “Because I got pregnant so quickly, we said we’ve got to carry on courting each other and we have done.

“Very early on we got into the habit of really looking after each other and going on dates. We’re romantic, we have many romantic moments.”

Ian later produced a particularly elaborate romantic gesture when he wrote an entire play for his wife.

Julie said: “But what was really romantic was that he wrote a one-woman play for me called The Greatest Play In The World and gave it to me as a Christmas present!”

The show went on to enjoy an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe and was later staged in London and around the UK.

Who is Julie Hesmondhalgh?

Julie is best known to millions of Coronation Street fans as Hayley Cropper.

She first appeared on the cobbles in 1998 and remained with the soap until Hayley’s emotional death in 2014.

Since leaving Weatherfield, Julie has built an acclaimed career across TV and theatre, with roles in massive shows including , and .

In 2026, she for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in James Graham’s Punch.

She is now joining stars including , , , and in the second series of .