Elliot Page says his earliest memories of trans representation on TV came from Coronation Street
Elliot Page (L) and Hayley and Roy Cropper from Coronation Street (R) (Netflix/ITV)
Actor Elliot Page says his earliest memories of trans representation on TV came from none other than UK soap Coronation Street.
Page, who recently urged the LGBTQ+ community to fight anti-trans rhetoric with information and education, has spoken about growing up and watching the long-running ITV soap.
The Umbrella Academy actor, who has shared his reasons for feeling lucky to be a trans man, and how the experience has made his life richer, opened up about trans representation on the show in an interview with the Evening Standard.
“My mum was obsessed with Coronation Street, so that was always on when I was a kid. I don’t think at the time that I clocked the trans representation in the show, but that’s how bits and pieces began to pop up,” he said.
Corrie’s trans character Hayley Cropper caused a stir when introduced in 1998, but went on to be one of the street’s most-loved residents.
She was the first trans character to ever appear in a British soap opera and was the first permanent transgender character in the world of serialised drama as well. She married long-running character Roy Cropper in 1999.
Her storylines also highlighted the transphobia that transgender people faced on a daily basis, with hard-headed character Les Battersby regularly referring to Hayley as a “freak” and “a man.”
In 2020, Julie Hesmondhalgh, who played Hayley for almost 16 years, said she would turn down the role if offered it today because of the row over cisgender women playing trans roles, and that the character was originally only meant to feature for two weeks.
Page and film director Dominic Savage spoke to PinkNews in August about how they worked together to create the poignant – and improvised – drama Close to You, about the difficult dynamic that often exists between trans people and their families.
Ahead of filming Close To You, Page says he was uncomfortable.
“And by uncomfortable, I mean sh*tting my pants because the film’s improvised. What the hell am I doing? I don’t know how to do this?” he thought.
However, Savage said that it was Page who ultimately enabled the script-free set-up to work. Following an introduction from a casting director several years ago, the pair hopped on a Zoom call to discuss logistics and to see if they gelled. They did, instantly.
“We just sort of connected, aligned, almost immediately, and you could feel it. That’s the point, you could feel it when there was mutual respect. The trust started to build from there,” Savage said.
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