My pal Annie
Aug. 26th, 2015 01:56 pmAnnie is a woman I met through the Coronation Street chat room in 1998. It was just after the transgender character Hayley was created. Annie came into the chat room and told us that she was "like Hayley", i.e. transgender. The room burst with curiosity and Annie patiently answered our questions over the next weeks as best she could. She was post-op, I think not by a long time but was when we all met her. The memory of those early days that always sticks in my mind is when I remarked to her that I admired her courage, mainly for going through all the stuff you have to go through to live as the gender you identify with. (medications, psychiatrists, doctors etc) and for being brave to face your own family and the world with the transition. She told me "It has nothing to do with courage. I didn't have a choice". That. Right there. That's what it's all about.
I met her face to face "in real life" in September 2000 when she and a couple other Corrie mates in Manchester helped to organize an international get together for several dozen of us mad Corrie fans that met through the chat room and other forums. Because she had connections to the studio (more on that in a minute), she was able to get us a visit on the outside set at ITV (then Granada) studios and for all of us fans it was a dream come true. She made that happen, and stood back watching with pleasure as we all enjoyed it so much.
Because of Graham in my life, I've been to Manchester many times since then and usualy always made the time to hang out with Annie and the rest of my friends in the area. I've seen her go back to university to become an actor, her dream. I've seen her happy and I've seen her in despair that her dream of being an actor might be a washout before it begins properly. She's been acting in a local amateur drama group for years and in the last couple of years has made little breakthroughs including an appearance on one episode of Shameless.
Now, she's got something major coming but I can't talk about that yet. It should be the break she's always needed and deserved, though, and I really hope it turns into something wonderful for her because she deserves it.
Last night, she took part in a panel at a Pride event in Manchester and came out publically as transgender, speaking about her part in helping to make Corrie's Hayley a living and believable character. She worked closely with ITV and with Julie Hesmondhalgh who credits Annie with a lot of the success of the character (no longer on the show). It's in the media, in the newspapers and there's video of both Annie and Julie. You can read/hear it here. Annie was always a star in my book. Maybe now everyone else will see it, too!
I met her face to face "in real life" in September 2000 when she and a couple other Corrie mates in Manchester helped to organize an international get together for several dozen of us mad Corrie fans that met through the chat room and other forums. Because she had connections to the studio (more on that in a minute), she was able to get us a visit on the outside set at ITV (then Granada) studios and for all of us fans it was a dream come true. She made that happen, and stood back watching with pleasure as we all enjoyed it so much.
Because of Graham in my life, I've been to Manchester many times since then and usualy always made the time to hang out with Annie and the rest of my friends in the area. I've seen her go back to university to become an actor, her dream. I've seen her happy and I've seen her in despair that her dream of being an actor might be a washout before it begins properly. She's been acting in a local amateur drama group for years and in the last couple of years has made little breakthroughs including an appearance on one episode of Shameless.
Now, she's got something major coming but I can't talk about that yet. It should be the break she's always needed and deserved, though, and I really hope it turns into something wonderful for her because she deserves it.
Last night, she took part in a panel at a Pride event in Manchester and came out publically as transgender, speaking about her part in helping to make Corrie's Hayley a living and believable character. She worked closely with ITV and with Julie Hesmondhalgh who credits Annie with a lot of the success of the character (no longer on the show). It's in the media, in the newspapers and there's video of both Annie and Julie. You can read/hear it here. Annie was always a star in my book. Maybe now everyone else will see it, too!