Actress supports sexual abuse charity after TV role

Julie Hesmondhalgh said she worked with "amazing" women at the STARS in Dorset

An actress said she was inspired to get involved with a Dorset charity supporting women affected by sexual and domestic abuse following her role in a hit television show.

Julie Hesmondhalgh, 55, who is currently on stage in the West End in the play Punch, became a patron for STARS in 2016 after playing rape survivor Trish Winterton in ITV's Broadchurch.

She is now helping the sexual trauma and recovery service with its week-long Women and Girls Match Fund campaign to raise £10,000, which is running until 15 October.

Ms Hesmondhalgh, who is also known for playing Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, said she was inspired by the "amazing" counsellors and survivors at the charity.

She said: "One of the best parts about being an actor is that you get to play these roles and enter a whole new world, and playing Trish in Broadchurch, I got to work with amazing women at the charity, including counsellors and survivors themselves.

"I was so moved by all the grace and generosity and that's how I got involved in 2016.

"I knew a little bit about sexual violence and survivors, but obviously throwing myself into that role, and the way that it changed the way sexual violence was portrayed on television as well, it opened up a whole new conversation about that and I was very proud of it."

Ms Hesmondhalgh said any money donated would "make a huge difference to a chronically underfunded service" which supports nearly 4,000 people a year in the Dorset area.

She also said she was proud to have helped change conversations around sexual violence and abuse with her role in Broadchurch.

"Just simply casting an ordinary middle-aged woman who looked like me as a survivor of rape immediately changed the conversation as traditionally in television it has often been a young woman being pursued or told from the eye of the perpetrator," she said.

"This was from the perspective of the survivor, and it really shift things in terms of the way we portray rape and sexual violence on television."

• If you have been affected by sexual abuse or violence, details of help and support in the UK are available at the BBC Action Line.