by Bernie Winter’s past is set to come back to haunt her on Coronation Street as she deals with the demise of her son Paul Foreman. As viewers of the ITV soap will know, the character, played by Jane Hazlegrove, was heartbroken when her son deteriorated after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last year.
Paul received the heartbreaking news that he had the fatal disease, which was progressing rapidly and affects the brain and spinal cord, in scenes broadcast in April 2023. The former did not receive -builder, who only found out that nothing was wrong after he was beaten by Carla Connor in her. Van Underworld when Stephen Reid took LSD drugs without her knowledge, he kept the news from her family.
However, the terrible news soon came pouring out and the family has been rallying around Paul ever since as the symptoms of the life-limiting disease progress. Soon, Paul’s father, Denny, will come back into her life after hearing that his son is dying through a radio interview he does with Amy Barlow.
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Bernie covers her horror at coming face to face with Denny and reveals that Paul is already dead and the interview was recorded. But Denny doesn’t believe her, Denny follows her up to the flat where Gemma and Paul are distraught to see their father. When Denny comments that Paul is looking great for someone who is supposed to be dead, Bernie freezes in horror.
Later, Bernie confides in Dev about Denny, secretly worried that Denny might be talking about his past. Billy, meanwhile, reminds Paul that Denny used to beat him when he was a kid and that he can’t be trusted but when Paul invites Denny to watch a movie, Billy reluctantly agrees.
Denny soon goes out for ice cream leaving Paul alone in the apartment. He bumps into Gemma and begs her to let him meet his grandchildren. But when he is alone in the flat, Paul coughs and struggles to breathe. He calls for an ambulance but when the operator answers, he drops the phone. Denny then returns and Paul is shocked to find that he is barely conscious. Meanwhile, Dev Alahan finds Bernie rummaging through a shoebox of old letters and photos. As Dev wonders what she’s looking for, Bernie is distraught…
Following the star of the story, Jane shared how her own personal loss is affecting her time on the cobbles as her character prepares for tragedy as well. Speaking on the revelation of the MND storyline last year, Jane told Inside Soap: “I was very upset [when I found out about the storyline] because I love Peter Ash [who plays Paul Foreman] so I was gutted because this meant he would be going. My Corrie family are a tight knit unit. I am lucky to work with them all.”
She then shared how her emotions were also heightened when her own father died, adding to the publication: “I lost my father recently, so I know what this kind of grief is. It was the -emotional.”
Away from the ITV soap, Jane has the support of her wife as the Manchester actor has been married to fellow soap actress Isobel Middleton since 2015. Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on her ITV show in 2019, she spoke about her wife ‘beautiful’ and she joked: “No [worked alongside each other], and that’s probably why we’re still together. She is sensational, a very beautiful woman. I am very blessed.
“We moved back to Manchester last year, before that [Corrie]. It was time to go back north for all sorts of reasons and that makes me very happy.” And Isobel is no stranger to the small screen herself having landed herself in a rival soap to Corrie.
Isobel played three roles in Emmerdale as Dr Lane in 2014, prosecuting counsel during the trial of Simon McManus in 2018 and Jean Rawson in 2020. And in the BBC soap EastEnders she played Sadie Banks in 2002. Isobel not only accepted small soap operas though. , because she has an impressive back catalog of TV credits.
But she expressed her excitement at her wife’s achievement at the British Soap Awards a few years ago with Isobel tweeting: “So proud that my incredibly talented and funny wife has been nominated for Best Comedy Performance at #Soapawards2022 No we can vote but if I could I would do it all over again #JaneHazlegrove #BernieWinters #Corrie #funnybones.”
In the 1990s Jane starred in the ITV detective thriller Cracker alongside the late Robbie Coltrane, and also appeared in the likes of The Ruth Rendle Mysteries, The Bill and like her wife, Casualty. One of her most recent roles however is on the Channel 5 drama Compulsion as Dr Wilhemina Medlock and this year she appeared in the radio drama The Archers as Anna Tregorran.
And playing Bernie isn’t Jane’s first time in Corrie either. She played Sue Clayton in Corrie back in 1985, the youngest daughter of Harry and Connie Clayton. Speaking to Inside Soap, Jane opened up about that long-forgotten role, saying: “Well, it was only two episodes a week then, so it was a complete beast different from what it is now.
“I was in the green room with some of the legends, Bill Tarmey [Jack Duckworth]Barbara Knox [Rita]Thelma Barlow [Mavis Riley], so I was a little worried. But they were just gorgeous to me.” But before she was known for her other cogs, Jane was probably best known as the star for portraying the role of Kathleen “Dixie” Dixon on and off for 20 years in Casualty.
However, she made her first appearance on television in 1984 at the age of 16. Jane appeared in a television movie called Threads, in which she starred as a character called Alison Kemp. She went on to star in several other TV shows before getting her big break on the show How We Used To Live, where she won a recurring role as the character Maggie Selby between 1984 and 1987.
Despite her fame, in 2019 she revealed her battle with ‘Imposter Syndrome’. She told chat show host Lorraine Kelly: “It’s very difficult when I come up. I tend to throw things on TV. I’m hard on myself. I think that’s important isn’t it? Imposter syndrome – that’s all I could say, are you Jane Hazelgrove? Yes, get out.”
She said: “The arrogance of youth – I wasn’t nervous at all. Show up and I don’t want to let myself down or the family or anything.”
