Loose Women are welcoming back former panellist Julie Hesmondhalgh on Thursday afternoon’s episode. The star is joining the show alongside Christine Lampard, Judi Love, Nadia Sawalha and Jane Moore after 25 years away from the panel.

Julie, 55, will be joining the panel for their chats as they speak about aging, the new Michael Jackson documentary and password fatigue. She’ll also be speaking about her role in Mr Bates vs The Post Office and new play, Punch. Julie is best known for her role as Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, which she played from 1998 to 2014.

Julie
Julie was a Loose Woman 25 years ago when the show was filmed in Manchester (Image:

ITV STUDIOS)
In 2019, fellow Loose Woman Kaye Adams opened up about Julie’s time on the show all those years ago. Posting a selfie of herself, Brenda and Julie, Kaye penned: “Julie was a Loose Woman back in the day when we filmed in Manchester.

“She’d hang up her Hayley Cropper coat and leave the cobbles to join us in the studio. As I remember, we bonded over a love of the Sound of Music,” she penned. “She is a byword (or two bywords!) for wit, warmth and integrity and it was such a pleasure to see her again after so many years.

“She is appearing in a one woman play wot-her-bloke-wrote called The Greatest Play in the History of the World at the Trafalgar Studio and i know it will be brilliant because she is in it.” Loose Women was previously filmed in Manchester at Granada Studios, before moving over to London.

Julie isn’t the only Coronation Street star who has been on the panel. Last year, Sue Cleaver, best known for playing the role of Eileen Grimshaw on the cobbles, became a panellist after appearing as a guest in 2023. It came shortly before Sue announced she’d be leaving the soap later this year, after 25 years. The star revealed she was ready to make a change in her life.

In a statement, she revealed that the door “is still firmly open” to return to the soap but that she’s ready for “new adventures”.

“I’m leaving now – I’m 61 and this is what my new book is all about. I think we get to an age where society wants us just to shuffle off quietly and I really want to encourage other women that we have so much more to give,” she said during an interview on This Morning.

It was recently announced her on screen son, Jason Grimshaw played by Ryan Thomas would be making a return for her exit storyline.