Julie Hesmondhalgh, AKA Coronation Street's recently deceased Hayley Cropper, is hoping to go from Roy's Rolls to the Doctor's Tardis, with landing a role in Doctor Who apparently being a "massive ambition" for the former soap star.

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Speaking in the latest issue of Radio Times, Hesmondhalgh explains that ever since her emotional exit from Corrie last year, in which Hayley killed herself after a battle with pancreatic cancer, she has been longing for a part in the sci-fi series in order to please her 13 and ten year-old daughters.

"My daughters were upset when I left Coronation Street," she says. "As a desperate measure, I said, 'You never know, I might be in other really great stuff, like Doctor Who.' Now I feel like I need to dedicate my life to doing it!"

She's certainly going the right way about it. Hesmondhalgh's next on-screen appearance is in Channel 4 drama Cucumber, written by former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies, and airing on Thursday.

There is, however, another popular show that one of her daughters wouldn't mind her featuring in: Sherlock.

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"My husband [actor and writer Ian Kershaw] and I have just introduced the 13 year-old to Sherlock. She's now the biggest fan in the world and has a poster of Benedict Cumberbatch on her door. She's doing drawings of him. She's obsessed."

Aren't we all? Elsewhere, Hesmondhalgh also talks about her role in Cucumber ("it's just a drama about a group of people having sex with each other), watching Corrie post-exit ("it upset me more than I thought it would") and why she would like a night with Paul Hollywood…

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Read the full interview in this week's Radio Times, out Tuesday 20th January

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