A baby won’t be the only new arrival in Gemma’s life this year.
Coronation Street have cast Gemma Winter’s “impossible” mum – and she’ll be coming to the cobbles very soon.
Played by Manchester actress Jane Hazlegrove, Bernie Winter will arrive onto the street in July.
Bernie is Gemma and Paul’s estranged mother, an old raver who still sees herself as a free spirit. She is not one to be tied down to a man, a job or any responsibilities – especially when it means hard work for her.
Her debut comes after she let her daughter down this week, after she failed to pick her up when Gemma planned to leave Weatherfield.
She then turns up further down the line in Gemma’s pregnancy and is soon ruffling feathers.
Bernie does love her kids, the problem is she has never been good at the ordinary things, and after years of being a party animal and a part-time parent she has let them down more times than they can count.
Gemma is happy to have her mum around, but Paul isn’t as forgiving – and is more suspicious of her motives.
However, Bernie is back to support Gemma through her pregnancy and prove she can be a good mum for once.
On her new role, Jane Hazlegrove said:
“I’m thrilled to be joining Coronation Street. It’s where I started my apprenticeship as a very young actor. I can’t wait to get stuck in.”
It’s not the first time that Jane has appeared on Coronation Street.
She previously appeared on the long-running soap as Sue Clayton, the daughter of Harry and Connie Clayton, and lived at 11 Coronation Street.
Fans may also recognise her from Casualty, where she played paramedic ‘Dixie’ for 10 years.
A Coronation Street spokesperson said:
“Like mother, like daughter. We are very pleased that the fantastic Jane Hazlegrove has agreed to join the cast as the irrepressible and impossible Gemma’s even more irrepressible and impossible mother. Fur will fly!”
