Coronation Street star Jane Hazlegrove has been playing Bernie Winter on the ITV soap since 2019, but who is her real-life wife?
Joe Crutchley Screen Time reporter
12:11, 27 Jan 2026Updated 12:15, 27 Jan 2026
Inside Coronation Street Bernie Winter actress’ marriage to Emmerdale star(Image: ITV)
Jane Hazlegrove has become a beloved figure on Coronation Street in her role as Bernie Winter – but who is her real-life partner?
Jane arrived on the ITV soap in 2019, turning up as Bernie, the long-lost mother of Gemma (Dolly-Rose Campbell) and Paul (Peter Ash). Since her debut, she’s been at the centre of numerous major plotlines, including her wedding to Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) and Paul’s tragic passing in 2024 following his struggle with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).
Furthermore, Bernie faced fresh heartbreak this month when son-in-law Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank) perished in the Corriedale episode. In the shocking special, Billy and various other Weatherfield locals were caught up in a devastating multi-car crash on the carriageway.
This week on the cobbles, events are poised to take a dramatic twist as Bernie continues to cope following Billy’s demise. During an evening out, an intoxicated Bernie meets a chap called Mal and the two share their woes, before Mal subsequently asks Bernie back to his hotel room.
Away from the cameras, Bernie actress Jane leads a considerably quieter existence, and is contentedly wed to a fellow soap performer. Here, we’re exploring Jane’s relationship with her cherished wife, reports the Mirror.
Jane and spouse Isobel
Jane plays Bernie on the soap(Image: ITV)
Jane is wed to actress Isobel Middleton. The couple initially crossed paths back in 1995 when Jane starred in the hit production Boom Bang-a-Bang at London’s Bush Theatre.
After beginning a conversation with Isobel – who had come to watch the performance – matters swiftly developed and a romance ignited that has endured for more than three decades.
Fast-forward to 2010 and Jane and Isobel entered into a civil partnership. The couple held the ceremony aboard a vessel in Bristol, with Jane telling the Mirror: “It was amazing – I was all dressed up and wore a really nice frock.”
Nevertheless, Jane added: “We decided to do it because Isobel had been unwell. She was in London and I was in Bristol working on Casualty, and I wasn’t allowed to know anything about what was going on with her operations and hospital treatment.
“I was just seen as her friend, even though we’d been lovers for ten years. They weren’t allowed to tell me. So, we did the civil partnership because we thought, ‘no one can touch us then’.”
Why Jane ‘didn’t tell anyone’ about marriage
The pair met over 30 years ago(Image: Jane Hazlegrove Instagram)
Five years afterwards, Jane and Isobel, who reside in Derbyshire, wed at a Bristol register office – though Jane was initially reluctant. She revealed: “I didn’t want to do it originally. I didn’t want to do it just because the government now said we could.
“I’ve never been part of a gang, I like to think of myself as being someone who doesn’t conform.”
Jane continued: “So, we didn’t tell anybody, we just went and did it ourselves. All we had to do was take a gas bill and upgrade! Really romantic! We then invited six friends around for a curry.”
Isobel’s Coronation Street role
Isobel has appeared in Emmerdale
Much like her wife, Isobel also works in the acting profession and has taken on several roles in Emmerdale, playing Dr Lane in 2014, a barrister in 2018, and Jean Rawson in 2020. She currently portrays village detective DI Roberts.
Isobel’s career extends beyond Emmerdale, having featured on EastEnders as Sadie Banks in 2002 and branching into cinema with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in 2009.
Additionally, Isobel has made an appearance on Coronation Street, playing feminist author Persephone Braxton, who hosted a book launch at Roy’s Rolls in 2022.
Speaking about her wife working on Corrie Jane said: “I wanted to come in and be her chaperone, but she was having none of it.
“She was in the café chatting with Ken Barlow and there was a fight when Tracy comes in and catches him with his mistress. I wasn’t in work that day unfortunately. Probably just as well, I don’t think her character would have liked Bernie very much!”.
Jane praises Isobel for support
They got married in 2015(Image: @barnaclebelle/Twitter)
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In 2024, Jane shared a poignant moment involving Isobel during an especially difficult period when she felt “unable to open the script” for the episode depicting her on-screen son Paul’s death.
“I couldn’t actually open this script at home, because I didn’t want to have that hanging around my dining room, if you know what I mean,” she said at the time. Going on to share a glimpse into her personal life, Jane continued: “So my missus took me off to a shepard’s hut in Northumbria, and we sat in the sunshine with a bottle of wine and read it together.”
She revealed about the script for Paul’s death episode: “I thought it was going to be too much for me to have in the house, as it were.”
Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX
