Life of trans bus driver from Belfast, who died in 1980 just three days after undoing gender reassignment surgery, inspires new play

The life of a trans bus driver from Belfast, who died just three days after undoing gender reassignment surgery, has inspired a new play showing in Northern Ireland.

An inquest found that Wilma Creith, who was just 47 when she underwent gender reassignment surgery in Leeds in 1980, died as a result of a blood clot caused by high levels of oestrogen.

At the time, Wilma made front page news in 1977, with a tabloid running the headline “Call me Wilma, says bus driver Bill”, and now her story has inspired a play, Suspect Device.

Artistic director Paula McFetridge, who said dozens of people had got in touch to share stories, said: “She ferried children to and from school.”

She added that those who reached out spoke of the “stoic grace in the way she looked and in the way she handled people”

Mariah Louca, who takes on the role of Wilma, said there were stories of abuse Wilma was subjected to.

“A lot of horror stories came out of her time driving the buses,” she said.

“That just makes me more in awe of her.”

While Wilma is remembered as a resilient and strong-willed figure, associate director Colm Doran said the “humiliation and embarrassment must have been huge” when she appeared on the front page of the Sunday World in 1980.

Suspect Device runs until 1 December at Belfast Castle.