Junade Khan has officially joined the cast of Coronation Street as Idris Nazir, the cousin of Sair Khan’s on-screen character Alya Nazir.
While the characters are related on-screen though, could the actors who play them also share a familial connection?
Idris Nazir’s arrival onto Coronation Street
Idris has already made his presence felt in Weatherfield after turning up at Speed Daal, where he was quick to step in and deal with customers causing trouble for Alya and Leanne Battersby.
But while he initially appeared to be playing the hero, things soon took a more complicated turn as Idris started showing a different side to his personality.
He later revealed he works in property, having taken over an agency in Manchester, although Adam was left unconvinced by his polished charm and kept a close eye on him.
And it didn’t take long for Adam’s suspicions to be justified, with viewers later seeing Idris demanding money from a nervous young man out on the Street.
Idris has also brought Brody Michaelis into his orbit, offering him work – something that has left Leanne increasingly uneasy, as she fears the teenager is being pulled into something far more questionable.
Despite those concerns, Leanne herself has found it hard to resist Idris’s appeal. She’s become rather taken with him. And, the chemistry between the pair has quickly escalated.
The couple recently shared a kiss, before heading back to Leanne’s place as their connection continued to develop. Even Alya’s warnings about Idris’s reputation and past behaviour have done little to cool things off.
Are Junade Khan and Sair Khan related?
But with Idris and Alya Nazir cousins on-screen, viewers have been asking a very different question off-screen – are actors Sair Khan and Junade Khan actually related in real life?
It’s an easy assumption to make given they share the same surname, but there doesn’t appear to be any family connection between the two Coronation Street stars. It seems to be nothing more than a coincidence.
Junade does, however, have some showbiz connections of his own through his children, who are already familiar with the world of film and television.
Speaking to Metro, he joked: “My kids are actually on screen more than me! My daughter worked with Angelina Jolie in a film called Anxious People, and did a Ridley Scott film, and my little boy has done a Marvel film and Waffle the Wonder Dog. So now there’s me in Corrie, it’s all good!”
Read more: Coronation Street opinion: Soap losing balance as villains dominate
Coronation Street usually airs Monday-Friday at 8.30pm on ITV.
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