Yasmeen and Zeedan Nazir

[Perdita]

Another Coronation Street romance bites the dust next week as Zeedan Nazir dumps his girlfriend Rana.
When the racy newcomer arrived on the cobbles actress Bhavna Limbachia, who plays her, warned that she had the ability to break hearts, and it seems it’s Zeedan’s on the chopping block.
Next week she plays a game of hot and cold with him by first coming on strong and then ignoring his calls and giving him the cold shoulder.
When Zeedan confides in his sister that he may have blown it with Rana as she’s ignoring his calls, Alya is annoyed that her friend is treating him so badly and warns him he’s being taken for a mug.
Later, when Zeedan clocks Rana flirting with one of the doctors outside the medical centre, he heads over and quickly introduces himself as her boyfriend.
Her behaviour starts to grate on him and Rana is knocked for six when she heads to No 6 where Zeedan dumps her, telling her she’s a flirt and he won’t be messed around.
Rana tries to win him back by roping in Alya but when Zeedan explains that she’s a game player and got what she deserved, his sister is impressed – but can Rana work her way back into his life?

[swmc66]

I think she will turn out to be like Glen close in fatal attraction. Or stalk him or something. She is not used to being dumped she normally does the dumping. Her ego will not be able to handle it

[Perdita]

Coronation Street's Zeedan Nazir is baffled tonight (September 21) as his sister Alya warns that there could be a romantic spark between their grandfather Sharif and family friend Sonia. If only he knew she was bang on the money...

Alya (Sair Khan) has been watching Sharif and Sonia very closely recently and the situation is far more serious than even she realises, as the Nazir family's patriarch has actually been cheating on his wife Yasmeen for seven years.

With fireworks ahead for the family, Digital Spy recently caught up with Qasim Akhtar – who plays Zeedan – for the inside scoop.

The Nazir family are certainly being thrust into the spotlight with this storyline.

"Yeah, definitely. It's good that as a family we've got some drama to really get our teeth stuck into. It means we can work together and really do some meaty scenes.

"It's always been a bit slow, but we're picking up now and we've got some good stuff coming up. Hopefully everyone who sees it will appreciate it as much as we've enjoyed doing it."

How does Zeedan react when Alya warns that Sharif might be having an affair?

"Initially Zeedan doesn't want to hear it. He thinks it's all a load of rubbish. Obviously Sharif is pretty much his father figure, so Zeedan doesn't think that he'd ever do something like that. As far as he's concerned, Sharif is his grandfather and he's perfect.

"For Alya to make this accusation that Sharif is having an affair is quite a big thing for him. He almost immediately dismisses it, but of course it's actually the truth."

So how would Zeedan feel if he knew it really was the truth?

"Script-wise, we can only see so far ahead, so I don't know exactly how it's going to pan out over the next few months. But initially when Zeedan finds out, there's a lot of anger and there's a lot of questions to be asked. There's a lot of answers that he wants about what's been going on.

"Because Zeedan is the only guy left for Yasmeen, he's also going to be the one who has to look after her. He'll be the go-to guy, basically."


How did you all react as an on-screen family when the story cropped up? The fans were quite surprised by Sharif's seven-year affair.

"We were all just exactly like the fans. We were just as surprised, because we didn't expect anything like that to happen. Sharif has always been Mr Perfect and it's been like he can't do anything wrong. So the fact that he'd been having an affair for seven years and nobody had known about it, was kind of a shock for us!"

Do you hope the family can somehow make it through this?

"Yeah definitely – I hope they do 100%. People go through issues and problems all the time in their lives, and the only way to make them better is to work through them."

Does the story also have the potential to run for quite a while?

"Absolutely. I hope it does, because it can spiral off into other things. It can maybe give Zeedan some firepower to go off and do what he wants to do. Maybe he can use that as fuel to do something out of the ordinary that maybe he wouldn't usually do."

What do you make of Zeedan's romance with Rana?

"For me as a person and for the character it's been perfect. Zeedan has been through so much heartache in his life, but now he's finally got somebody coming into his life who makes him happy. I think he wants to hold onto that with both hands and not let it go. Let's hope they have the potential to stay together.

"Bhavna Limbachia, who plays Rana, is lovely too. We get along and we have a laugh together. She teases me and I tease her all the time."

Looking back, were you worried for the future of the Nazir family when your on-screen dad Jimi Mistry left the show last year?

"I was gutted more than worried. I was disappointed because just as Jimi left and his character died, they started to really build a good relationship with Kal and Zeedan.

"When Jimi told me that he was going, I was really upset because we had a really good relationship – both on screen and off screen. On-screen he was my dad, but off-screen he was like my older brother. Him leaving didn't worry me, but it did make me feel a bit upset."

[swmc66]

Alya could have helped but did not

[Perdita]

Alya could have helped but did not

She did approach Johnny once for him to buy the machine but he turned round and said that he could not afford it

[swmc66]

But if it was sold externally or given to the bailiffs it would help. But she is selfish.

[lizann]

But if it was sold externally or given to the bailiffs it would help. But she is selfish.

could a knicker stitching machine be taken as gym equipment by bailiffs

[lizann]

But if it was sold externally or given to the bailiffs it would help. But she is selfish.

could a knicker stitching machine be taken as gym equipment by bailiffs

[swmc66]

Anything can be given to pay off a debt. Its her stupid machiine that has led to all of this. Her blackmailing led to her grandfather stealing the 14,000 in the first place. But i find all of this unrealistic as a business such as their gym would not close over 14k they would be able to raise the money plus i never realised Devs finances were so bad. Where did this all come from?

[parkerman]

i never realised Devs finances were so bad. Where did this all come from?

What did he do with all the money he got from selling his other six shops?