Sharif Nazir (Marc Anwar)

[Dazzle]

Marc Anwar's apparently been sacked from Corrie with immediate effect for posting racist tweets!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/c...-anwar-8909333

[olivia1896]

Marc Anwar's apparently been sacked from Corrie with immediate effect for posting racist tweets!

http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/coronation-street-actor-marc-anwar-8909333

Serves him right i suppose. People need to realise that yes we have freedom of speech, but the words you say have consequences and the show can't associate with actors like that.

[Perdita]

Wow Unless he gets recast, Alya won´t get her money and I suppose Yasmeen kicks him out off screen after the affair will become known to her ... what a mess for the writers to sort out quickly

[swmc66]

I am shocked and disappointed in him. I am sure he knows the code of conduct that goes with the show. He may of thought that he was indespensable with current storylines etc.

[parkerman]

Well at least there is a storyline going on that could lead to a quick exit.

[Perdita]

Surely he would know that it was professional suicide ... Chris Fountain has only just got a role in the touring cast of The Full Monty 3 years after getting sacked from Corrie for his youtube performance ... I hope they recast the character as I really like the Nazirs

[Perdita]

Coronation Street's Sharif Nazir will be back on screen in the show tomorrow, despite Marc Anwar's sacking for shocking remarks that he allegedly posted on Twitter.

Corrie bosses have confirmed that Anwar has been fired with immediate effect after a series of racially offensive messages appeared on his account on Friday (September 23).

The show's team now face a nightmare scenario of rewriting weeks' worth of future storylines and scripts to explain why Sharif suddenly disappears from Weatherfield.

Awkwardly, Sharif has the main story in Monday night's Coronation Street double bill as his granddaughter Alya starts blackmailing him over his secret affair with family friend Sonia.

Digital Spy understands that the storyline features so heavily that it won't be possible for producers to edit Sharif out of immediate Corrie episodes at this late stage.

However, a show insider told us that producers will look at re-editing episodes further on down the line to minimise his presence where possible - before Sharif makes an off-screen exit.

The timing of Anwar's sacking comes just as Sharif is taking centre stage in one of his first major storylines, with the surprise revelation that he's been having an affair for seven years.

While the off-screen scandal will inevitably cause disruption and rewrites, it does give scriptwriters an easy way to explain why Sharif would say goodbye to the cobbles.

In the short-term, Digital Spy understands that it was always the plan for the storyline to shift its focus onto the impact of the affair on Sharif's closest family members Yasmeen, Alya and Zeedan - which is one saving grace for the writers.

Qasim Akhtar, who plays Zeedan, told us this week: "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."

Anwar, who was born in Pakistan, had his contract terminated by ITV after tweets posted on his account branded Indians "b*****ds" and "p**s-drinking c**ts".

Another tweet allegedly wrote: "Why the *******k do #pakistaniartists want work in #******* face #india, do you love money so much."

An ITV statement said today: "We are deeply shocked by the entirely unacceptable, racially offensive comments made on Twitter by Marc Anwar.

"We have talked to Marc and, as a consequence of his comments, he will not be returning to Coronation Street with immediate effect."

Digital Spy


Wish they would just recast him

[swmc66]

I do not like the recent storylines anyway

[Perdita]

I do not like the recent storylines anyway

Nor do I but I would rather they recast Sharif to end the storyline properly, I presume Yasmeen would have found out about the affair anyway and would have him kicked out and then he could go with Sonia maybe and move away. But we are not far enough in that storyline to have him leave without us seeing him with a black bin liner in his hand getting into a taxi

[alan45]

Maybe they will kill him off and the lovely Alya will get the 14k she needs from his will.