Kal Nazir and Dev Alahan
Coronation Street will welcome its first Muslim family.
Executive Producer Stuart Blackburn has confirmed relatives of personal trainer Kal Nazir - who is played by Jimi Mistry - will hit the cobbles in the near future, and he admits it is "bizarre" the ITV soap has never had a Muslim family in the 53 years that it's been on television.
Stuart is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper as saying: "We've established that Kal's two kids, his daughter and son, live with his mum and dad.
"We've already cast his dad, Sharif, who is retired. He's not rich but he's made enough money he doesn't need to work.
"He's had some health problems so his wife doesn't want him to work 12 hours a day any more.
"We haven't cast the others yet."
Jimi - who previously played Dr. Fred Fonseca in 'EastEnders' from 1998 to 2000 - joined 'Coronation Street' two months ago as Dev Alahan's (Jimmi Harkishin) personal trainer, and the 41-year-old actor recently admitted it was an easy decision to join 'Corrie'.
He said: "I met with Stuart [Blackburn] the producer and there was an opportunity to join the show. 'Corrie' has been a big favourite of mine over the years.
"It gave me a great opportunity and the great thing about doing something like this is that the writing is so fantastic.
"As an actor, you get to work every day. It's a very rare thing for an actor and it's a gift to be given, to go into a show like Corrie. It wasn't really a tough decision for me."
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