Coronation Street has aired a series of mysterious scenes involving Alya Nazir and viewers of the soap think this could mean a return for a former Weatherfield resident
20:45, 11 Mar 2026Updated 21:12, 11 Mar 2026
Alya looked worried when she received a mysterious phone call on Wednesday night’s Coronation Street(Image: ITV)
Coronation Street aired a series of mysterious scenes involving Alya Nazir on Wednesday night. The trainee solicitor, who has been played by Sair Khan on the ITV soap since 2014, has been through an awful lot during her time in Weatherfield, including the loss of her father Kal (Jimi Mystri) in a fire, and witnessing her grandmother Yasmeen (Shelley King) become the victim of coercive control at the hands of Geoff Metcalfe in 2020.
Things have been relatively quiet for Alya in recent times, and she is loved up with colleague Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson) but in recent episodes of the world’s longest-running soap, it has become apparent that all that is about to change.
Earlier this week, Alya was seen speaking to a stranger in a car, demanding that they leave her alone but whilst at the Bistro on Wednesday night’s episode, she got an unwelcome phone call. The phone displayed the caller ID of Rich, and she was seen making a hasty exit from the restaurant after dodging the call with a worried look on her face.
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The caller ID showed that someone apparently called Rich was ringing Alya(Image: ITV)
Later on, she emerged from the passenger side of a car, slammed the door and looked even more frightened, as she caught up with her boyfriend, who appeared totally oblivious the whole thing.
Fans were quick to react to the bizarre scenes, and one theory that remains somewhat prevalent is that a return could be on the cards for Alya’s grandfather. Sharif Nazir arrived on the cobbles along with his family when they made their debut over a decade ago, and he was played by Marc Anwar, but the character was hastily written out when the actor made a racist social media post, in what he later described as a “moment of madness.”
In the storyline, it was quickly established that Sharif had been having an affair with Yasmeen’s friend Sonia for several years. After the whole fall-out, he moved to stay with relatives in Newcastle and has not been seen in Weatherfield since. Predicting that some sort of comeback could be on the way, one fan wrote on Reddit: “Very nice of them to give Alya a storyline for once! But what’s going on? In today’s episode, she got that phone call off someone called Rich and hastily ignored it and just the other day she was shouting at that random car. What sort of super duper mysterious mystery could befall our favourite street now?
Alya’s granddad Sharif hasn’t been on the cobbles for almost a decade(Image: ITV)
“On another note, why don’t we ever hear of Sharif these days? I know the actor and the character left under a bit of a cloud, but what’s to stop a recast? There’s no mention of him. Any chance he would be involved in all this?” Another fan said: “Wonder who Alya was talking to on #corrie i reckon it be sharif her grandad played by a different actor!”
Other fans weren’t convinced though, although they just remained hopeful that the show, which has come under fire for its onslaught of crime-based storylines, wasn’t going down yet another dark path.
One said: “I can’t see Sharif being mentioned again. Yasmeen is no longer in it and I doubt Alya will mention him! I don’t know what’s going on with Alya. I hope there isn’t going to be yet ANOTHER bad character/negative storyline introduced though.
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“We are still dealing with all of the other ones,” whilst another said: “Probably yet another villain storyline to add to all the others. Maybe he’s blackmailing her in order to gain access to Adam’s files regarding a particular case?”
Another fan theorised that a good old fashioned soap affair could be on the horizon, as they wrote: “she’s definitely acting weird and hiding something! i wonder if she’s cheating on Adam??”
Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X.
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