Junade Khan has made his first appearance this week on Coronation Street as Idris Nazir, bringing a new face to Weatherfield and a new thread for the Nazir family. Idris arrived on the cobbles as Alya Nazir’s cousin and wasted little time making an impression.
That debut matters because Khan’s arrival lands at the same time his family is already having a busy spell on screen. He is married to Gem, whom he wed in 2016, and the couple have two young children, Alara-Star and Pacino, both of whom are child actors. Khan said, “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!”
Pacino has been at the centre of that family buzz this week after Khan said the five year old had secured a role on a TV show he loves and had his fitting this week. Khan wrote that the boy was “absolutely everything” when he reacted to the booking, adding that he loved the whole audition process and had really wished and prayed hard for the part. He also said Pacino’s school teacher told them that after his first recall he had written the role down as a wish on the class wish board for 2026, and that after the final recall the child wrote out the same prayer wish at church. Khan said Pacino’s sister was delighted too.
On Coronation Street, Idris has already begun to stir things up. He has kindled a romance with Leanne Battersby, despite Alya warning her about his reputation, and that gives the character an immediate place in one of the soap’s long-running family circles. The speed of that move fits the way the role has been introduced: not as a quiet arrival, but as someone who is already affecting the people around him.
What Khan has not yet spelled out is how far Idris will go in Weatherfield, or how long the character will remain at the centre of the action. For now, the debut has done its job: it gives Coronation Street a fresh presence, gives the Nazir family another link on screen, and gives Khan a new role at a time when his children are also building their own credits.
