Coronation Street’s new cast member, Sair Khan, tells Soaplife that her character Alya is not the kind of girl to steal another woman’s man…
New Weatherfield arrival Alya Nazir is in for a surprise. She’s just started working behind the reception of her dad’s gym when she sees the man she’s just spent the night with pumping iron. “It’s Gary who Alya ended up with, having met him in a club as she celebrated leaving uni,” Sair tells Soaplife. “They started flirting, having fun, and one thing led to another.”
Does Alya know Gary’s got a girlfriend and child at home?
“No - she has no idea. If she’d had any inkling she never would have taken him home with her. There’s a real spark between them, which is why they spend the night together. But as Gary doesn’t tell Alya any different, she presumes he’s single.”
So it’s a huge shock when she sees him at the gym with his family?
“It’s a real jaw-to-the-floor moment for her. Alya’s angry. He should have told her the truth before. She’s not a maneater who goes with someone already in a serious relationship and who has a child. And just what’s he doing going after other women if he’s already spoken for?”
Exactly! What happens next?
“Well, she can’t completely avoid Gary. She’s working at the gym and he uses it. They’ll run into each other all the time. He begs her not to tell Izzy, but she will find out. She’s not best pleased, when she does but that’s all to come…”
What’s Alya like?
“She’s a textiles graduate who’s working for her dad over the summer. She’s family-orientated and understandably it devastated her when she lost her mum a few years ago. She isn’t that close to her dad because he was away in the Army when she was growing up, but she has a very close bond with her grandparents.”
