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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Kyle O'Sullivan & Ryan Paton

Gogglebox Siddiqui's rarely seen relatives, real jobs and police trouble

Gogglebox fans were thrilled as the Siddiqui family once again returned for the show's latest season.

Sid, Baasit and Umar have been a fixture of the popular Channel 4 show ever since its very first season back in 2013. The family have welcomed viewers back into their Derbyshire home for series 20, which premiered last month.

A new instalment of Gogglebox is set to be broadcast tonight and Sid, Baasit and Umar are set to once again issue their verdict on the week's best TV. Away from the sofa, Baasit is happily married to Melissa - and he issued a heartfelt tribute this week to celebrate their 10th anniversary.

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He said: "Happy ten year anniversary to the most amazing wife, mummy, friend and soul mate. The last ten years have been full of laughter, love and adventure.

"Thank you so much @melissasiddiqui for everything that you do. If I spent the next ten years explaining how much you mean to me, it still wouldn’t be enough. Love you." The married couple's daughter, Amelia, has once appeared on Gogglebox and they also share a son named Theodore.

Baasit also juggles his responsibilities as a dad and a Gogglebox personality with his work as an IT teacher. His brother Umit has worked as a biomedical Scientist and his dad, Sid, is a retired engineer who moved to the UK from Pakistan when he was aged just 16 - as Mirror Online reports.

Sid has been married to wife Nasreen for 37 years and they also have two daughters who have chosen to never appear on the programme. Nasreen has told how she will never appear on the show, but the family did thrill fans when they shared a rare glimpse of their mum on Instagram.

They captioned the posted: "I was trying to get a photo of all three of these guys staring at the camera and smiling! Dad is like a statue with that smile but Mum and Amelia we’re doing it on purpose. Each time one of them would smile the other would look the other way or swap! The Siddiqui ladies are a stubborn and cheeky bunch."

Sid and Nasreen also have a third son, Raza, who appeared on the sofa with the family in earlier seasons. However, Raza has since departed from being a series regular and only occasionally makes appearances on the show.

The Siddiquis once found themselves at the centre of a social media storm in 2016 when the brothers were forced to apologise after making an ISIS joke. The police were contacted after they shared a post on Facebook of them smiling while getting ready for a game of paintballing dressed in camouflage outfits

Baasit, Umar and Raza posed for a snap, alongside the caption: "ISIS training day, look how happy we look!" The TV personalities apologised after the police followed up the complaint to make numerous visits.

Baasit tweeted: "The image on Facebook was meant to be light-hearted but was clearly a joke that was misjudged. We are extremely sorry for any offence caused."

Initially, the police stated that they were trying to contact the brothers about the image. A police spokesperson said: "Officers have been to see them over the weekend, they have been to the house a couple of times, visiting again yesterday, but they are not home.

"They will keep trying until they are able to speak to them about the photograph." Derbyshire Police concluded there were no terrorism links, but said they would be "offering suitable words of advice".

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: "The Siddiquis have not been under investigation by local police, they are aware that this post was misjudged and have apologised for their mistake. It will not affect their position on Gogglebox."

Gogglebox airs Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4

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