Imran Habeeb has gone from hero to zero in the eyes of Coronation Street fans. The lawyer, played by Charlie De Melo, made his first appearance on the famous street in 2017. After the breakdown of his marriage to Sabeen, Imran moved in with his sister Rana.
Fats forward a year and Imran had settled into life on the cobbles having teamed up with fellow solicitor Adam Barlow and begun a relationship with Toyah Battersby, after initially seeing both her and her sister Leanne at the same time. But his defining moment came in 2020 when he successfully defended Yasmeen Metcalfe after she was charged with the attempted murder of her abusive husband, Geoff.
But more recently, Corrie fans have taken a great dislike to the character after he lied his way to getting custody of his son, Alfie. It was revealed last year that it was Abi Franklin Imran had his one-night stand with after her son Seb's murder trial which initially saw Kelly Neelan sent down for murder.
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Toyah eventually found out about his fling but the pair were working through their issues and were about to adopt foster daughter Elsie. However, things soon came crashing down for the pair when Abi suddenly went into labour and Toyah discovered her husband was the secret father.
Since then though, the pair have got married and now have custody of baby Alfie after Imran got paralegal Ben to lie that he had seen her buying drugs, fuelling his belief she was using again. But things are set to come to a dramatic climax this week when the battle for Alfie intensified and Imran and Toyah end up in a horror car crash.
Luckily for Charlie, who has played Imran for five years, things appear a lot less dramatic off-screen. Away from his character's drama, the actor has a rather adorable role. Charlie has previously been described as the Guide Dogs UK charity as a 'doggy doula'. Dog dad to his own two golden retriever dogs, Toni and Sarah, Charlie breeds his dogs before their puppies go off to learn to be guide dogs
Last year he revealed that his dog Sarah had given birth to a litter of puppies and documented their growth with his Instagram followers before they headed off to be trained for their extremely important life role. He revealed at the time: "Full disclosure, I didn't start uploading any of the photos or videos of the pups until after they had already left us. The number of thefts during lockdown was such that it was ill advised for me to even run a small risk of them being taken from us."
"Thank you for showing so much interest and engaging so much with these pups as they grew from little hairy slugs to the goodest boys and girls. If you are able and interested, there are many ways to support Guide Dogs UK. If these kinds of journeys and stories meant something to you and you'd like to help tell them, that's a good way to do it."
And lockdown was a busy time for the soap star as not only did he have puppies to contend with, he was also learning a new skill. The 32-year-old revealed that he gave himself a lockdown project of learning to ride a motorbike.
In January, Charlie took to Instagram with a snap of himself grinning from ear-to-ear in his jeans and leather jacket with a motorbike helmet under his arm. He appeared to be posing with one of the driving examiners. "Lockdown Project, Completed," Charlie shared alongside the post. He then added: "See you out on the road," alongside another photo outside the training school.
As for Charlie's love life, it isn't known if he is in a relationship. But he did once go out with a Corrie co-star. Charlie and Nicola Thorp, who played Pat Phelan’s daughter Nicola Rubenstein in the ITV soap, reportedly had a close friendship for 10 years first before it blossomed into romance.
The pair are believed to have got together back in 2018 and often posed for sweet, loved-up snaps together on social media. However, they split the following year after around 10 months together.
Prior to joining Corrie, Charlie had a role in EastEnders. In 2017, Charlie played the role of Jaz Jones in the BBC One soap, a police officer involved in a storyline that saw Louise Mitchell fearful Keegan Baker had raped her after having her drink spiked. But the same year, after his brief time in Albert Square, it was announced Charlie would be making his way to Weatherfield.
However, Charlie is set to leave the Salford-based soap. It was reported earlier his year that the actor had quite after five years of playing Imran. And while he hasn't publically addressed his exit, his on-screen wife Georgia Taylor recently said she was left "heartbroken" by the news.
