Uncle Umed leaving Coronation Street

Uncle Umed is leaving Coronation Street to head back to India, says Soap Queen Sharon Marshall on ITV's This Morning today. So, will anyone miss him?

I have mixed thoughts about Umed. I found him terribly irritating for a very long time but he endeared himself when he started chatting up Audrey Roberts and I'd have liked to have seen this friendship develop. Then he went back to being annoying but has redeemed himself somewhat in a comedy vein with Dev and the doorbell, which I thought was quite fun. Will you miss Uncle Umed or are you glad to see him go?

Three new Corrie characters join cast

Coronation Street's going to get three new characters over the coming weeks.

First off is Luke Strong, played by Craig Kelly. Luke is an old friend of Carla Gordon's whose arrival will cause havoc in Underworld. He arrives to manage Carla's share of the factory after she leaves Tony and he'll turn up on February 20th.
Read more about Luke Strong here.

Then we'll meet Julie Carp's mum Paula, played by Sharon Duce. She arrives on February 27th and is an old school-friend of Eileen Grimshaw, so why does she try to avoid meeting Eileen? Mysterious! Sharon has starred in Casualty, Emmerdale and a whole host of great telly programmes.

And finally this month we'll meet Dev's uncle Umed, played by Harish Patel. He arrives on the Street on March 9th to cast his eye over Dev's questionable personal life. Harish Patel is an Indian actor who has starred in the movie Run, Fatboy, Run.