Coronation Street's Charlie de Melo on alternative ending for Imran
The actor bowed out of the soap this week after playing Imran Habeeb for nearly five years.
RIP, Imran Habeeb.
Coronation Street star Charlie de Melo has revealed the alternative ending he dreamt up for his character Imran Habeeb, who was killed after a horrific car crash this week.
Imran's demise came just as he was intending to come clean about his incriminating behaviour, which saw him frame the mother of his child, Abi Webster (Sally Carman) so he could gain custody of baby Alfie.
But as he was bracing himself to confess everything to wife Toyah (Georgia Taylor), the couple were in an accident. Imran escaped and was able to free his wife from the wreckage, but he later collapsed, suffering a heart attack as a result of the impact.
But long before Imran's final storyline got going, viewers will recall that he was stricken with grief when his beloved sister, Rana (Bhavna Limbachia) was killed in the factory roof collapse back in 2019.
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It was eventually revealed that Gary Windass (Mikey North) had sabotaged the roof, inadvertently causing it to collapse - and therefore causing Rana's death.
However, Imran, along with most of the residents of Weatherfield, was still unaware of this crucial fact.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other media about his exit, de Melo was asked whether he would have liked to film a stand-off between Imran and Gary.
"Yeah, I think so," the actor replied. "I've said this to Georgia before. I told Georgia that I was going to leave before I ever told Corrie, as I wanted to make sure that she knew first and that she could get her ducks in a row [if] she needed to. And I said to her I've been daydreaming about what that final scene will be."
"And in my head what it was, was at some point somehow Imran finding out about Gary's responsibility for the factory collapse, inviting him to the roof for some sort of conversation," he added.
"It being pouring down with rain, and Gary climbing up the ladder and seeing Imran there holding whatever piece of evidence he's got. And then a sort of scuffle at the top and Gary having Imran banged to rights across the thing – then just letting go and then having him fall and that's the final loose end tied up there."
It's clear that de Melo gave this a lot of thought - and his suggestion would certainly have gripped fans. But the star points out that such a plot twist would have gone against Corrie's vision for Gary.
He noted: "But that would have flown in the face of the very well done and very well put together redemption of Gary Windass arc they've been working on, so that couldn't possibly have worked.
"There's only so many murders one can do before you start going…"
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