Yahoo News Coronation Street's Sair Khan recalls real-life emotions filming Alya scene
Coronation Street star Sair Khan has recalled the real-life emotions she felt when filming an emotional Alya Nazir scene.
Earlier this year, Alya was the victim of a horrific stabbing at Speed Daal when she risked her life to save councillor Maria Connor, who was the target of extremist Blake. Following the attack, Alya read out a powerful victim statement to her grandmother Yasmeen which she planned to read in court when she faced her attacker Blake.
Speaking to Inside Soap, Sair said she found the speech hard to perform and that she struggled to hold back tears throughout the scene.
Related: Coronation Street star Shelley King reveals she's being tested for autism
"The words on the page were just so well written and summed up everything that Alya had been through – and I found it really difficult to read, because all of the emotions just felt so real on the surface," Sair admitted.
"You don't just want to cry through a performance, but I was really trying to hold back the tears."
Following the stabbing, Blake blamed Max's racist videos for his actions and subsequently Max was sentenced to six-months in prison for encouraging terrorism. In a meeting with Alya in the secure training centre, Max explained how he was brainwashed by Griff's extremist gang who groomed him with their views.
Related: Coronation Street star Paddy Bever reveals future of Max's storyline
Explaining more of what's to come, Sair said that Max could be released from the detention centre early and that their story may not be over just yet.
"The storyline between Alya and Max recently with Griff's gang has been an emotional rollercoaster," she said. "Max could be let out of the detention centre early, so it's not over yet… If I can separate the seriousness of the storyline for one second, the action stuff I absolutely loved. I felt like Sandra Bullock in Speed."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
If you're concerned about someone who's expressing extremist or hateful views then ACT Early has further information. If you've seen or heard something that could potentially be related to terrorism, then report via www.gov.uk/ACT or call 0800 789 321.
If you've been affected by racism and racist hate crime, then organisations including the Equality and Advisory Support Service (EASS), the Monitoring Group, Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) and Stop Hate UK are among those which can offer help and support.
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