Imran Habeeb was a solicitor at Barlow Legal Services, and the older brother of the late Rana Habeeb. He was the husband of Toyah Battersby and father of Alfie Franklin.
Seeking solace from his failing marriage to Sabeen, Imran moved in with his sister and her in-laws in 2017. By the end of the following year, Imran had teamed up with fellow solicitor Adam Barlow and begun a relationship with Toyah, initially seeing both Battersby sisters Toyah and Leanne at the same time. Imran showed his mettle at the solicitors on multiple occasions, including successfully defending Yasmeen Metcalfe on a charge of attempted murder.
Following an estrangement from his strict Muslim parents and Rana's death in the Underworld roof collapse, Toyah became the most important person in Imran's life and in 2020 the pair began looking to expand their family through fostering. In 2021, Kelly Neelan, a teenage girl in their care, was implicated in the murder of Seb Franklin, and Imran took on her defence, alienating him from many of his neighbours in the process. When Kelly's defence fell through, Imran had a drunken one-night-stand with Seb's grieving mother Abi Franklin, leading to the birth of his son Alfie Franklin.
Despite Imran's betrayal, he and Toyah married in 2022 and successfully battled Abi for custody of Alfie. However, their victory was built on lies, and when Imran confessed to Toyah that he'd committed perjury to stop Abi from winning custody, she flew into a rage and intentionally crashed her car into some scaffolding. Imran survived the crash but subsquently passed away from cardiac arrest.
Biography
Born into a strict Muslim family, Imran always felt the pressures and expectations put to him by his parents Hassan and Saira to secure a high-paying job and settle down with a wife and children. However, Imran never believed that his parents were proud of him or his younger sister, Rana, who always felt second best to him. He went to university and studied for a law degree and, by 2017, was a highly successful solicitor who specialised in criminal law, had met and married a woman called Sabeen although the marriage was mostly to keep his parents happy.
In November 2017, Imran attended Rana's wedding to Zeedan Nazir. His presence at the event delighted Rana's friend, and sister-in-law, Alya Nazir - who he likened to a second sister due to their closeness whilst Alya and Rana were friends at university. While waiting for Rana to arrive, Imran irritated Alya's boyfriend Luke Britton, as it was made obvious that Imran was much closer to her than he was.
At the wedding's after-party, Imran revealed his profession to Rosie Webster, who told him that she worked for solicitor Adam Barlow. When Imran said that Adam wouldn't be as good as he was, Rosie's sister Sophie joked that the two should meet as they would probably get along with each other.
A month later in December, Imran turned up again after his marriage finally ended and his wife had kicked him out. Alya's grandmother, Yasmeen, allowed him to stay at 6 Coronation Street, with there being plenty of room after Cathy Matthews and her nephew Alex moved out. He soon after started working with Adam at Barlow Legal Services, after Todd Grimshaw had fled.
In January 2018, he defended Luke in court after Aidan Connor's potential clients were racist to him and Alya, which caused him to punch them during an argument. Later that month his sister, Rana, came out to him and told him that she had been having an affair with Kate Connor. Their parents later found out and forced Rana into a contract to stay with her husband. In April, Imran's parents tried to kidnap Rana and send her to Pakistan but with the help of Kate, Yasmeen and Zeedan, they got to her in time. He decided to invest in Speed Daal after his parents refused to give Zeedan the money from the contract.
In August 2018, he was invited to Hassan's birthday party and with encouragement from Rana decided to go. At this party Hassan suffered a stroke which later led to his death. At this time Imran had taken on a case where he defended Duncan Radfield, a man who had conned Sally Metcalfe. The night his father died, Imran had a few drinks with Leanne Battersby and they slept together. The next day he told her that it was a mistake and exactly what he needed at the time. They saw each other casually, until after an argument with her stepsister Toyah they kissed and from there he saw the pair of them behind each other's back.
At their father's funeral, Imran was furious that his mother had invited Sabeen, when he saw her pull up in the car they had to share. Over the course of the week Sabeen visited Weatherfield, pressured Imran, and demanded half of his assets in the divorce and hinted at his infidelities. A few months later, his infidelities with Sabeen's best friend were confirmed in a conversation with Rana in the Rovers at her and Kate's engagement party.
Resentful that Imran, and as a result Adam, wouldn't represent her in court, Sally kept and hid Imran's list of witnesses that he accidentally dropped at Roy's Rolls and told Toyah and Leanne that Imran had messed them around both at the same time. Vengeful when he found out what she did, he told her callously he would make sure she would go to prison.
A little while later he realised that Duncan was not innocent and attempted to apologise to Sally's husband Tim Metcalfe when Sally was imprisoned before her trial, but got beaten up by Tim for his efforts. Toyah took him to his office to tend to his wounds and he apologised for the way he treated her and asked to be friends, which after initial reluctance she accepted.
As a result of Sally's eventual imprisonment, Rosie sent a furious letter to him. This caused him to re-evaluate his life and mourn how much of bad brother, friend, boss, and partner he had been in the past. This caused him to have furious words with Kate when he found out she arranged to have a sperm donor from Robert Preston behind Rana's back, and told Toyah how he still felt about her, told her in the process that he really liked her and wanted them to have a relationship. Later in the week he moved in with her and Leanne at their flat in Victoria Court.
Personality
Relationships
Background information
Imran Habeeb debuted in Coronation Street in Episode 9302 broadcast on 17th November 2017, brother of the established character of Rana. He was played by Charlie De Melo, who previously had roles in EastEnders, Casualty and Doctors.
In spring 2022, it was announced De Melo was to leave the programme. He had originally planned to depart two years prior in 2020, but as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold worldwide he opted for the job security a regular role on the Street brought.
Imran made his last appearance in Episode 10654 broadcast on 1st June, in which he was killed off after a car crash involving him and his wife Toyah. Despite De Melo hoping the door would be left open for his character, he learnt Imran was to be killed off in a Zoom call with the show's producer Iain MacLeod.
First and last lines
"Alya!" (First line)
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"I'm coming with ya." (Final line, to wife Toyah before suffering a fatal cardiac arrest)
Appendices
(To be completed)
List of addresses
Address | Duration |
---|---|
12 Victoria Court | 12th December 2018 to 3rd May 2019 |
19a Victoria Street | 3rd May 2019 to 30th May 2022 |
Employment history
Role | Institution | Duration |
---|---|---|
Solicitor | Barlow Legal Services | December 2017 to May 2022 |