JIMMI Harkishin ­— aka Dev Alahan from Coronation Street ­— recently came to see Val and I, as he is soon departing on a holiday and will be away for a while.

We have been good friends for some time so it was nice to have a catch up.

Not one to ever miss an opportunity, I invited Jimmi to be interviewed for this column and he graciously accepted. This is my first interview of 2019 and I couldn’t be prouder that it’s with Jimmi.

I asked him how long he has been a cast member of Coronation Street and here is what he had to say.

“This is actually my 20th year at Corrie. My first appearance was on November 10, 1999, and I have loved every minute of it. I’ve been here that long that I am now an honorary Mancunian!

"Corrie bosses have very kindly let me have time off for two months to celebrate my 20th year, which I am very grateful for, so I am going to visit China and Japan”.

I wanted to know if there were any stand-out moments of his 20 years on the soap.

“Actually, today one of the writers reminded me of a story line she pitched about the Dev and Deirdre affair. That was really good fun to film with the late, great Anne Kirkbride. Wonderful memories”.

I know it’s a very busy schedule working on Corrie, long hours and mountains of scripts for cast members to learn, but I wanted to know what Jimmi does to relax when not filming or running through scripts.

“I love watching movies and going to the theatre. I am also an avid reader. I like to keep up with current affairs and I really love to travel”.

As this is a Trafford newspaper and my columns are all about promoting Trafford, I asked Jimmi, who lives just on the outskirts of Trafford, if he has any links to the borough?

“Not a lot of people know this but Weatherfield is in Trafford! So, Dev is a Trafford resident. So, I am a Traffordian! Is that a word? I have friends I visit in Sale and Altrincham and, of course, you and Val here in Urmston!

"The Trafford Centre is the only place to go for about six months of the year because of the Manchester weather! I am also a Manchester United supporter and was thrilled that I got to see George Best play at the end of his career, at White Hart Lane”.

Jimmi has recently become a grandfather, so I congratulated him on that and asked if he wished to say anything about that.

“Recently I became a grandfather to a perfect little boy, but I’m on strict instructions from my daughter not to post anything about him online anywhere.

"I’ll just say that I wanted him to be called King Cantona, but she wasn’t having anything to do with it!”

Jimmi has a huge heart and for the past 15 years he has been the patron of Baby Lifeline, which provides the welfare and support of premature babies.

He also does a lot of work for The Christie, as and when he is able to do so.

I would like to thank him for his support over the years at our charity events and for doing this interview.

I hope you will all join me in congratulating him on his twentieth year at Coronation Street and wish him all the very best for his future.

I’ll leave the last word to Jimmi.

“Not a lot people know this, but Wayne Devlin is my favourite crooner!”