Emmerdale’s Chris Bisson on shock reason he had to leave Coronation Street 25 years ago
Chris Bisson has played Jai Sharma on Emmerdale for almost two decades but he once appeared on rival soap Coronation Street
Brutal reason Emmerdale’s Chris Bisson had to leave Coronation Street(Image: ITV)
Chris Bisson previously shared the brutal reason he left Coronation Street before making his Dales debut on Emmerdale.
Actor Chris has played Jai Sharma on the long-running ITV show since 2009. And it’s fair to say the character has been involved in several big moments during his stint.
From drug addiction to his turbulent love life, his time in the village has not been short of drama. Especially at the moment, as in Monday’s episode (January 12), Ray Walters’ (Joe Absolom) dead body was discovered in a van at Caleb Miligan’s (William Ash) depot.
Fans will know that evil Ray was m.u.r.d.e.r.e.d last week, with his k.i.l.l.e.r unknown. But over in the Dales this week after police discovered Ray’s body, Jai was immediately questioned and he insisted he was innocent and had nothing to do with Ray’s m.u.r.d.e.r.
Chris has played Jai since 2009(Image: ITV)
However, soap fans will remember that actor Chris starred on Coronation Street before joining Emmerdale. He played Vikram Desai, the cousin of Dev Alahan (played by Jimmi Harkishin).
Vikram arrived in Weatherfield in 1999 and ran the corner shop before it was Dev’s. He was also the co-founder of Street Cars alongside Steve (Simon Gregson).
However, in 2002 Chris decided to quit the soap. His exit storyline saw Vickram take a one-way trip to Mumbai after he got involved in drug smuggling to clear his gambling debts – before clearing out Street Cars’ tax account.
He previously appeared in Corrie(Image: Granada Television)
Speaking about why he quit Corrie, Chris previously said he was frustrated with his storylines. He told Manchester Evening News: “I’d thought about leaving Coronation Street several times before I finally quit.
“That was because I hadn’t had a decent storyline for a while. I have been an actor since I was 13 and I’m not particularly worried. I played the same part in Coronation Street for four years.”
Seven years later, Chris landed the role of Jai Sharma and has been a big part of Emmerdale ever since. The character arrived in the village with his siblings Nikhil (Rio Makarem) and Priya (Fiona Wade). However, according to Chris, Emmerdale bosses were considering axing him from the soap following his character’s redemption over the years.
He ended up quitting the cobbles(Image: Howard Walker)
He told OK!: “There were conversations being had about where we had gone with the character. Very frank and honest conversations with me and the producer saying ‘have we gone too far now and it is time to call it a day or do we redeem him?’.
“But we came to the conclusion that actually he wasn’t a bad character. He came in as a much nicer character and he did go off the rails but we have really pulled him back and that’s lovely to play.”
