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Jude Riordan is a firm favourite on Coronation Street playing Sam Blakeman - and it turns out he hails from a very talented family.

Jude made his debut on the ITV soap back in 2020 as Sam Blakeman. The character rocked up to the cobbles as the secret son of Nick Tilsley (Ben Price).

Over the years, Sam has been involved in several big moments on the soap,including the tragic death of his mum Natasha Blakeman(Rachel Leskovac), after thug Harvey Gaskell (Will Mellor) killed her.

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And over on the cobbles recently, a new big storyline kicked off for Sam after he started to have suspicions about the nature of athletics coach Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) and Will Driscoll’s (Lucas Hodgson-Wale) relationship.

As fans will recall Megan is grooming Will and is pregnant with his baby. So far, their relationship gone unnoticed by his family and friends. However, Sam has started to suspect something is going on between Megan and Will.

What’s more, after Megan heard about Sam’s suspicions, she cornered the youngster in Speed Daal while he was doing some homework. There, she told Sam that it wouldn’t be funny at all if anyone were to find out what he'd been declaring, before making a veiled threat to secure his silence.

However, it turns out Jude comes from a very showbiz family. Jude’s father is none other than Paul Riordan - who has directed several episodes of Coronation Street.

Paul forged a successful career as a television director after breaking into the industry through a role in Hollyoaks years ago. He has since gone on to bag directing credits for soaps such as Emmerdale and Casualty.

And in 2021, Paul joined his son Jude on Corrie. Sharing a photo of himself throwing his arms around his dad while on the soap's set, Jude said: "When you haven't been well but can't miss your first Corrie scene directed by yer Dad @paulrio27."

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Meanwhile, in 2024, the dad and son posed for a photo together on the famous Cobbles. The photo which was taken near the street's salon was captioned "Another blockbuster with the Father @paulrio27 a busy couple of days! More bold choices. Back with him next week @coronationstreet".

Jude and Paul also collaborated on a short film called Hidden which picked up two prizes at the British Independent Film Awards. His brother is also no stranger to the screen as they appeared together on Corrie in 2022. Zach played Oscar in the show, who took on Sam in a chess tournament at the bistro.

Coronation Street airs Monday to Friday at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX