A BRIDGERTON STAR’S RETURN TO THE COBBLES SPARKING TOTAL CHAOS
It’s been nearly two years since Rich Pemberton (Jamie Cho) stepped foot on Coronation Street, with the incredibly slick lawyer proving a foil in the then-developing relationship between Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) and Adam Barlow (Sam Robertson).
It seems that old habits die hard, as Rich is set to once again emerge as a problem for the now-happy couple as he makes a return to the cobbles.
A source told The Sun: ‘Rich is back on the cobbles and wants something from Alya.
‘The last time he was here it led to her leaving her life behind and moving abroad for work so whatever he’s got planned might not be good news for Alya and boyfriend Adam.’
Rich Pemberton’s last stint
Rich first appeared for a meeting with Adam, who’d left handling him to Alya as her pursued a passionate clinch with another client, Rebecca (Gemma Merna). Alya, at the time, functioned as a PA for Adam and after Rich enticed her with the promise of proper legal training at his own firm, Fabian Croft, she ditched Adam and pursued her dream of becoming a lawyer.
Alya went on to poach an important client of Adam’s for Fabian Croft, earning her further praise from Rich. With Adam now aware of his growing attraction to Alya, he tried his best to get her to return to his employ, but she was enjoying her success at her new law firm too much to even consider it.
As Fabian Croft worked on another project with Barlow Legal Services, Adam set out to impress Alya, with the two sharing a kiss finally. With the chance of a training secondment in Dublin hanging in the balance after Rich discovered them swapping spit, though, both Adam and Alya had to convince him to still let her attend.
Adam’s protestations on Alya’s behalf paid dividends and Rich confirmed that her secondment would still take place.
Jamie Cho’s other roles
Jamie Cho has had an incredibly interesting and diverse career away from his stints in Weatherfield.
He’s an accomplished martial artist, having begun training in Kung Fu at the age of 6, deeply inspired by the works Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. Taught by his father, Jamie has travelled to China to train further and learn new styles.
He transferred these skills into acting in adverts and commercials. He completed his acting training at the Ivana Chubbuck Studio in Los Angeles, later going on to secure roles in film; portraying Stocky in Batman Begins and Lau in Hannigan.
On the small screen, Jamie played Father Lee Young in Law & Order: UK, Lee in Hit & Miss, Colonel Chan in Doctor Who and is playing Lord Stotter in the current season of Netflix’ Bridgerton.
Coronation Street’s new direction
Jamie’s return comes at a time that all eyes are on Coronation Street, with Iain McLeod, Executive Producer for Continuing Drama at ITV, recently announcing certain changes he’ll be making to both ITV’s soaps.
‘What we don’t want is to be left behind,’ he began.
‘If your mum’s now watching Squid Game on Netflix, you don’t want those viewers to turn on Corrie or turn on Emmerdale and it looks like a completely different century – or genre, even.
‘We want to evolve our look so it retains some of the cinematic flavours that we saw in Corriedale recently.’
The announcement has been met by backlash from fans and Corrie stars alike, with former cobbles Queen, Sally Ann Matthews, who played Jenny Connor on-and-off between 1986 and 2025 blasting the shows current direction.
‘We, as a cast, have been having these conversations for three or four years,’ she revealed.
‘The crew – their family and people in the street, saying they don’t watch it anymore. They said ‘Oh it’s all about the police, I don’t know who anybody is.
‘But all the research was coming back saying audiences want spoilers, non-linear storytelling, they watch true crime dramas on Netflix, so they want a lot of crime. So, apparently all these stories are all being led by audience opinion but I’m yet to meet a single audience member that feels that way.
‘It’s not just about looking back with rose-tinted glasses. The thing about soaps was about knowing those characters, knowing how they would react in a certain situation. Now, stories aren’t character-led.
‘If I wanted to watch a police drama, I’d watch Line of Duty. If I wanted to watch a hospital drama, I’d watch ER! I really think the soap genre should stick to its USP!
‘Obviously for ITV, Corrie brings in a big audience, which helps them hugely with their overall figures and it would be a big risk for someone to take, but Corrie needs to stay in its lane and be what it is – which is a soap!’