Coronation Street stalwart Dev Alahan is set to bid farewell to the Cobbles following some distressing news.

Dev, a fixture on the Cobbles for over twenty years, has been portrayed by Jimmi Harkishin and has been at the heart of numerous major plotlines on the ITV soap. However, upcoming episodes will see him packing his bags for India.

In forthcoming scenes, Dev learns that his Aunt Gita has suffered a fall, prompting him to rush to India to be with his family, leaving behind his partner Bernie, played by Jane Hazlegrove, and his children Aadi and Asha.

Upon sharing the news with Bernie, she expresses her desire to accompany him – but will she follow through?

Meanwhile, Aadi has been entrusted with managing the kebab shop and the corner shop in Dev’s absence. But the question remains: when will Dev return?

Corrie’s Dev Alahan will head to India

This fresh storyline emerges amidst plans to reduce the number of episodes of the ITV soap.

For the remainder of this year, Coronation Street will broadcast hour-long episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, from 2026 onwards, it will air daily half-hour episodes.

This change implies that Coronation Street will be airing half an hour less each week, a fate shared by Emmerdale. The hour-long Thursday episode of Emmerdale will be trimmed down to just half an hour starting from January next year.

Kevin Lygo, ITV’s Managing Director of Media and Entertainment, commented on the changes: “This new commissioning pattern will mean five hours of soaps a week, rather than the current six.

“We are conscious this will have an impact for the people who work on the soaps team.

Bernie could head to India with Dev

“We will support our colleagues in ITV Studios as they work through these changes, and will do what we can to mitigate the impact on our people.

“These changes are motivated by doing what we believe is best for the continuing success of these important programmes in the long term. They also create headroom in the overall programme budget for investment in programming that can help ITV grow reach in a very very competitive market.”

On the soap front, Dev has remained at the heart of significant plots over the year and most notably, he has provided solace to his girlfriend Bernie, who grieves her son Paul’s death from motor neurone disease, showcased in poignant episodes last year.

In other developments, sparks fly between Aadi and Amy as their love story unfolds, with him standing by her during challenging periods. Despite many shared moments, it remains to be seen if their relationship will succeed.

Meanwhile, Asha is forging her path as a student paramedic, recently rushing to assist when Mason Radcliffe suffered a fatal stabbing by his brothers earlier this year.