Off-screen life of ITV Coronation Street's Sam Blakeman actor Jude Riordan - real age, showbiz dad and Michelle Keegan link

Jude Riordan was quickly taken into Coronation Street fans' hearts when he joined the soap as plucky youngster Sam Blakeman. Sam is the son of Nick Tilsley and the late Natasha Blakeman, and didn't meet his father until he was nine years old, as Natasha and Nick had split up before Natasha knew she was pregnant.

A chance encounter at Weatherfield General in 2020 caused Nick to find out that he had a son. Bright and with a passion for astronomy, Sam was very close to his mother. However, Natasha was tragically shot dead by gangster Harvey Gaskell in 2021, leaving Sam mute from grief, until Hope Stape helped him out of his shell, as did Roy Cropper and games of chess.

More recently, Sam was left seeing more than any young boy should when there was an armed raid at the Bistro, owned by his dad Nick, after Nick went into business with Harvey's brother, Damon Hay who had been using the restaurant as a cover for a drugs operation.

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Sam ended up wanting to visit Damon in prison, just like he did Harvey, after the drug lord sweet-talked him with gifts and gave him advice over bullies at school. It is then that Nick had to come clean about who Damon really was - leaving both Sam and partner Leanne furious, with the latter kicking him out of their home.

Since then, viewers have seen Sam strike up a relationship with Hope. Earlier this week, the friends revealed that they had become an item and their proud parents beamed about them becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Hope's mum and dad Fiz and Tyrone Dobbs cooed over the pair as they sat together on the sofa before heading off on a date to the cinema.

Sam went all