Nicola Thorp, 30, who plays Nicola Rubinstein and Charlie de Melo, 28 who plays Imran Habeeb in the ITV soap Coronation Street, have reportedly decided to “cool things” and call time on their relationship after Nicola recently made her return to the show. The Coronation Street cast members have reportedly “grown apart” but promised to remain good friends, according to The Sun. A source told the publication: “Sadly Nicola and Charlie decided to cool things after growing apart. “They’ve decided to remain pals – although they aren’t hanging out as much platonically as they they did before they were a couple and have been tending to go to separate.
“As long as it doesn’t get awkward at work they’re happy, that’s their main concern, they also won’t be flaunting any new partners in front of each other, they plan to be very professional.”
The former couple had been good friends for ten years before the pair’s romance blossomed but decided to split at Christmas.
Nicola previously opened up about her jealousy after seeing boyfriend Charlie be propositioned with an on-screen threesome by Toyah (Georgia Taylor) and Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson).
She told The Sun: “Let’s just say I get very, very jealous of Charlie because Georgia [Taylor, who plays Toyah] and Jane [Danson, who plays Leanne] and are absolutely gorgeous. He’s a lucky man.”
Nicola regularly posts snaps of the couple on her Instagram account.
In a recent photo in view of her 53,000 followers, she captioned the snap: “My favourite photo of us. Couple of hot messes. Happy birthday you POS x (sic)”
The actress recently returned to Coronation Street after a brief departure from the soap earlier this summer.
Her character Nicola Rubinstein walked away form Wetaherfield following a turbulent time with her murderous father Pat Phelan.
Taking to Instagram earlier this month, Nicola posted a photo of her return to the cobbles as she wrote: “Baby Got Zack #corrie #rubinsteinreturns”.
Fans will remember Nicola had baby Zack, with Gary Windass (Mikey North) before she left for Bristol.
Fans flocked to comment on her major comeback as one fan wrote: “Yay I’ve missed you.”
A second person commented: “I missed you so much on Corrie! Can’t wait.”
A third person added: “Great to have you back, hope you’ll be staying around!”
She arrived back on the ITV soap seeking maintenance payments for the baby from his father.
But Sarah (played by Tina O’Brien) has recently been left annoyed after she discovered her boyfriend Gary has been paying out for the youngster’s designer clothes, as well as treating Nicola to lunch despite the couple’s money struggles.
Coronation Street continues tonight at 7.30pm on ITV.
Express.co.uk has contacted Nicola Thorp and Charlie de Melo’s representatives for comment.