Coronation Street star Jude Riordan has been flooded with birthday wishes as he recreated a family tradition before a weekend celebrating in London. The young actor has officially entered his teenage years as he turned 13 on Saturday (May 11).
As viewers of the ITV soap know, Jude plays Sam Blakeman. The youngster first appeared in Weatherfield in 2020 and is the son of Nick Tilsley and the late Natasha Blakeman. He 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. But just a year later, Nick became Sam's sole parent after 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.
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Now though, life is much different from Sam on the cobbles but in Jude's personal life, some things don't change. Taking to Instagram, the soap star revealed how his birthday once again was marked with a visit from Spiderman, something that has been happening for many years.
Sharing the new snap alongside another of him as a toddler with the superhero, Jude wrote on Instagram: "10 YEARS of Dad @paulrio27 nipping to the Costcutter for milk and missing Spiderman! Can't believe he still hasn't met him! 13 years around the sun. Off to London #spiderman #birthdays #teenagedirtbag."
Quick to comment on the post was Jude's Corrie co-star Jane Hazlegrove, who plays Bernie Winter, who said: "You have a fabulous day fabulous friend! Love you JR… Jhxx." Jack Webster actor Kyran Bowes replied: "Happy birthday Jude have a great time in London." Former on-screen mum Rachel Leskovac also shared: "Happy Birthday handsome chops."
Rachel, who is now starring in Waterloo Road, also took to her own Instagram page with a birthday message for Jude and said alongside a cute throwback snap of the pair: "Can’t quite believe this guy is a teenager!! Memories from when I felt like I had a son - such a talented actor and more importantly a brilliant human with so much love and kindness in him."
She sweetly added: "Thank you @justjude7 aka the birthday boy - hope you have the best weekend celebrating #birthdayboy #motherslove #13 #love #party #birthday," to which Jude replied with a string of face holding back tears emoji and wrote: "Love you".
