Jai Sharma

Jai Sharma is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Chris Bisson. He made his first on-screen appearance on 11 September 2009. Jai temporarily departed Emmerdale on 24 January 2013 because of the birth of his child and returned at the end of March 2013. His storylines have included discovering Mia Macey (Sapphire Elia) is his daughter, marrying wayward "tart with a heart" Charity Tate (Emma Atkins), before going on to have an one-night stand with Rachel Breckle (Gemma Oaten), resulting in his much desired son, Archie. This eventually culminated in their divorce when Charity discovered his betrayal, leading Jai to start a new relationship with Megan Macey (Gaynor Faye), before having an affair with Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi). After the character had a severe accident, he was briefly comatose, before recovering. The character developed a cocaine addiction.

Creation and casting

On 21 July 2009, entertainment website Digital Spy reported that Emmerdale would be introducing "a new trio of entrepreneurial siblings", Jai, Nikhil and Priya Sharma as part of the soap's ongoing reinvention. Former Coronation Street actor Chris Bisson was cast as Jai Sharma, along with Rik Makarem and Effie Woods who were cast in the roles of Nikhil and Priya Sharma respectively. Of his casting Bisson commented: "Jai is a bit of a charmer and has an eye for the ladies but he's also a hard worker with a good business mind. I'm delighted to be joining Emmerdale at a time when the show is going from strength to strength. I can't wait to get started." The show's series producer Gavin Blyth said of the family: "The Sharmas are a young, contemporary family independent of their parents and will bring the factory into the heart of the village community. They will add real vitality to life in Emmerdale." Bisson began filming his scenes on 21 July.