With the second series of Citizen Khan due to start on BBC, and a looming wedding, we catch up with Abdullah Afzal, better known as Amjad.

The actor who lives in Manchester says he gets called Amjad all the time when he is out, “It’s got the point that when I joined a new football club this year, they had Amjad printed at the back of my shirt. I don’t think the boys realise that I am acting in the show.”

Amjad is a shy and timid character, surrounded by strong, vocal women. Is it time for him to come out of the shell?

Abdullah said, “Well, we saw Amjad telling his mum to ‘shut up’ at the end of season one. In this season he is a little more mature.

“He understands his situation. He just wants to lead a happy life with his wife. Which is going to be difficult with Mr Khan around the corner.

“I love the innocence in his character. He would never do anything harmful. If he does something wrong, it’s a genuine mistake.

“Actually, I had to put on a bit of weight for the role. I think Amjad looks cuter and more innocent when he is rounder! Also, when I am clean shaven and my hair is flattened, I look more geekish.

“Also, with Amjad’s accent, I just copied my friend’s husband. He has just come over from Pakistan and is a constant bid to prove how good his English is. In my head I mimicked his accent for Amjad!.”

You couldn’t have an Asian sitcom without a wedding on the horizon, “In real life Asian weddings are so stressful. There’s the budget, the dilemma of who you invite, who do you not invite, who is collecting the guests.

“In Citizen Khan, it’s not the people that are causing the problems when it comes to the wedding, it’s Mr Khan himself.”

Mr Khan is in a constant bid to please the family. Abdullah feels he is not going to succeed, “Mr Khan is so deluded. I think he’s not bothered whether they like him or not, he just likes the glory of having his name mentioned at every opportunity.”

Abdullah says he wasn’t affected by the criticism that was induced during the first series, “It didn’t really affect me. No matter what you do, you will be criticised. Critics are just there to do a job, it’s their opinion. The fans loved the show.”

He says Omar, the Somalian Muslim that works in the mosque, played by Felix Dexter is his favourite character from the show.

“If you go back to the first series, episode 4, there is a scene where he is supposed to say ‘Are there any snacks.’ Felix instead asked, ‘Are there any snakes?’ And they kept that in the scene.

Abdullah loves to tweet and always likes to interact with fans, “Twitter is fun. But you should follow me on Instagram too. Even my family follow me on Instagram. I think they Google me every day!

“They are very proud of what I have done, but they didn’t initially want me to go into acting. I trained for 3 years to be a hafiz. My family wanted me to be an Imam.

“I got kicked out in the end after falsely being accused of putting one of the kids shoes in the bin. It was a good idea, I wish I had thought of it.

“Eventually my dad made a deal with me. He said that if I don’t get my first audition, than I have to carry on studying. I think he was disappointed when I got the role! Now I’m on Friday prime time TV.

“My dad is proud of me but he would never admit that to my face.”

And what’s next for Amjad…We mean Abdullah, “I have started some stand up comedy. Actually, the local mosque got in touch with me to help out with the Heart Foundation charity. Of course I had to change my material.

“The audience was full of aunty jees. They were yawning, eating samosas, playing with their shalwars, yelling at their kids. I started laughing at my own jokes! That hasn’t put me off though."