Sadiq Nawaz is a fictional character from the Channel 4 school drama Ackley Bridge, portrayed by Adil Ray.

His storylines in the series include having an affair with headteacher Mandy Carter (Jo Joyner), losing his business due to financial struggles and discovering he has a third child.

Sadiq is introduced as the father of Alya (Maariah Hussain) and Riz (Nohail Mohammed), and the husband of Farida (Anu Hasan).

Riz invites classmate Cory Wilson (Sam Retford) over to the Nawaz's house for dinner, and after he leaves, Farida discovers her expensive jewellery is missing.

Sadiq can no longer afford to be Ackley Bridge's sponsor, and tells Mandy to let the school be managed by the Valley Trust instead.

When student Kacey 'Spud' Gartside (Zara Salim) wonders about her heritage, her mother Debbie (Vicky Myers) reveals that Sadiq is her father.

Ray had never appeared on a serious drama series prior to Ackley Bridge, but stated that he was "quite happy going straight in at the deep end".

He stated that there was a large difference in the form of acting used on Ackley Bridge as opposed to Citizen Khan, a sitcom Ray stars in.

He expressed his gratitude at getting to work with co-stars Joyner, Liz White and Arsher Ali, stating that he watched how they performed, and was "feeding off them".

Ray used his knowledge to aid his portrayal of Sadiq, stating that he wanted to inject a strong accent and being integrated into the local community into his character.

He praised Ackley Bridge for their diversity, and stated that whilst appearing on the series, he wanted Sadiq to connect with Asian audiences.

Actor Ray described his character as "a local boy done well", but noted that he is "a man who's used to getting what he wants", referring to both Sadiq's personal and professional life.

He expressed his beliefs that Sadiq's marriage to Farida "wasn't perhaps entirely of his own personal choosing", but that it was a result of his father or the community.

Ray opined that the losses had made Sadiq "realise what's important", and hinted that we will see how he works through the financial issues in further episodes.