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The internet’s favourite TV green flag, Dar-e-Nijaat’s Abu Bakar isn’t so much of a green flag after all, at least according to Sheheryar Munawar, who plays the character on the show.

In an interview with Haroon Rashid on the BBC Asian Network, Munawar said his character had some major flaws, including being a people-pleaser.

Explaining his character’s shortcoming, Munawar said he himself was a people-pleaser and had a hard time saying no to others. He also said Abu Bakar had a saviour complex “because the mother’s brought him up in a certain way, where she’s always ingrained in him that this is the right thing to do”.

He asked Rashid to “imagine the pressure this man lives under”.

The actor dropped another bombshell during the interview: Abu Bakar had been crushing on Zaryab for a lot longer than he outwardly lets on — or at least that’s how he played the part.

Munawar revealed to a shocked host that his character had had his eye on the show’s female lead from very early on, when he’d visit her house with his mother and had probably been “sneaking a few looks here and there”.

He said the clash between Zaryab and Abu Bakar’s personalities left him in a dilemma between what his heart wanted and what his mind knew was dangerous.

The actor also said he’d been leaving hints about Abu Bakar’s crush for fans to pick up on: “The first time they go out for lunch and he tells her, you like pasta, right? And she says, how do you know? He says, ‘Kishwar khala had mentioned it once.’ Why would I remember if I didn’t like this girl? I’ve thrown these hints everywhere.”

Abu Bakar has been the talk of the town ever since the show started, with his nice — some would say too nice — guy image being put under the microscope. Earlier, Nadia Afgan responded to naysayers who said Abu Bakar was too good to be true, saying her own husband was a bit like the character, so she found Abu Bakar’s actions fully believable.

Even the show’s writer, Umera Ahmed, weighed into the discourse, asking why her followers felt “basic human traits like kindness, empathy, forgiveness [and] overlooking others’ flaws are [going] extinct from our society” and why, when they are portrayed in the media, people find them unreal.