“I will finish the shooting of ‘U-Turn’ in a few days and then I will retire from acting permanently,” said the 65-year-old Abdel-Hamid on social media, receiving thousands of surprised comments from fans and artists asking him to reconsider his decision.

The 1983-graduate of the Higher Institute of Theatrical Arts explained in following posts that he is retiring due to health reasons, and asked his fans to “respect my wish not to talk.”

Responding to comments suggesting some sort of dispute, Abdel-Hamid said his relationship with ‘U-Turn’ lead actress Riham Hagag is fine, describing her as “a real daughter”. Abdel-Hamid plays the father character in the show.

U-Turn, which saw Abdel-Hamid’s return to TV after over a decade of absence, is written by Ayman Salama, directed by Sameh Abd El Aziz, and produced by Gamal El Adl.

One of dozens of TV series released during the Holy Month of Ramadan, ‘U-Turn’ is currently airing on several Egyptian TV channels, including CBC, Al Hayah, and ONTV, as well as being available on Shahid and Watchit streaming platforms.

Abdel-Hamid, who led the National Theatre for a while, has starred in dozens of films, TV series and theatre plays in the past four decades.

With ‘Ragol Al-Qala’a’ (The Man of the Castle) being among his most significant theatre plays, Abdel-Hamid is also known for TV series like ‘El-Nas Fi Kafr Askar’, ‘Hadret El-Mottaham Aby’, ‘Amira Fi Abdeen’, ‘Hadeeth El-Sabah Wal Masaa’, ‘Bawabat El-Halawany’, ‘Um-Kulthoum’ and ‘Al-A’ela’.

His most famous roles in films include ‘Helm El-Omr’, ‘Amir El-Zalam’ and ‘Mafia’.