Nish Panesar gets ‘best card ever dealt’ as he takes brutal revenge on The Six in EastEnders
Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) is set to grow suspicious of The Six in upcoming EastEnders scenes when he overhears a clandestine chat between Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth).
When The Six agree to meet to try to remember their statements from Christmas, Nish rumbles their gathering and begins asking complicated questions.
‘Nish accidently stumbles on nuggets of information. He doesn’t really know what’s going on, but he senses within the group some anxiety, particularly from Kathy to begin with and then from Suki,’ actor Navin Chowdhry revealed.
‘It isn’t something that was at the forefront of his mind, but then seeing how suspicious they are behaving, and remembering that he was nearly fatally hurt, he chooses to prod and investigate further.
‘He wasn’t initially suspicious of them. He thought even though the entire story seemed quite bizarre and farfetched, he accepted it because in his mind there’s other things to be concentrating on – his family and winning back Suki.’
Though The Six insist they have nothing to hide, Nish refuses to believe them, and insists on travelling to the police station with them when they are all re-interviewed about the events of Christmas Day.
Later, Nish confronts Suki about the truth of that fateful night, leaving her reeling…
‘I think it’s a mixture of disbelief and horror [from Nish],’ Navin explained. ‘Anger that this could happen to him and that these people who did this to him are walking around freely getting on with their lives while he nearly died.
‘So there is a vengeful instinct within him to want to get back at the people that hurt him, but at the same time, the manipulative part of his character sees the opportunity he now has with this information, and it’s probably the best card he’s ever been dealt.’
On Nish’s orders, Suki invites the rest of The Six over under false pretences, and it doesn’t take long for things to escalate, as the women realise that their secret is no longer safe.
Deciding to take matters into her own hands, Suki sends the rest of the women home, but it soon becomes clear that it won’t be as easy to get round Nish as she initially thought.
The next day, Suki ignores Stacey Slater’s (Lacey Turner) calls as she prepares for her worst nightmare: Nish moving back in.
‘He’s totally going to use it for his advantage. He’s never had a better bargaining chip to blackmail Suki than the information which could send all of The Six to jail.
‘He now holds the key to all their freedom, and he’s going to use it to get exactly what he wants. To his surprise, and out of nowhere, he suddenly has this wonderful opportunity to tighten his hold on his family and all around him. He’s been empowered, totally empowered.’
On Halloween night, Nish summons The Six to the Queen Vic, where they await their fate… What does he have planned?
‘He’s got one massive trick up his sleeve that I don’t think anyone could expect,’ Navin teased. ‘Nobody can see the hand he’s going to play, and no one can imagine what he has in store on Halloween night.’
