EastEnders icon confirms ‘high stakes’ 40th anniversary storyline
EastEnders stars Balvinder Sopal and Navin Chowdhry have been discussing the show’s upcoming 40th anniversary.
The icons, who play Suki and Nish Panesar, featured on last night’s episode of The One Show to talk about their current storyline, portraying their characters, and what’s ahead in February.
Teasing the upcoming events, which will feature a live episode, executive producer Chris Clenshaw said a few months ago: ‘The 40th anniversary is a milestone event for EastEnders, and we have been planning this week for a long time to ensure that it’s a week full of drama and surprises.’
‘This time, as well as going live, we are adding an extra twist and for the very first time in the history of the show and as a gift to the viewers, we are giving the audience the power to have their say in choosing the outcome of one of our storylines.
‘Whilst we’re still keeping the finite details of the 40th close to our chest, I can promise that it will be an unmissable week full of shocking twists that will change Albert Square, and the lives of those who live in it, forever.’
Amid the high excitement among the fans, stars of the show haven’t been able to tease a great deal about the anniversary as, just like us, they’re in the dark!
Speaking to presenters Vernon Kay and Clara Amfo, Balvinder intriguingly said: ‘We can promise that it’s going to be exciting and it’s going to be high stakes. Lots of drama, emotional drama. We are also just as much in the dark as the public.
‘We’re sort of finding out as we’re going along. But yeah, its EastEnders.’
‘We’re not going to let you down, are we?’.
The following information contains spoilers from an episode of EastEnders that hasn’t aired on BBC One yet, but is available to view on BBC iPlayer.
Tonight’s episode of the show will feature Navin’s final scenes as Nish, as the evil character finally leaves Walford.
Nish and Suki were involved in a showdown that saw Nish push his ex-wife onto the table. As he screamed in her face, Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner) and Nugget Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury) arrived.
Stacey pulled Nish from Suki as Avani screamed at her granddad to stop. In the kitchen, the two characters had a conversation as Avani became terrified of Nish’s dark behaviour.
She said that while she loves Nish, she knows Suki doesn’t and if he has any good in his heart, he will let her go.
Seeing Avani utterly terrified was seemingly enough for the fog to be lifted from Nish’s mind. For the first time in what felt like forever, he had actually listened to someone.
With that, Nish left the Panesar home and instructed The Six to enter the pub. There, he spoke about the events of Christmas Day and wanted to know exactly how Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) killed Keanu.
At the Panesar home, Nish spoke to DCI Arthurs and spun a massive story that made it look as though he orchestrated Keanu’s death. Given his previous conviction after murdering an old family friend, Nish’s fate was sealed.
Outside, as fireworks lit up the sky, The Six watched as Nish was placed into a police car and driven away.