After just over a year on screen, EastEnders' Nina Wadia and her screen family are beginning to come into their own. Nina's character Zainab Masood hits rock bottom next week when her finances force her to close their business at Walford's Post Office, while her daughter Shabnam heads off to start a new life in Pakistan. Here, speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Nina chats in-depth about her character, Zahra Ahmadi's exit and her elusive 'other son', Syed.
The Masoods' financial difficulties have extreme consequences, don't they? Why have they let it go so far?
"With Zainab, it's a question of pride. That's one of her weaknesses and she doesn't want anyone to know she's lost control of her finances, even her own family. She keeps it to herself and thinks that she'll somehow be able to find her way out of it. Unfortunately though, she's forced to close the Post Office. Dot actually gets involved in a protest in the hope of saving the Post Office and she assumes, of course, that the government are closing it down and Zainab plays along with it. She lies, without actually lying!"
Where does Zainab's pride come from?
"We haven't actually delved into her past yet. She came from a reasonably wealthy background in Pakistan, so to then struggle over here in the UK has been a huge eye opener for her. So there's definitely a lot of Zainab that we haven't really seen yet. We know that Zainab had an affair with Masood and that she was married to a local Pakistani boy and she ended up falling for Mas because he was charming, funny and I think the fact that he was British-Asian has something to do with it - it was different for her. At the time, she'd have assumed that life would have been very different to what it ended up being, as a lot of immigrants find. A lot of people haven't seen the fun-loving, cheeky side to Zainab that Mas fell in love with. That's the idea of having a slow-burn character, though, so you get to love her, or in some cases, love to hate her!"
Why is she so pushy with her children?
"She wants the best for them. There is that mentality with Asians where education is probably the most important thing down from family. If you have education, then you know you can be independent in life and you can do anything in life to be self-supportive. She is the way she is with them in the hope of teaching them to be independent. It's funny, because one of the things people do say to me in the streets is that it's nice to see a parental character that wants more for their kids!"
The week also marks the departure of your screen daughter, Shabnam. Are you going to miss Zahra Ahmadi?
"I already do. She was really, really fun on set. We had a great relationship and we're very good friends, so I was particularly gutted that she left. It's her choice at the end of the day - she felt that she wasn't being used enough and she was brave and left. The door's open for her to come back, though."
How do you feel to be portraying one of the only Muslim families in soap at the moment?
"There is a bit of weight on our shoulders, but at the same time, I hope most people realise that it's a soap and that you do have to exaggerate some of the qualities that some people have to make the storylines interesting."
There are so many questions that remain unanswered with the family. Have we only really scratched the surface?
"Oh, definitely. It's definitely a good thing. It's great that it's been done in this slow manner. It makes characters a lot more three-dimensional when that happens, as opposed to when soaps have characters whose whole storyline comes out in their first two weeks. There's definitely more to come from the Masoods, I know that for sure."
Would you like to see the Masoods other son, Syed, join?
"I'd love to see Syed! Diederick [Santer] explained to me that when you introduce characters, that you have to do it in such a way that you can talk about them until you have to see them. That way, you really do build up a picture of someone before they turn up on the Square."
Bonus Scoop: EastEnders' Nina Wadia
Tuesday, October 14 2008, 06:00 BST
Early last week, I caught up with comedy genius Nina Wadia to chat about her forthcoming storyline on EastEnders, which sees her family's financial crisis reach boiling point and her screen daughter Shabnam (Zahra Ahmadi) leaving Walford.
Click here for the main interview. However, stick around here if you fancy reading some some bonus bits. My 'outtakes' include Nina's passion for cooking, her love of comedy and how she'd love to film a special week of EastEnders in Pakistan!
You've got an absolutely great screen rapport with little Maisie Smith, who plays Tiffany, haven't you?
"She's brilliant. She's one of those very, very rare child actors who is extremely natural. It's great to work with her."
Do you draw the inspiration for Zainab from your own experiences? How much like Zainab are you?
"Hopefully as far away as possible from her! To be honest, one of the reasons I chose to do an accent for Zainab was to make myself more different from her. There's a fine line of people out there that confuse the two, but when people do meet me, I hope that people see that we're extremely different. My inspiration from her comes from the writers. We have fabulous writers who have the ability to create this character who can be so blunt and abrasive, but at the same time get away with it because she does it in such a funny way. That's the key to Zainab for me. I want to create a character who people genuinely love to hate. It's fun to play. I've played a lot of nurses and civil servants, who are quite boring, so it's nice to be playing a bitch."
Would you like to see a special week in EastEnders where the Masoods go to Pakistan to visit their relatives?
"Oh my goodness, are you kidding me? That would be an absolute dream come true. I don't know if EastEnders has that kind of budget! It would be great if we could take some other characters with us."
We know Zainab's a good cook. Do you enjoy cooking, too?
"I love cooking, I absolutely adore it. Playing the fear of cooking as an actual fear is not an easy task for an actor! I had to really keep a straight face. That and having to say 'The Book of Spice', was another one where we had several outtakes. There isn't even a name for the fear of cooking, either!"
You've had quite a few moments on EastEnders. Do you miss the type of comedy you used to do?
"Yes, very much. The nice thing with EastEnders, though, is that they do accommodate you going off to do other things. I've got a couple of projects that I filmed prior to joining EastEnders that are coming out. There's a film I did called 'I Can't Think Straight', which is a lesbian comedy, which I hope will be out soon. There's a Radio 4 thing I did called Fags, Mags And Bags, which had one of the writers from Goodness Gracious Me contributing. So, yes, I do miss comedy, but that's why I try and make sure that there's a comic side to Zainab!"
Has there been a standout funny moment on set for you?
"Too numerous to mention! Probably one that stands out for me is my inability to say the word 'clock' correctly. I'll leave the rest to you…"