{"id":8536,"date":"2007-05-21T17:20:14","date_gmt":"2007-05-21T17:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2007\/05\/21\/new-asian-family-for-eastenders\/"},"modified":"2007-05-21T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2007-05-21T17:20:14","slug":"new-asian-family-for-eastenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2007\/05\/21\/new-asian-family-for-eastenders\/","title":{"rendered":"New Asian family for Eastenders"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Comedian Nina Wadia to join soap<\/h3>\n
\"\"COMEDIAN Nina Wadia is set to appear in top BBC soap Easte<\/strong>nders.<\/strong> <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The Goodness Gracious Me comedian will form part of a new two-member Muslim family set to be introduced to Albert Square this Summer, according to a report by the Sunday Mirror. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

She will play Zainab Masood who owns a string of post offices including the one in Walford and will live with her daughter Shabnam, played by newcomer Zahra Ahmadi. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The family will be the first Asian faces on the square since the demise of the Ferreira family who were dumped from the square in Spring 2005. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Insiders at the soap have revealed Zainab will ruffle a few feathers in Walford and will come head to head with newlywed Denise Fox who currently runs the post office. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

A source told the Sunday Mirror yesterday: “The Masoods are going to put noses out of joint. Zainab is Walford’s answer to Sir Alan Sugar – she’s not there to make friends. Shabnam will put the cat among the pigeons too.”

\n“Her direct manner can be hugely intimidating and sparks will fly with Denise [Wicks]. Underneath her fierce manner, however, Zainab is great fun and has a wicked sense of humour.”

\nNina Wadia said she was \u201cthrilled\u201d to be joining the show, adding: \u201cI can’t wait for Zainab to come to the Square and cause some trouble.”

\nHer on-screen daughter Shabnam, played by Zahra Ahmadi, is a university graduate <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Zahra Ahmadi said: “I’ve watched EastEnders as long as I can remember and I’m really excited to be joining the cast. It was very surreal walking into the Square and seeing all the face I’d grown up watching. I felt like I knew them.”

\nEastenders executive producer Diederick Santer said: “I’m enormously excited to welcome Nina Wadia to EastEnders. She’s a brilliant comedy actress and I’m sure her character Zainab will showcase all her comic and dramatic talents.”

\nHe added: “Newcomer Zahra is a real find. She’s warm and great fun. I’m confident the Masoods will be a big hit with viewers.”<\/div>\n

\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Comedian Nina Wadia to join soap COMEDIAN Nina Wadia is set to appear in top BBC soap Eastenders. The Goodness Gracious Me comedian will form part of a new two-member Muslim family set to be introduced to Albert Square this Summer, according to a report by the Sunday Mirror. She will play Zainab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}