EastEnders' Nina: 'I wanted to be killed off!'

EastEnders star Nina Wadia has revealed that she asked for a grisly soap exit. The actress, who will leave the BBC One show after five years of playing matriarch Zainab Masood, said her alter-ego will not be killed off, despite her pleas. "I asked for her to be killed - I thought it'd be nice to have a big storyline if they got rid of her somehow in some horrific car accident or something, but they said no!" she told This Morning presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. She added: "It was a really nice compliment and I cannot thank (executive producer) Lorraine Newman enough for that. She said they just want to leave the door open in case I want to come back or they want to bring her back. I don't know, but it's all left wide open." Nina - who previously starred in Goodness Gracious Me, Skins and Bend It Like Beckham - revealed she was "in tears" when she filmed her final scenes in December, but the time was right for her to pursue other interests. "Why leave? Gosh, there's lots more to do with my life..." she explained. "I've been there just over five years and I just feel like it's time for me to move on and do other things - it was all inspired by the fact that I had a very tough year last year; I lost a couple of very dear friends around my age and it just made me realise how short life is and I want to get out there and do other things."

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.