Nitin on Masood: 'He's earned the right to bad'

Nitin on Masood: 'He's earned the right to bad'
Nitin on Masood: 'He's earned the right to bad' (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra reckons it's time his alter ego Masood Ahmed unleashed his dark side. The actor said his character, an affable postman, has earned the right to be bad. He told Inside Soap: "We've seen the nice side of him, the funny side of him, the compassionate side of him, so I think it's time he toughened up. I reckoned Masood has earned the right to be bad now." Viewers will see a different side to Masood next week when he discovers that son Tamwar's new love interest Afia is the daughter of Yusuf, who happens to be the first husband of his wife Zainab (Nina Wadia). And Nitin said Masood 'explodes' at the sight of Yusuf in his kitchen. "There's not even a moment to say hello, he just lays into him and roughs him up, then throws him out of the house. "It was lovely as an actor to play Masood with a temper for once. I think he has the potential to get quite dark and violent."

Patrick McLennan

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.