Actor Davood Ghadami is leaving the show after seven years
EastEnders actress Shona McGarty, who plays Whitney Dean, has teased co-star Davood Ghadami’s upcoming exit from the show as Kush Kazemi, and promised it’s “big stuff.”
Ghadami is set to bow out in the coming weeks, after seven years in fictional Albert Square. His alter ego, Kush, recently got engaged to Whitney, but is headed for a long stint in prison, having agreed to take the rap for the bungled Mitchell/Slater car heist last year, as well as a host of other Mitchell crimes, in exchange for a hefty payout on his release from prison.
Reveals McGarty of Ghadami’s final scenes: “It was a strange day. Obviously, we’ve been close and he’s been on the square for a long time, so we’re all really good friends.
“It was a sad day, but very exciting to film. I know that he [Davood] was very excited. It’s such big stuff that we felt like we were doing a film. It was a really exciting day, but also really sad because we don’t want to lose Davood.”
Next week on the soap, as Kush prepares for his court appearance, he has second thoughts about his deal with the Mitchells.
Whitney, meanwhile, learns about the deal from Kat, and when Kush then springs a surprise wedding on her, she lays into her fiance; furious that he kept her in the dark.
“It comes out of the blue,” McGarty adds. “It hits her really hard and she can’t believe that he lied to her. It’s a side that she never thought she’d see in Kush.
“She’s been lied to by lots of men, but for Kush to lie is a bit of a shock. It hurts, but it’s whether they go forward or not.”
An upset Kush does a runner, but returns in time to take the stand. After entering his plea, he then decides to take drastic action.
Will he and Whitney get their happy ending, or is poor Whit set to get her heart broken yet again?
“Whitney really thinks Kush is ‘the one’ and this is it; this is her happy ever after,” says McGarty.
“No-one has made her feel the way that he does. He was there throughout the Leo stuff. He has been there, right by her side, for a long time.”
EastEnders continues on BBC1.
