EastEnders fans have shared their theories about Nish Panesar’s (Navin Chowdhry) return to the soap – and some of them are WILD.
But we’re totally here for it.
Villainous Nish spent weeks trying to discover the events surrounding his Christmas Day attack, and his efforts saw him turn violent towards Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) once more.
Fortunately, this time the rest of the family arrived home just in time to stop him, and in turn they finally saw his darker side.
He’d also been plotting to scam Kat Mitchell (Jessie Wallace) out of her divorce settlement. The two had began dating following the breakdown of her marriage to Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden).
Kat learnt that Phil had been unfaithful with Emma Harding (Patsy Kensit) and packed her bags, taking sons Tommy, Bert and Ernie with her and vowing to rinse him of his money and businesses.
Seeing that the family had been torn apart, Nish offered her and the boys one of his many properties rent free, and it became clear that he had an ulterior motive – and luckily she found out.
With everyone turning against him, Nish had been thrown out of the family home, and it was made clear that he wouldn’t be welcomed back.
As revealed in our spring preview (https://t.co/dkkcXRlb1R), Nish is returning to #EastEnders – and he has a massive bombshell to drop
What are your predictions? pic.twitter.com/Igl04CmNqW
— Duncan Lindsay (@DuncanLindsay) May 14, 2024
However, we revealed in our exclusive spring spoiler preview that he would soon be arriving home, with our very own Duncan Lindsay asking his X/Twitter followers for their theories on how he might make his comeback.
Some of them were absolutely incredible, whilst others were completely outlandish. One fan even suggested that he could be related to Ethel Skinner.
Really.
Here’s a run down of some of the best…
Working with Dean to bring down The Six
X user @LauraM01234 suggested that ‘he has come up with a plan to help Dean, which will cause issues for the six, especially Suki.’
During Nish’s absence, Linda (Kellie Bright), Sharon (Letitia Dean), Stacey (Lacey Turner), Denise (Diane Parish), Suki and Kathy (Gillian Taylforth) devised a plan to frame Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) for the murder of Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters) on Christmas Day.
Of course, the only other person that was in the pub on the night that Linda stabbed him was Nish, who was unconscious on the floor after being knocked out with a champagne bottle.
It wouldn’t be entirely implausible if he’d heard about Dean’s imprisonment and the two were plotting their revenge.
A new romance
Quite a few fans, including @RyanTheSoapKing and @Wee_Westie29, reckon that he may have married another woman during his time away.
For months, Nish made life as difficult as possible for Suki following his discovery of her affair with Eve Unwin (Heather Peace).
He revealed that he was going to take everything she had in their divorce, but assured her he was willing to drop his suspicions and not tell the police about Christmas.
Suki was horrified that he would leave her with nothing and dared him to go to the police, pointing out that it was six against one and he would never be believed.
Nish twisted the knife, adding that if she didn’t agree to his terms then he would never divorce her, meaning that she would be trapped in their marriage for the rest of her life, but she wasn’t having any of it and said she’d ‘rather eat dog food’ than stay married to him for a second longer.
Could he have found a new woman, and perhaps someone just as dastardly?
He’s back – with Ash and Kheerat in tow
Quite a few superfans, including @reptvApril_19th, believe that Nish’s children Ash (Gurlaine Kaur Garcha) and Kheerat (Jaz Singh Deol) could be on the brink of a return alongside their father.
Ash is currently living in Canada, having moved there last year to work in her dream job as a doctor. We don’t know whether she’s been filled in about the goings on of the last six months, so perhaps Nish has convinced her that his side of the story is the truth.
Meanwhile, it’s less likely that we’ll see Kheerat strolling round the Square anytime soon, given he’s serving a life sentence for the murder of Ranveer Gulati (Anil Goutam).
Stranger things have happened in soapland, and we did catchup with Lucas Johnson from his prison cell earlier this year, so he could still put in an appearance or two from His Majesty’s Pleasure.
The end of the road
X user @nathanocarroll asked: ‘Can the bombshell be he has a week to live?’ whilst others suggested he could be faking an illness.
It would be typical of Nish to swan into Walford and announce to his family that he’s unwell, looking for sympathy in his ‘dying days’.
Perhaps the head injury he sustained could have led to something more serious?
He could even use it as a way to try and worm his way back into the Panesar inner-circle, secretly gathering evidence of Suki’s involvement in the events of Christmas Day.
Imagine the spectacle as everyone is gathered in The Vic, only for the residents to discover the truth and he’s actually been plotting against them the whole time?!
Whatever the case, we can’t wait for his explosive return and the fresh drama he will bring along with him. And please, let him be related to Ethel.
