Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) is set to leave EastEnders.
The evil character made his arrival in 2022 after being released from prison. Partner to Suki (Balvinder Sopal) at the time, it wasn’t long until a storyline began that focused on Nish’s controlling an abusive behaviour towards the beloved character.
Alongside this plot, Suki began to develop feelings for Eve Unwin (Heather Peace). As she slowly started to embrace the person she had wanted to be for many years, Suki decided to begin a relationship with Eve, which meant standing up to Nish and ending their marriage.
On Christmas Day in 2023, Suki became part of The Six, a group of women who were in the Queen Vic pub witnessing Denise (Diane Parish) attack Nish and Linda (Kellie Bright) kill Keanu Taylor.
Earlier this year, Nish returned to Walford after allowing Suki and the Panesars to believe he had disappeared for good. He dropped the bombshell that he has a heart condition and is dying but at first, no-one believed him.
After Nish collapsed and was rushed to hospital, the Panesar clan realised he was telling the truth when a doctor confirmed he needs a heart transplant, but may not live long enough to actually get one.
Health storyline aside, Nish is a villain, so he was always going to leave the BBC One soap eventually. Now though, his exit is being teased, with a source telling The Sun it’s currently unknown whether he will die as a result of his heart diagnosis, or leave another way.
‘It’s not known if Nish will be killed off, even though his health is suffering, but expect the exit to be very impactful and dramatic’, they said.
‘Navin has made quite the impact on the show in the two years he has been a part of it, especially as a key part of the huge Christmas storyline with The Six. He’ll be missed by cast, crew and viewers alike.’
Elsewhere, the 40th anniversary of EastEnders, which will air in February, will also include a soap first – the power of deciding the outcome of one storyline will be bestowed onto the audience.
While details are scarce at the moment, we do know that the interactive element will involve your opinion on the desired outcome of a love story – but who?
The outcome will play out during a live episode as those on and off-screen adapt to the result of the public vote.
Exciting times for EastEnders fans!
