Sex Education star Rakhee Thakrar addresses EastEnders return for Shabnam Masood in Dean Wicks story

Shabnam Masood has been mentioned a lot in EastEnders recently, since the return of evil Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) and their daughter Jade Masood (Elizabeth Green), and now actress Rakhee Thakrar has opened up about the possibility of a return for her character.

Shabnam left Albert Square with Jade back in 2016, after her marriage to Kush Kazemi fell apart and hasn’t returned since.

When Dean returned to Walford in October 2023, viewers learnt that Shabnam had been caring for sick daughter Jade, who was in desperate need of a lung transplant.

Jade has since received her lung transplant, and recently arrived back on Dean’s doorstep, claiming that she was sick of Shabnam’s fussing.

With Shabnam already having tried to keep Dean away from the hospital during the transplant, could we be set to see Shabnam return to collect her daughter?

Unfortunately not, according to Sex Education actress Rakhee Thakrar.

‘There’s no talk of that at the moment!’ She told TV Times, adding: ‘It’s so sweet that people are talking about it and I’m very touched that viewers want Shabnam back.’

Rakhee went on to recount the strange way she learnt that Jade had been brought back to EastEnders.

‘It’s weird because it was actually someone in a restaurant who told me that Jade was back, and I was like, “What, my daughter’s back?!”‘

Shabnam was part of some huge storylines during her time on Albert Square, including one that saw her give birth to a still born baby in 2015, and Rakhee is proud of her legacy on the show.

‘I was so proud of what we did on the show and to have been part of it, and the fact that people still talk about Shabnam is amazing. What’s nice is that even without Shabnam, this legacy of what happened with her character is continuing!’