EastEnders executive producer Ben Wadey has confirmed that Suki and Eve Panesar-Unwin have a major new story on the horizon after a quieter period for the couple.
Speaking at a recent EastEnders press event, Wadey teased: 'Suki and Eve have something big coming up.' He explained that the adoption storyline was deliberately paced: 'We deliberately played out the adoption story very slowly and very realistically because it’s a real world issue that lots of people go through and we wanted to get that right.'
Quiet Spell and What's Next
Wadey added: 'Suki has been a little bit quiet for a while and we wanted to track that. Suki and Eve have something quite major coming up and we are going to do a little announcement in the coming weeks to tease that a little bit more.'
The couple have faced a long and difficult journey to start a family, with numerous obstacles along the road to adoption. It began when Suki discovered her step-granddaughter Avani Nandra-Hart was pregnant. Desperate to become a mother, Suki pressured Avani to continue the pregnancy, but Eve intervened and supported Avani's wish to have a termination, leading to a major fallout that saw Suki and Eve living apart.
Adoption Journey and Recent Struggles
The couple reunited after Eve was subjected to a homophobic attack, and Eve later warmed to the idea of adoption. However, problems continued with Eve's mother Norma meddling, and their social worker raising concerns about Ravi and Priya's family life. On the day of the adoption panel, a clash with Vinny Panesar led to a distraught Suki fleeing and a violent confrontation with Nicola Mitchell, who used CCTV footage to blackmail the couple.
Despite the odds, the panel accepted them, and they welcomed Ria Virdi into their home. Recently, Suki and Eve have struggled to bond with Ria, who misses her real mum, and Eve received parenting advice from an unlikely source – Nicola.
Nicola's Role and Future Drama
Nicola actress Laura Doddington hopes the peace continues, telling Metro: 'To come out of that blackmail, shall we say that Nicola performed, to move forward and put it behind them. To have two women of a certain age, able to sit down and chat and be there for each other, I think is really lovely. I hope it continues.'
Asked if Nicola could cause further problems for Eve and Suki, Doddington said: 'Who knows? Six months down the line, has she deleted the footage? Has she not? I don’t know!'
