Ash Panesar (Sakira Vel) and Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal) are set to clash again in EastEnders, despite their recent reconciliation. Ash stunned Suki with a surprise return to Walford after three years away last week, with new actress Sakira Vel taking over the role first played by Gurlaine Kaur Garcha. Old wounds were immediately apparent, but the pair slowly reconciled over the following days.
Suki's interference and a cruel rejection
Forthcoming scenes see Suki risk their relationship once more when she starts interfering in her daughter's life. With the state of Ash's marriage to wife Gigi appearing murky, Suki reaches out to her for answers, despite warnings from her wife Eve Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace) to stay out of it. At a surprise birthday party for Nugget Gulati (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury), Suki quizzes Ash armed with new information from Gigi, and it doesn't take Ash long to realise her mum has been snooping.
As tensions flare again, Suki later makes a cruel move by rejecting qualified doctor Ash's request to work at the local surgery, which is owned by the family. However, with Nugget having just turned 18, he has now inherited the business thanks to the will left by his grandfather Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry).
Ash's loophole and the fallout
Realising this loophole, Ash goes to her nephew and persuades him to hire her, and later takes great delight in dropping the bombshell news of her appointment on Suki. Despite Eve's efforts to keep the peace, a row erupts when Suki attempts to talk Nugget out of hiring her, but their feud is interrupted when Denise Fox (Diane Parish) collapses and Ash is forced to spring into action.
Actress Sakira Vel has teased that there are lots more fireworks between Ash and Suki ahead, revealing: "A lot has changed during Ash's time away, and both she and Suki have evolved. Returning to Walford forces them to confront old wounds as well as new realities, and I think that complexity will really resonate with viewers." She added: "There's a lot left unsaid between them, which makes the relationship incredibly interesting to play."
EastEnders airs these scenes from Monday 28th September at 7.30pm on BBC One or stream first from 6am on iPlayer.
