Betrayal's Zahra Ahmadi: "There's a duty of care to communities that haven't been represented enough to do it authentically"

Zahra Ahmadi is channelling her inner 007 in new ITV thriller, Betrayal, and while it's an action-packed step away from her previous roles, it's also one that has a bit more of a personal connection for the actress.

"I've never had a role like it," Ahmadi tells me about her character of Mehreen Askari-Evans, an intelligence operative who is tasked to take over the duties of Shaun Evans's John Hughes after he finds himself under an internal investigation. From their first on-screen meeting, the air is clouded with tension and mystery – plus an awkward grilling (and ace rebuttal from Ahmadi's character) about Mehreen's heritage.

The character, like Ahmadi herself, is mixed-race and of Persian descent so when it came to crafting that scene (in which John randomly asks: 'Where are you from?'), that came from Ahmadi's personal experiences.

Working with series writer David Eldridge and executive producer Tom Leggett was a collaborative joy, Ahmadi tells me, and came with the acknowledgement from Eldridge that while he "innately understands what it is to be human, he doesn't understand what it is to be every human in those kind of specific moments". In a bid to make all the characters in Betrayal feel real, they chatted through them with the actors in question and actually, that entire encounter between John and Mehreen was born out of a discussion they had with Ahmadi.

"I said to them that people always ask me where I'm from. It's a tricky one because in some ways, I don't mind. I'm interested in people, I want to know where they're from and what's your heritage. It's not that I have an issue with that, but it's more when it's used as a measuring tool," the actress tells me.

"We can put whatever words we want on it, but it's 'How British are you?'," she says. "I was really grateful that they really listened. To explore that sort of dichotomy of being from a mixed background ... because anyone from a mixed background – we can all connect and relate as humans – it's so specific depending on what your mix is. And then also, were you around both parents the whole time? And if you were, was one parent away working a lot? Was there a dominant parent whose culture you took on slightly more, who you could identify with more?

"That can be different between siblings as well. Myself and my siblings have different levels of identity with different sides of ourselves – that's cool, that's beautiful and that should be celebrated. I just love that David and Tom were able to listen and collaborate and go, 'Yeah, let's make this real, and let's make it your experience'."

Being of Persian descent and portraying that in her new character is something that the actress says is "important". However, Ahmadi does underline that it's not always about "prescriptive casting". "I'm an actor, we're all actors. We should be able to play anything. So I don't necessarily believe in prescriptive casting," she says.

"I certainly didn't go to drama school for three years to play myself. I'm trying to escape myself by being an actor," she laughs.

"However, when a group of people have been underrepresented on screen for a long time, then I think there's a need, an obligation, to be authentically representative for a while so that community is portrayed in the way that they should have been and haven't been."

Ahmadi is most certainly correct and with Betrayal centring very much on British-Iranian relations and a rapidly evolving intelligence landscape, the series not only puts its own spin. on the long-loved spy genre but also, platforms a raft of actors of Persian descent including Ahmadi, Hayley Tamaddon, Omid Djalili, Karim Kadjar and Raphael Zari.

"There's a lot of representation there and it's wonderful," Ahmadi beams. "It's wonderful to see so many Persians in the same piece, it's great. I'm really happy."

In terms of the fast-paced role itself, it'll be a far cry away from Ahmadi's ongoing stint in Beyond Paradise, which many viewers may recognise her from. But while tonally very different to most titles in Ahmadi's repertoire, she does compare this new role in Betrayal to her previous one in US drama Berlin Station ("the only other time I've played a spy, actually").

One of the most appealing parts of playing Mehreen was her sheer charisma, Ahmadi tells me, which leapt out from the pages of the script. "When a character leaps off the page like that, you want to play that," she says.

In preparation for the role, Ahmadi picked the brains of author, journalist and The Rest is Classified co-host Gordon Corera. "He's phenomenally knowledgeable about security services and I had one really great meeting with him quite early on, where I just was firing questions at him so I could try and get my head in the game when it came to playing Mehreen," she says.

Asking him about the one thing that any MI6 agent has in common, Corera told Ahmadi that it comes down to when they walk into a room, you notice them. Surely that goes against the grain of covert operations, though?

"We had a giggle about that because ... you're undercover so, do you want to be noticed or do you actually like fade into the background? But it's not about not being seen, it's about not being suspected, right? And those are two very different things," Ahmadi shares.

And that was precisely what struck Ahmadi about Mehreen – "she's not necessarily at the forefront all the time, but she's there and she's very present. You feel her and there's an energy, a weight with her."

Of course, with any TV show concerned with spies and intelligence services, there will be its fair share of high-speed chases, close calls and action sequences, all things that Ahmadi found very exciting, especially because she herself was safe.

"But it truly is the exploration of that heritage, specifically coming from a mixed background," Ahmadi tells me when reflecting on the overall enjoyment of the role. "Similar roles I've done before are great but they've always been very 'You're Iranian', 'You're Asian' or 'You're white British'. So, that's really what sets her apart for me. This is the first time I've been able to explore that as an actor on screen and I'm so grateful for that," Ahmadi says.

As well as her ongoing role in Beyond Paradise, Ahmadi is also best known for being the original actress to portray Shabnam Masood in EastEnders. The introduction of the Masood family was a long time coming for the East London-set drama, with the Masood's being the soap's first ever Muslim family. "That was crazy that that didn’t happen till 2007," Ahmadi reflects.

But with the family came a "bold" exploration of topics, Ahmadi tells me when I ask how she reflects on that role. "I really respect them for that – Syed and his sexuality, exploring that within the faith was really bold. I think rightly so, they needed to do it. You’re never going to please all of the people all the time, right? I'm really proud to have been a part of that," she says.

"I'm really proud of it. I'm really proud to have been part of that moment that needed to happen and had been a long time coming."

As for the future, Ahmadi reprises her role as DS Esther Williams in Beyond Paradise for its upcoming fourth season but looking further afield, the actress admits that she just want to play "good roles that are written with panache and integrity".

"I'm really lucky because within these past few years, I've been able to explore both sides of myself. I've been able to explore being been mixed – Mehreen in the storyline we find her in, it does lean in slightly to her Persian heritage slightly more," she says.

"But then by doing Beyond Paradise, it's the first time I've ever played West Country and I am from the West Country. We can talk about the reasons why for a long time, right? Why hasn't that happened before this point in time? And again, that's because of representation and understanding that diversity exists outside of big cities and it exists rurally as well.

"I feel really lucky that on a personal level, on a cathartic level, to have explored those two things within recent years is something I wanted to do and I actually needed to do, I realised once I did them."

Ahmadi continues: "So now, working from that place of privilege where I've exercised those things – I mean, I don't want to put them to bed, I want to keep going with them both, of course, but yeah, just great roles. I love great writing and that's my only prerequisite."

For now, fans can enjoy Ahmadi in her enigmatic and twisty new role in Betrayal, one that not only shines a light on representation and her own culture, but is also one where she gets t don the persona of "a badass", Ahmadi smiles. "It's fun playing a badass because I'm not particularly badass in real life – but I would like to be!"

Betrayal is coming to ITV1 and ITVX on Sunday 8th February 2026 at 9pm. All episodes will be released on ITVX ahead of linear transmission.

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