Actress Balvinder Sopal has revealed her delight that her EastEnders character Suki Panesar-Unwin is seeing her dark side re-emerge.
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Initially arriving as a full-blown villain in 2020, Sopal's Suki has been on quite the journey since, with the character's layers peeled away as she has embraced her authentic self, found love with her now-wife Eve Panesar-Unwin (Heather Peace), and escaped the clutches of her evil ex-husband, the late Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry).
However, the BBC One soap has seen her old scheming and toxic ways re-emerge after a rather uncomfortable attempt by Suki to get a child from her pregnant teenage step-granddaughter, Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James), last year, and now her past bad behaviour towards employee Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton) is also being revisited in a storyline with new employee Bea Pollard (Ronni Ancona).
Are we losing the redemptive aspects of Suki, or is this who she has always been?
Speaking at The Radio Times Covers Party 2026, when asked about the re-emergence of Suki's darker side, Balvinder says she's only pleased we're seeing shades of Suki's nastier self.
"Oh, I love a Dark Suki," revealed Balvinder. "I mean, that's one of the reasons I took the role on, you know, because you don't ever see that... Asian women tend to be meek and mild and compliant and all of that kind of stuff.
"So no, it's really brilliant to go back there, but I think what's really interesting is that you can't ignore the journey she's been on with Eve and coming out and knowing who her true self is."
Balvinder Sopal attended The Radio Times Covers Party 2026. Ray Burmiston for Radio Times
Balvinder also compared Suki's journey to that of Walford icon Phil Mitchell (played by Steve McFadden), who has undergone significant character development in recent years.
She continued: "And I think it's a little bit like Phil, you know, with his mental health man storyline, like... he would still pull out a baseball bat if he needed to, but he's had an evolution of sorts, and I think that's what's happened with Suki. But, yeah, she'll always be a bad girl."
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The actress previously revealed that a big inspiration for her when playing Suki was the iconic Aunt Polly Gray from Peaky Blinders, played by the late Helen McCrory.
When asked if we can expect more Aunt Polly moments in the future for Suki, Balvinder answered: "Please, yes, please! More Peaky Blinders, actually!"
Lewis is the News and Trends Editor at Radio Times and leads our approach to news, reactive content, and serving audience demands and interests. An obsessive fan of television and film, Lewis is a Nicole Kidman fanatic with a side of passion for science-fiction, art-house cinema and the latest HBO drama. Lewis has a degree in Psychology and a Masters in Film Studies. After working in advertising, Lewis worked at The Mirror for three years in community management and SEO, showbiz, film and television reporting.
