EastEnders executive producer Ben Wadey has confirmed that Suki and Eve Panesar-Unwin are set for a 'major' new storyline following a quieter period for the couple. During a recent press event, Wadey teased that an announcement would be made in the coming weeks to give fans a glimpse of what's to come.
'Suki and Eve have something big coming up,' Ben Wadey said. '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.'
'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,' he added.
Adoption journey filled with obstacles
The couple's journey to start a family has been fraught with difficulties. It began when Suki discovered her step-granddaughter Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) was pregnant. Suki, desperate to become a mother, pressured Avani to continue the pregnancy, but Eve intervened and supported Avani's decision to have a termination, causing a major rift between the couple.
The fallout worsened when Avani's parents, Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), found out, leading to Suki and Eve living separately. They later reunited after Eve was subjected to a homophobic attack, which reaffirmed their love and led Eve to agree to consider adoption.
Further challenges included Eve's bigoted mother Norma (Jessica Turner) meddling in their plans, and their social worker receiving information about Ravi's drug ring, which cast doubt on the family environment. On the day of the adoption panel meeting, which fell on the anniversary of Jags Panesar's (Amar Adatia) death, Suki clashed furiously with Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) and fled the meeting. She then had a drunken, violent confrontation with Nicola Mitchell (Laura Doddington), which Nicola captured on CCTV and used to blackmail the couple.
Ria joins the family
Despite the odds, the adoption panel approved the couple, and they welcomed Ria Virdi (Aaria Sharma) into their home. They managed to somewhat reconcile with Nicola, but have since faced difficulties bonding with Ria, who misses her real mum. Eve has borne the brunt of this, but received unexpected parental advice from Nicola.
Laura Doddington, who plays Nicola, shared her thoughts in an exclusive interview with 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.'
What's next for the couple?
Whether Nicola could cause further problems for Eve and Suki remains uncertain. Doddington said: 'Who knows? Six months down the line, has she deleted the footage? Has she not? I don't know!'
With the announcement teased by Ben Wadey, fans can expect more details on Suki and Eve's next big story in the coming weeks.
