Morning.

How devastating is the events in that American school. Wow my heart aches for all the families and friends of the victims. Its awful. How someone could do something that awful in this day and age is frightening. I hope they feel the thoughts of everyone worldwide and it gives them some comfort in this heartbreaking time.

In happier thoughts. I so looking forward to christmas. Its so magical. Im feeling very christmasy now and our house is decorated from head to toe and i have the music blaring out. Its the best time of year. I know Lily will have an amazing christmas this year. Its the first one she can appreciate as she 2 months last year and she is mesmerised by the lights on the tree and the tinsel. Jayden doenst care much. He sleeps all day and gurns and makes noises like he's chatting but he's not fussed about christmas. Next year he will be.

Update on my sister in law. Still no baby but, with under 2 weeks to go now, she is ready to pop anytime. She's due 28th but midwives have told her she wont last that long. She'll go in the next week probably. Its all very exciting and we cant wait. Keep expecting the phonecall telling us bubs on their way but nothing yet. My sister's surrogate has her 12 week scan on Tuesday so hoepfully all will be fine with that.

Morning.

Hope everyone is well?

Just heard Nina Wadia has quit EE

Nina

I feel for Nitin and Hamish tbh now. Masood is great but I can see the Masood's all leaving within the year. Zainab leaving them is probably the biggest blow they could have had (more than Sy leaving) as she held the family together.

Nina

This effectively kills off the Masoods as a family, they won't be able to survive without her.

Sad times

This. Without Syed, Christian and Zainab (the ones where most of their drama/storylines have came from)...I don't see them surviving.

Now Chryed have left, it was only Zainab holding the family together, they're nothing without her.

Full article:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view...on-Eastenders/

They seem to confirm Zainab won't be killed off and that the Masood men are staying put.

She finishes filming in a few weeks

Yeah. Really her and Syed (and Christian) were the driving force behind the family.


I really can't see what they can do with them tbh. I can just see them getting sidelined even more and just being characters that are just 'there' and given a bone every now and again to fulfil the actor's contract.

Hello


I am going to do my surveys from memory too.


You must be pleased to have moved back into your own home for Christmas But I sure the Grandparents are missing the children.

Hope everything goes well on Tuesday

Wow, another end of a era. So looks like no wedding and I guess Kamil will also be out of the show. So the Masoods will be living in a bahelor pad. Could be interesting and funny

Thank you KBambi for the link

I hope her or Mas don't have an affair

I don't watch EE any more, but it very sad that the programme is losing such a talented actress. Cannot imagine the Masood household without Zainab. But hope Nina has lots of exciting projects planned Maybe she will work with Marc again in the future, as they are such close friends

So sorry to hear that Nina is leaving EE, but like Marc and Johnny it sounds like she decided it was time to move on.

She's been on Twitter in the last half hour, posting her quotes from the Star article to her followers.

Wow, I wasn't expecting to hear that Nina has quit but I suppose she didn't want Zainab to go round in circles for much longer, especially in terms of her marriage to Masood - break up, get back together, break up, get back together. Also, 5 years is a long time to commit to a soap if you don't want to become typecast and stay there until the end of time, coughstevemcfaddencough. I wonder if she'll return to comedy like Goodness Gracous Me? I really enjoyed that when it first aired.

I do think she would have been very dissapointed when Marc announced he was leaving and it possibility led to her making that final decision. Are they still working on that comedy together? The one she mentioned on tv around the time of Chryed's departure? I hope so..

I'm not sure I can see Masood and Tamwar working without her but the producers might surprise us - for a change.

Marc's departure has been painful and Nina was particularly affected.
I'm sorry, I did not expect but I understand

I should add that I did not expect but I was not surprised, has long
I ceased to amaze me, I just wonder if anyone else will follow the trail
Marc and Jhonny

Sorry JOHNNY

When I read on twitter last night that someone had quit I expected it to be June or Adam.

I won't be surprised if we get another announcement soon telling us Nitin & Himesh are going too, I just cannot see how Masood & Tamwar will work without Zainab.

Six months ago, I thought we might see Kamil and Yasmin grow up on the square, how things change......

As for Masood and Zainab, they're like Kat & Alfie and Chryed in terms of chemistry and it'll be interesting to see whether Masood really does work without Zainab.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nitin left within 12 months.

I really can't see it.

Zainab is the lynchpin of the Masoods. She is the head of the family and the glue that keeps them together.

The Mitchells for example have suffered at the loss of Peggy but with them being a core family, they're never short of stories. The Masoods unfortunately don't have that advantage.

All they have left of that family is Tamwar and Masood.

For the Masoods to actually work now, they're going to have to be reinvented - which I suppose is a good thing we have AJ and of course a new female for Tam soon - even if she isn't a Masood.

This kind of worked for the Slaters. After the loss of Kat, Zoe, Lyn and Little Mo, EastEnders continued with the Slaters by giving us Jean, Stacey and Sean.

Again though, they were blessed with being the Slaters.

Zainab is not only the head of the household but also the matriarch. Her boots won't so easily be filled and her absence in the family will be felt.

It doesn't help that the show lost Syed either.

Nitin is a great actor and Masood is a strong character but he alone isn't enough to carry the family through over the next few years.

If the exec really does want to keep the Masoods, I expect more castings over the next year or so. Whether it will actually work, though I am unconvinced.

I can actually see Nitin waving goodbye soon. Just like Marc and Johnny, Nitin and Nina have thier own little click and he more than anyone will feel her absence.

I also agree with Jo - that of the Masoods, Zainab, Syed, Christian - and Nitin - were the only ones to provide drama for the family. Without these characters for Nitin to bounce off on, it's going to put the whole family at a disadvantage.

I think Syed ( with Christian and Yasmin ) might have had a better future on the show without Zainab than Masood or Tamwar in a way, mostly because they're now a ready-made family unit in their own right - especially if they'd adopted / fostered a second child at some point.

I think so too. Syed, Christian and Yasmin would have been the equivalent of Stacey/Jean/Sean in terms of a family re-vamp. A family that is connected to the originals (of which Syed was part of) but capable of branching out as the next generation (like Stacey did for the Slaters). I just can't see the same happening with Masood, Tam and AJ (+ new female). Tam is no Stacey/Sean and I can't seem him being strong enough to carry strong drama. I think if Afia was still around, it may have worked as they would have been a settled couple. I read on the MF, I think Katrina said it, that this situation is a 'Men behaving Badly' one just waiting to happen. And that makes me sad as I would hate to see the Masoods reduced to this.

I could be totally wrong though, but EE barely used the Masoods properly when they had Chryed and Zainab so I am doubtful that anything will improve when the strongest family members have left.

eta: I wonder if Nina saw the writing on the wall and thought that the Masood's situation would only worsen storyline wise. I imagine she had great sympathy with Marc and Johnny's frustration...

I bet she did and I'm quite sure Marc and Johnny's decision to leave played a role in Nina's, in that she might have thought 'ah, Zainab's losing a valuable connection, what kind of future does Zainab have other than fall out with Masood again and be the dominating mother with Tamwar?' I find it odd that Masood and Zainab may be breaking up yet again.

Like you say, had Afia still been around - and a baby been on the way - Tamwar might have been able to take over from Masood and Zainab as the future of the family but of course Hemish is no where near Nina, Nitin and Marc in terms of pressence to be able to carry it off.

Woooo I was quite shock to hear about Nina's departure.
Like others, I agree that Chryed and Zainab where the source of much of the Masoods explosive drama.

However, I still feel V much glad I'm not watching EE anymore . It's like a massive weight off my shoulders.

Also, I went home this weekend and got my copy of the Chryedcon dvd. I have yet to watch it but once again, I wanna say a massive thank you to all those who put in the hard work to make the con happen

Afternoon.

Read in All About Soap mag Zainab and Masood set a wedding date soon.

I guess her exit will be around when that takes place?

Hiya. Only seeing your post now sorry.

Yeah it is a relief. Thought we'd have to wait until after christmas but luckily not.

Granny and granda are missing spoiling them but are also glad of the peace as Jayden has a good pair of lungs on him and Lily's a handful.

I'll pass on my regards to her. I really hope that all goes well. She deserves it after her hard time getting her here. She wants to be a mum so badly and now its so close as her 2 miscarriages were at 11 weeks and 7 weeks, that this is here first time actually seeing her baby on screen. Her surrogate is lovely as well so i wish her luck as i know how hard it is to carry a child, with morning sickness, tirednesss, uncomfortableness and obviously the labour and delivery. But it will harder for her as she has to detatch herself. So far she seems to have which is good. It must be hard to carry a child that isnt biologically yours. I know i nearly was her surrogate but i now realise how hard it would have been seeing the child i carried brought up by someone else. At least her surrogate wont see the chid a lot. Im glad she seems to be detatched. Lets hope it remains that way.