Former EastEnders star Rakhee Thakrar has revealed she broke down in tears over the initial reception to her character Shabnam Masood, fearing she had ‘failed’ in the role.
Rakhee took over the role in 2014 from previous actress Zahra Ahmadi, who appeared on the BBC soap between 2007 and 2008.
The actress, 40, opened up about stepping into the character as she was reunited with former on-screen partner Davood Ghadami, who played Kush Kazemi, on co-star Lacey Turner’s podcast We Started Here.
Discussing how she coped with the negative reaction, Rakhee said: ‘When I started on EastEnders, and everyone hated Shabnam, like vehemently hated her, I remember feeling like I’d failed.
‘I remember having this one day where I was crying in my bed. I was like: “oh my god, how am I going to get through this?’ Because it was just so much hate.’ And then I just remember going to work the next day and feeling quite free, because I was like, okay, well, I felt like I’d failed and actually I hadn’t. I had created someone that had an effect. But in that moment, I felt like I’d failed.’
Rakhee continued: ‘And, actually, what came the next day was utter freedom because I was like, well, I’ve got nothing to lose. It’s an interesting thing.
‘And, also to fail in front of millions of people, which was what was in my head, I was like, well, I failed in front of like, I don’t know, five million people who watched it last night, Well how bad can it get now?’
Rakhee stayed in EastEnders for two years before her departure in 2016, during which time her character was involved in several high-profile storylines, including the devastating stillbirth of Shabnam and Kush’s son.
Since leaving Walford, Rakhee has appeared in all four series of Netflix’s Sex Education as teacher Emily Sands and popped up in other dramas including The Girl Before, Rules of the Game and Karen Pirie.
