EastEnders’ Shabnam Masood is set to be struck with more "heartbreak and grief" after the festive season.
The strong-willed shop assistant hasn’t had a good year after she lost her stillborn baby, was attacked by a gang of girls and discovered her daughter, who she abandoned as a youngster, has Cystic Fibrosis, but things are set to get even worse for the brunette beauty as she goes into 2016.
Rakhee Thakrar, who plays Shabnam in the BBC One soap, told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Shabnam has had quite a heartbreaking year as viewers will know. Her baby died inside the womb so it was a stillborn storyline.
"Coming up to Christmas it’s only five months into their grief. There is one more thing that is added to her backpack of pain – which you will see in the run up to Christmas."
The gut-wrenching heartache is thought to stem from the revelation that her husband Kush Kazemi (Davood Ghadami) and pregnant best friend Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) had an affair and her unborn baby belongs to him.
Meanwhile, not only will Stacey have to deal with the truth unravelling about her affair, the market-stall holder – who was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder in 2009 – will also be entangled in her own tearjerking storyline as she battles with postpartum psychosis after welcoming her second child.
‘EastEnders’ executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins said earlier this month: "Stacey’s mental health story will be one of our biggest storylines over Christmas and the beginning of 2016 as we explore Stacey’s bipolar disorder and its effects on her and those closest to her.
"We have always had a big commitment to Stacey’s story and this time we want to explore the effects of postpartum psychosis on those with bipolar – something which, although a rare illness, is unfortunately more common when mothers with bipolar give birth – and look at what we are doing as a country to help mothers experiencing this."
EastEnders’ Shabnam Masood hit with more heartache after Christmas
