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Himesh Patel open to EastEnders comeback if Masood family returned

Himesh Patel would be open to an ‘EastEnders’ comeback if his character’s original family all returned at the same time.
The ‘Yesterday’ actor played Tamwar Masood from 2007 to 2016 on the BBC One soap, and he has admitted he would "hypothetically" be keen to star alongside his alter-ego’s brood again if show bosses brought them back and made them the main storyline for a week.
When asked what plot might tempt him back to Walford, he told Metro.co.uk: "If we all came back, the family who originally joined in 2007.
"If we came back and we were the main storyline for a week.
"I am not saying I would definitely be happy to do it. But hypothetically speaking, yes."
Tamwar was last talked about on screen earlier this year when he rang Mick Carter (Danny Dyer) to ask for his permission to pop the question to his girlfriend Nancy Carter (Maddy Hill).
While viewers saw Mick’s reaction to the conversation, neither Tamwar nor Nancy’s voices were heard on screen.
Himesh’s comments come just a month after Marc Elliott, who played Tamwar’s brother Syed Masood, admitted he would’ve returned to ‘EastEnders’ if the soap’s bosses had a wedding for his on-screen brother in Australia.
Marc said: "Oh, I’m sure Syed would love to have gone – Marc would have, too.
"I’d have said yes to [a return] for that."
But Marc would’ve preferred it if Tamwar and Nancy tied the knot in the Maldives or the Caribbean.
He added: "Although, why couldn’t Tamwar have hosted his wedding in the Caribbean, Bali or the Maldives? That would have been much better, right?"
Himesh’s comments come after his on-screen father Nitin Ganatra (Masood Ahmed) departed the show in February.
But he later admitted Masood is not finished on Albert Square.
He said: "I love playing Masood and the door was left open.
"I miss playing that character, so I’m waiting for the next producer to come along and seduce me back.
"I don’t think we’re finished with that character. He is yet to find his wings. I want him to have big storylines, we never really did that. I want Masood to own the Vic."
The original Masood family also included Zainab Masood – played by Nina Wadia – and Shabnam Masood, who was portrayed by Zahra Ahmadi in 2007, and she was later replaced by Rakhee Thakrar in 2014.