EastEnders star Laila Rouass has opened up about Ayesha Siddhu’s feelings for Suki Panesar.

Nish Panesar brought Ayesha to Walford in Monday’s (August 5) episode, after discovering that Suki and son Vinny were working together to bring him down.

It was revealed that Ayesha is the woman who Suki developed feelings for long ago. Nish killed Ayesha’s husband Hardeep because he assumed his wife was cheating on him with the man.

Nish’s latest plan backfired, as Ayesha confessed to Suki that she had feelings for her back then too. The two women then teamed up to confront Nish and shut down his latest scheme.

Related: Best streaming services 2024 — including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV+

Following this bombshell episode, Laila Rouass admitted it was “a real shock” for Ayesha to come face-to-face with Suki after all these years.

“There’s a lot she’s had to live with since she last saw Suki,” the actor explained. “When her husband was murdered, she never got to have her say about what happened, and she really needed to. That’s why she agreed to meet Nish when he contacted her.

“Back when it happened, Ayesha’s biggest emotion was anger, and in that anger, there was no space to talk to Suki. So, there are lots of layers of emotions now she’s finally face-to-face with her again.”

Asked if Ayesha still has feelings for Suki, Rouass confirmed: “Definitely, it’s that first love thing, isn’t it? Ayesha has got all these feelings for Suki that even she doesn’t understand.

“There’s a kind of nostalgia when she seeks Suki for the bond they shared back then because her life is so different now. She’s trying to process these complicated emotions while coping with seeing the man who killed her husband.”

Nish saw a chance to drive a wedge between Suki and girlfriend Eve after his plan backfired, as he warned Eve that Ayesha was Suki’s first love.

“Ayesha really likes Eve, actually,” Rouass said. “There is probably a bit of jealousy there from Ayesha, but only in a nice way. Ayesha and Eve haven’t really had the chance to get to know each other, but she gets a nice vibe from her, which I understand because Eve is a really lovely person who wears her heart on her sleeve.”

Ayesha was also quick to realise that Nish was trying to use her as a pawn to get back at his estranged wife.

Related: EastEnders gift guide – all the best books and merchandise for fans of the soap

“She can see what he’s doing,” the actor said. “Remember, Ayesha lived next door to Nish for years and was close to Suki, who would have spoken to her about her husband. As an outsider, you always see that manipulation more clearly than the person being manipulated.

“So, she’s well aware of what Nish is doing in trying to push her and Suki together. But there’s no doubt he’s right to think there might still be feelings there, given all that history between them.”

Rouass went on: “She probably has hate in her heart for Nish because what happened to Hardeep, her husband, wasn’t an accident. She now knows that the circumstances that led to Nish killing Hardeep are not what she thought, and Suki was involved inadvertently.

“So she’s not going to tolerate this behaviour from Nish, even if he is dying. It is amazing that Nish still can’t let things lie even now. Imagine if Nish could take that energy and do something good with it — he could move mountains!

Viewers learned that Ayesha came out following her husband’s murder, whereas Suki went public with Eve only in the last year.

“I think she is [surprised] because the last time Ayesha saw Suki she was married with kids,” Rouass recalled. “There’s a lot of bravery in what Suki has done to come out and live her life authentically, and Ayesha acknowledges that. She knows the courage it takes to change your life around like that and didn’t see that happening for Suki, so the fact it has is inspiring.”

Rouass touched on Ayesha’s reaction to Eve trying to stake her claim by proposing to Suki in front of everyone.

“It comes out of the blue, and it’s going to be really hard for Ayesha to control her emotions,” she said “She is so overwhelmed by everything that’s happening and how she feels about Suki having seen her again for the first time in so many years. So it’s going to be a very pivotal moment for Ayesha, that’s for sure.”

The actor spoke about her EastEnders experience behind the scenes too, revealing what it had been like to work with Navin Chowdhry, Balvinder Sopal, and Heather Peace.

“Working with Navin is always a pleasure — he’s like a brother to me,” she revealed. “We’ve worked on many projects together over the past 20 years, and it’s great to know you’ve got somebody you are so close to on a job like this. Both Balvinder and Heather were so lovely to work with and made me feel right at home.”

laila rouass as ayesha in eastenders
Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron//BBC
As for working on a high-profile show like EastEnders, Rouass said: “It’s been mental! I’ve done movies with some big-name people on huge sets in LA and Morrocco, but I’ve never had a response like this.

“Now it’s like, ‘Have you met Phil? Have you met Phil?’ People go crazy for EastEnders, and I get it because I’m the same. When my friend Nitin Ganatra was cast as Masood, I was like, ‘You get to go into The Queen Vic!’ When I first went onto the set, I think my heart skipped a beat. It is so iconic to walk onto Albert Square — I loved it.”

Rouass ultimately described her EastEnders experience as being everything she’d hoped for “and more”.

“I’ve always wanted to do EastEnders, and when it was offered to me, I thought, ‘There is no chance I’m not doing this because I have to experience it once in my lifetime’,” she remembered. “It’s the most excited I’ve ever been to go to work. Being in EastEnders feels like being part of British television history, so it was such a beautiful experience for me.”

EastEnders airs on Mondays – Thursdays at 7.30pm on BBC One. The show also streams on BBC iPlayer, where most episodes drop early at 6am ahead of their TV broadcast.