Shabnam Masood
Encyclopedia
Shabnam Masood is a fictional character
from the BBC
soap opera
EastEnders
, played by Zahra Ahmadi
. She made her first appearance on 17 July 2007. On 8 September 2008, it was reported that Zahra Ahmadi had quit the soap, as her character was not given enough "meaty storylines". She made her final appearance on 24 October 2008.
and Zainab Masood
, appeared initially as a University graduate, who had not yet decided what career path she wanted to follow. She had aspirations to travel and made secret plans to leave Walford, but she was forced to rethink when she discovered her parents were struggling financially. Shabnam's lack of direction, friendship with Dawn Swann
and recreational activities angered Zainab, causing friction between mother and daughter.
Zainab tried to set Shabnam up with an eligible Muslim bachelor in March 2008, Jalil Iqbal. Despite her expectations, Shabnam found Jalil attractive and they kissed, but Jalil offended the Masoods by suggesting that modern Muslim women like Shabnam provided "great entertainment" but were not marriage material. Zainab was offended at his "arrogance and chauvinism" and she sent him away.
Shabnam and Zainab had a heated argument about Shabnam's behaviour after Zainab caught her poledancing in a club. Zainab was ashamed that Shabnam wanted to embrace British culture more than her family's traditional Muslim culture. Zainab warned Shabnam about the dangers of going against her people's culture and society's rules, relaying an incident in Pakistan, where a girl was burnt as punishment by her family for secretly dating a boy her family felt was unsuitable. Shabnam, realising the woman was her mother, admitted that after hearing that story, she was unable to feel proud of her culture; however, Zainab had many positive things to say about the Muslim culture too. Shabnam felt confused; she did not know where she really belonged. She wanted to go to Pakistan
to figure out who she was. She left for Karachi
in October 2008, to explore her culture in Pakistan; this time she had both her parents' blessing to do so.
characters introduced in 2007 by executive producer, Diederick Santer
. She was first seen in July 2007, the episode after the introduction of her mother, Zainab
(played by Nina Wadia
), who became Walford's new postmistress. An EastEnders source commented: "Shabnam's definitely going to turn heads. She's 21, fresh from university and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. To keep her going, her mum gives her a job at the Post Office." Shabnam appeared intermittently until October 2007, when the Masood family, including Masood Ahmed
and Tamwar Masood
(Shabnam's father and brother), moved to a property on Albert Square
and became regular characters.
The Masoods were the first Muslim
family to join the show since the Karims
, who appeared between 1987 and 1990, and they were the first Asian family to be introduced since the unsuccessful Ferreira family in 2003. Panned by critics and viewers, the Ferreiras were dismissed as unrealistic by the Asian community in the UK, and were eventually axed in 2005.
The introduction of more ethnic minority characters is part of producer Diederick Santer's plan to "diversify", to make EastEnders "feel more 21st century". Prior to 2007, EastEnders was heavily criticised by the Commission for Racial Equality
(CRE), for not representing the East End's real "ethnic make-up". It was suggested that the average proportion of visible minority faces on EastEnders was substantially lower than the actual ethnic minority population in East London boroughs, and it therefore reflected the East End in the 1960s, not the East End of the 2000s. Furthermore, it was suggested that an element of "tokenism
" and stereotyping
surrounded many of the minority characters in EastEnders. The expansion of minority representation in EastEnders provides "more opportunities for audience identification with its characters, hence a wider appeal." Trevor Phillips, CRE chair, has said: "balanced representation of ethnic minority communities in the media matters. The industry has a key part to play in this, it is a powerful tool and can go a long way towards helping to build an integrated society."
, a graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
, was cast as Shabnam. She has commented: "I've watched EastEnders as long as I can remember and I'm really excited to be joining the cast. It was very surreal walking into the Square and seeing all the faces I'd grown up watching. I felt like I knew them". EastEnders executive producer, Diederick Santer, has said "Newcomer Zahra is a real find. She's warm and great fun. I'm confident the Masoods will be a big hit with viewers."
that "Zahra was really disappointed with the way scriptwriters used her character. You hardly ever saw her on screen. If she had been given exciting scenes she would have stayed for a long time [...] she began to feel she was wasting her time." Ahmadi was quoted as saying: "I’ve made the tough decision to leave as I'm still young and I want to try other roles. But I’m really happy the door has been left open for me to return as it has been a great experience." Diederick Santer added: "Zahra is a fine actress, even though she's leaving, the door is always open for her to return. The Masood family have been a great addition to Albert Square so there's plenty more to come from them in future." The character made her exit in October 2008, leaving England to find her roots in Pakistan.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
, played by Zahra Ahmadi
Zahra Ahmadi
Zahra Ahmadi is a British actress of Iranian descent.She is best known for her role as Shabnam Masood in the British television series EastEnders from 2007–2008, but soon quit as she thought that her character was not given enough good storylines...
. She made her first appearance on 17 July 2007. On 8 September 2008, it was reported that Zahra Ahmadi had quit the soap, as her character was not given enough "meaty storylines". She made her final appearance on 24 October 2008.
Storylines
Shabnam, the daughter of Masood AhmedMasood Ahmed
Masood Ahmed is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nitin Ganatra.- Storylines :Masood moves to 41 Albert Square with Zainab, Shabnam and Tamwar in October 2007. Masood and Zainab are both active in the postal industry: Masood is a postman and Zainab the owner of a...
and Zainab Masood
Zainab Masood
Zainab Masood is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by comedienne Nina Wadia. She made her first appearance on 16 July 2007.-Backstory:...
, appeared initially as a University graduate, who had not yet decided what career path she wanted to follow. She had aspirations to travel and made secret plans to leave Walford, but she was forced to rethink when she discovered her parents were struggling financially. Shabnam's lack of direction, friendship with Dawn Swann
Dawn Swann
Dawn Roxanna Swann is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Kara Tointon, who first appeared on 26 September 2005...
and recreational activities angered Zainab, causing friction between mother and daughter.
Zainab tried to set Shabnam up with an eligible Muslim bachelor in March 2008, Jalil Iqbal. Despite her expectations, Shabnam found Jalil attractive and they kissed, but Jalil offended the Masoods by suggesting that modern Muslim women like Shabnam provided "great entertainment" but were not marriage material. Zainab was offended at his "arrogance and chauvinism" and she sent him away.
Shabnam and Zainab had a heated argument about Shabnam's behaviour after Zainab caught her poledancing in a club. Zainab was ashamed that Shabnam wanted to embrace British culture more than her family's traditional Muslim culture. Zainab warned Shabnam about the dangers of going against her people's culture and society's rules, relaying an incident in Pakistan, where a girl was burnt as punishment by her family for secretly dating a boy her family felt was unsuitable. Shabnam, realising the woman was her mother, admitted that after hearing that story, she was unable to feel proud of her culture; however, Zainab had many positive things to say about the Muslim culture too. Shabnam felt confused; she did not know where she really belonged. She wanted to go to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to figure out who she was. She left for Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
in October 2008, to explore her culture in Pakistan; this time she had both her parents' blessing to do so.
Background
Shabnam Masood was one of several AsianBritish Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
characters introduced in 2007 by executive producer, Diederick Santer
Diederick Santer
Diederick Santer is a British television producer and is best known for his work on the popular BBC television soap opera EastEnders, a post which he assumed on 23 October 2006 and left on 1 March 2010...
. She was first seen in July 2007, the episode after the introduction of her mother, Zainab
Zainab Masood
Zainab Masood is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by comedienne Nina Wadia. She made her first appearance on 16 July 2007.-Backstory:...
(played by Nina Wadia
Nina Wadia
-Television and film:Wadia first came to prominence in BBC sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, playing characters such as Mrs "I can make it at home for nothing!" and one half of The Competitive Mothers...
), who became Walford's new postmistress. An EastEnders source commented: "Shabnam's definitely going to turn heads. She's 21, fresh from university and has no idea what she wants to do with her life. To keep her going, her mum gives her a job at the Post Office." Shabnam appeared intermittently until October 2007, when the Masood family, including Masood Ahmed
Masood Ahmed
Masood Ahmed is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Nitin Ganatra.- Storylines :Masood moves to 41 Albert Square with Zainab, Shabnam and Tamwar in October 2007. Masood and Zainab are both active in the postal industry: Masood is a postman and Zainab the owner of a...
and Tamwar Masood
Tamwar Masood
Tamwar Masood is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Himesh Patel. He made his first appearance on 1 October 2007.- Storylines :...
(Shabnam's father and brother), moved to a property on Albert Square
Albert Square
Albert Square is the fictional location of the BBC soap opera EastEnders. It is ostensibly located in the equally fictional London borough of Walford in London's East End. The square's design was based on the real life Fassett Square in Hackney, and was given the name Albert Square after the real...
and became regular characters.
The Masoods were the first Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
family to join the show since the Karims
Ashraf Karim
The Karims are a fictional family that appeared in the BBC soap opera EastEnders between 1987 and 1990.-Creation and development:The Muslim Karim family were introduced as the owners of the soap's grocery store, the First til Last, following the departure of the character Naima Jeffery in 1987,...
, who appeared between 1987 and 1990, and they were the first Asian family to be introduced since the unsuccessful Ferreira family in 2003. Panned by critics and viewers, the Ferreiras were dismissed as unrealistic by the Asian community in the UK, and were eventually axed in 2005.
The introduction of more ethnic minority characters is part of producer Diederick Santer's plan to "diversify", to make EastEnders "feel more 21st century". Prior to 2007, EastEnders was heavily criticised by the Commission for Racial Equality
Commission for Racial Equality
The Commission for Racial Equality was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. Its work has been merged into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.-History:...
(CRE), for not representing the East End's real "ethnic make-up". It was suggested that the average proportion of visible minority faces on EastEnders was substantially lower than the actual ethnic minority population in East London boroughs, and it therefore reflected the East End in the 1960s, not the East End of the 2000s. Furthermore, it was suggested that an element of "tokenism
Tokenism
In the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not...
" and stereotyping
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
surrounded many of the minority characters in EastEnders. The expansion of minority representation in EastEnders provides "more opportunities for audience identification with its characters, hence a wider appeal." Trevor Phillips, CRE chair, has said: "balanced representation of ethnic minority communities in the media matters. The industry has a key part to play in this, it is a powerful tool and can go a long way towards helping to build an integrated society."
Casting
Actress Zahra AhmadiZahra Ahmadi
Zahra Ahmadi is a British actress of Iranian descent.She is best known for her role as Shabnam Masood in the British television series EastEnders from 2007–2008, but soon quit as she thought that her character was not given enough good storylines...
, a graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama
The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is a conservatoire within the University of Glamorgan Group located in Cardiff, Wales....
, was cast as Shabnam. She has commented: "I've watched EastEnders as long as I can remember and I'm really excited to be joining the cast. It was very surreal walking into the Square and seeing all the faces I'd grown up watching. I felt like I knew them". EastEnders executive producer, Diederick Santer, has said "Newcomer Zahra is a real find. She's warm and great fun. I'm confident the Masoods will be a big hit with viewers."
Departure
It was reported on 8 September 2008 that Zahra Ahmadi had quit her role as Shabnam "after producers refused to give her meaty storylines" and discovering that she "barely [featured] in new scripts." A source at the time told The SunThe Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
that "Zahra was really disappointed with the way scriptwriters used her character. You hardly ever saw her on screen. If she had been given exciting scenes she would have stayed for a long time [...] she began to feel she was wasting her time." Ahmadi was quoted as saying: "I’ve made the tough decision to leave as I'm still young and I want to try other roles. But I’m really happy the door has been left open for me to return as it has been a great experience." Diederick Santer added: "Zahra is a fine actress, even though she's leaving, the door is always open for her to return. The Masood family have been a great addition to Albert Square so there's plenty more to come from them in future." The character made her exit in October 2008, leaving England to find her roots in Pakistan.