'EastEnders' star pleased with Yusef plot response

EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra has revealed that he is thrilled with the viewer response to the Masoods' ongoing story with scheming Yusef Khan.

The actor's character Masood Ahmed is currently estranged from wife Zainab and the rest of his family as Yusef (Ace Bhatti) has managed to turn all of them against him.

Masood's wife Zainab (Nina Wadia), who used to be married to Yusef, has appeared to be particularly affected by the sinister doctor's manipulations over the past few weeks.

Speaking of the plot, Ganatra told This Morning today: "A lot of people have been quite moved by this story because the Masoods are really centred around the family. It stops it from being 'the Asian family on EastEnders' and it becomes a universal thing. It's a father trying to keep it all together."

"What's lovely about the storylining for me is that Masood is more and more isolated, because he's the only one with the conviction to know what Yusef is really like and nobody else believes him," he continued.

Ganatra also promised that the mystery surrounding the fire which almost killed Zainab many years ago will be revisited in this week's episodes. Although Masood suspects that Yusef was responsible for the attack, the GP has always insisted that his family were to blame.

"The storyliners are keeping that hanging this week - so we will reveal something about that," Ganatra said.

EastEnders continues tomorrow night at 7.30pm on BBC One.

> Read a full Q&A with EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra
> Read a full Q&A with EastEnders star Ace Bhatti
> Read more EastEnders spoilers and news

Watch a video preview of Thursday night's EastEnders episode below: