2026 Suki Panesar-Unwin (Balvinder Sopal) is an incredibly different woman to the 2020 Suki who initially rocked up in EastEnders.
Perhaps by virtue of being allowed to live in her truth as a gay woman alongside her wife, Eve (Heather Peace), or by being free of her evil ex, Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), but the ice has melted, and while still as sharp as a barbed-wire fence, the pure vitriol she used to spew so freely has long since faded away.
After a few initial hiccups, including attempting to cajole Avani Nandra-Hart (Aaliyah James) into having a baby so she could raise it, both Suki and Eve have set their hearts firmly on expanding their family by adopting a child and, despite the interference of Eve’s wicked mum, Norma (Jessica Turner) and Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) and Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy) facing off in front of their social worker, all has gone smoothly thus far.
Yup, Suki’s happily retired her ‘bitch’ mantle. Well, most of the time, anyway.
See, old habits die hard, and when Suki’s temper flares, she’s still capable of bringing out her inner baddie. Case in point being when she learned that her son Vinny Panesar (Shiv Jalota) was expecting a baby with situationship turned girlfriend Penny Branning (Kitty Castledine).
Though Vinny tries his hardest to tell his mum about the situation, she fobs him off. Later, at the café alongside Eve, Penny’s dad Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), manages to put his foot squarely in it when he invites them over for dinner to discuss the baby.
Suki crashes out, big time, and it leads to a major confrontation with Vinny and Penny. Completely unwilling, and unable, to back down, harsh words are exchanged which leave mother and son completely on the outs with each other. By the end of the week, fed up with Suki, Penny spells it out plainly: she and Vinny are having their baby, whether his domineering mum likes it or not.
Next week sees things still incredibly tense between Suki and Vinny and, although a wounded Vinny dips his toe into the water to check Suki’s temperature, he finds it scalding and his attempt to smooth things over is rebuffed. Eve, though, in her perennial role as the cooler head, tries to smooth things over.
It’s with this gentle nudging that Suki agrees to attend a dinner at the Branning’s.
At the dinner, things finally start to cool down, and incredibly surprisingly, Suki finds herself bonding with Penny.
The peace is finite, though.
When Vinny makes a grand gesture, putting a deposit on a shop for Penny, it leads to another bitter clash in which Suki accuses her of using Vinny for financial gain.
By the end of the week, though, Suki and Eve are invited to a meeting with their adoption agency, which proves incredibly positive.
