Holby City Nina’s grief
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR MATTEO AND JAC AFTER HIS WIFE NINA TAKES A FULL-TIME JOB AT HOLBY? NEWCOMER AYESHA DHARKER TELLS ALL…
Today is a rare day when I’m not up at 5am and already on set,” beams actress Ayesha Dharker, as she joins Inside Soap for an early morning chat on a day off from filming. “I’ve discovered that listening to the Darth Vadar theme tune while doing the school run is a lot of fun!”
We can tell straight away that we’re in for a really great chat with Ayesha, who is thrilled to be a part of Holby.
The 39-year-old star – whom soap fans might remember for playing Dev’s girlfriend Tara Mandal in Corrie – joins the hospital drama on a regular basis as Matteo’s ex-wife, Nina. We’ve met her once before, of course, when viewers learned that the pair lost their young son after he went missing 10 years ago.
“I’ve known a couple of the Holby casting directors for some time, and when they told me about this story, I was hooked,” explains Ayesha. “I have a five-year-old myself and I’m the most paranoid parent, so I’ve really thought about Nina’s experience a lot.
“I remember using a cashpoint once when my baby was in a buggy, and jamming the pram in between myself and the machine because I was so terrified someone would run off with my child,” continues the actress. “If that happened to me, I’d go crazy!”
Ayesha admits to feeling terrified whenever she reads about a missing child in the news, which is why she felt a duty to take on this role.
“What I love about Nina is that she’s completely obsessed with finding her son – but she lives with it,” says the star. “She’s a surgeon and consultant who has achieved so much in what should have been a perfect life – and yet there is this gaping big hole in it. That was something that I was incredibly drawn to.
“The other gift, of course, is working with Christian [Vit, who plays Matteo]. He’s such a wonderful actor and a lovely human being – and he’s not afraid to go to some really vulnerable places.”
Had it not been for this tragedy then, would the pair still be together? Is that why Nina’s taken up a permanent position at Holby, to win back her man?
“Nina and Matteo will always have something to do with one another,” reckons Ayesha. “What they’ve been through is so intense, and he is all
Nina has left of her son. Matteo looks like their little boy, too, so it’s simply impossible for Nina not to love him.
“The problem is, Matteo has allowed himself to grieve, whereas Nina hasn’t,” adds the star. “She wakes up every morning thinking, ‘This is the day that I’m going to find my son’ – and it’s that relentless positivity that is a lot harder to fight. She’s constantly picking at an open wound, and for Matteo that became very hard to live with.”
The charming surgeon put the past behind him and found romance with Jac. But with Nina back on the scene, can we expect there to be fireworks between the two women?
“Jac is an incredible person – and I think Nina respects that,” Ayesha tells us. “She sees her and thinks, ‘You’re a beautiful woman, and I can see exactly why Matteo would be interested in you’. If he’s going to move on, Nina would rather it be with someone interesting and intelligent than an idiot!
“I also find it hard to believe Nina is easily intimidated,” she continues. “She’s lost everything and all she has is her work – so if someone wants to challenge her, bring it on. I think Jac is smart enough to realise that.”
Meanwhile, Ayesha is ecstatic at having landed her dream role – pretending to be a doctor really floats her boat…
“I absolutely love it!” shares the actress, who has appeared in movies such as Star Wars: Episode II – Attack Of
The Clones, and performed in Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams.
“I’m the least squeamish person on Earth, and I adore the surgery stuff. When I’m doing it, I sometimes think I’m in the wrong job. I can imagine doing the meticulous training if that’s what you get to do at the end of it. The only problem is, it would take me 10-15 years to get there – then it wouldn’t be long before I’d have to retire!”