Dayle Hudson
“I had to keep taking my clothes off – it was thrilling, though…”
My jaw hit the floor when I first found out that Peter was going to sleep with Suki!” gasps EastEnders star Dayle Hudson, who plays Square Lothario Peter. “I couldn’t believe it! But it was a great scene to film – it was exciting, although I was a bit nervous. Suki is an absolute badass, so when I read the script, I knew that Peter was going to get chewed up and spat out. Peter thinks he’s a ladies’ man, yet when a woman like Suki presents herself, he doesn’t really know what to do!”
Having put his shock hook-up with Suki behind him, Peter is now romancing her daughter Ash, and the pair sleep together this week. But the romantic mood is quickly shattered when Suki arrives home! It’s certainly an awkward situation for Peter, though Dayle thinks his alter ego can make his relationship with Ash work.
“There’s massive potential for them as a couple, they have qualities that will really benefit each other,” he grins. “Ash is very calm, she’s forgiving, and playful, whereas Peter has been losing his playfulness. So Ash has brought that out of him, and they’re a breath of fresh air for each other – it’s lovely.”
However, Ash and Peter’s romance certainly won’t be plain sailing…
“As time goes on, Peter starts to realise that Suki is not a woman to be trifled with,” reveals Dayle. “Peter’s quite naive, and sees himself as a bit of a knight in shining armour. He thinks he can pit himself against Suki and potentially win, and look incredible in front of Ash. But Suki is more experienced – and more manipulative.
“What’s coming up next for Peter with Suki and Ash is going to be massive,” adds the star.
“At first, Peter didn’t realise that he was on Suki’s puppet strings, but he’s about to find out that she’s actually extremely terrifying!”
Peter is about to find out that Suki is extremely terrifying!
While Peter’s set to squirm over the coming weeks, Dayle tells us that it’s been a delight to play out these tense scenes with co-stars Gurlaine Kaur Garcha (Ash) and Balvinder Sopal (Suki). “It’s been amazing,” he enthuses. “Ian’s left, so Peter’s family is kind of spread out at the moment, doing their own thing. I’ve become an honorary Panesar! I had a lot of scenes with Jaz [Deol, aka Kheerat] over Christmas, so me and him got really close. When I found out about Peter and Suki, and Peter and Ash, it was lovely to wind him up a bit! But it’s great fun – the family dynamic is brilliant.” However, we suspect it was Dayle who was on the receiving end of the banter thanks to another scene
– Peter running around the Square wearing nothing but a superhero cape as he tried to catch Ash’s attention! Even so, he tells us it wasn’t as much fun to film as it was to watch…
“It was the coldest day of the year!” he recalls. “That day was one of the hardest shifts I’ve ever had to do, it was just so cold. I had to keep taking my clothes off and chucking them, and then putting them back on again when they were freezing and wet. It was incredibly thrilling, though – it was the first time I’ve ever got my kit off for the nation [laughs].”
You have to admire Peter – and Dayle informs us that he’s never gone to such extreme lengths in the name of love.
“I did book an impromptu trip to Paris once, but that’s not even that crazy,” he recalls. “It’s not quite the same as running round a market square absolutely naked. Dayle can learn a bit from Peter’s bravery!”