Will Gray kill Kush next?
AS WHITNEY ASKS KUSH TO SPEND THE REST OF HIS LIFE WITH HER, SHONA McGARTY IS PRAYING THAT HER CHARACTER ISN’T KILLER GRAY’S NEXT VICTIM…
It’s mid-afternoon on a Thursday when Inside Soap calls EastEnders’ Shona McGarty – aka Whitney – for a chat, but the star tells us that her day is only just getting started. “I’m not in work until late, we have a night shoot today,” she shares, enthusiastically. “It’s exciting, actually. This will sound very cringy, but there’s something so special about being on the Square at night. When it’s dark and everything is lit up, it’s just lovely.”
Night shoots usually mean that a dramatic storyline is afoot, so we’re hugely excited to see those scenes play out on our screens in a couple of months’ time. But for now, Whitney’s happier than we’ve ever seen her as she basks in the glow of her romance with Kush – so much so that she asks him to marry her this week! And Shona tells us that it’s about time the pair got their act together…
“I think Whitney and Kush should have happened a long time ago,” she admits. “Kush is such a nice character, and he was there for Whitney throughout the whole drama with Leo King. He’s always protected her. I was really excited about the romance, because Davood [Ghadami, who plays Kush] is a great guy and a great actor, so it’s lovely to work more with him. I’m totally on board with ‘Kushney’!”
DARK SHADOW
Someone who’s definitely not on board with the couple is Gray, who’s fallen for Whitney himself, and is raging that Kush has snatched her right under his nose. Yet Whitney has no idea that her boss has his eye on her in that way.
“Whitney is totally oblivious to Gray’s feelings for her,” points out Shona. “If you remember, Whitney tried to kiss Gray a while ago, when Chantelle was still alive, and he was very angry with her – so she would never think of him romantically now. That’s territory she’d never step on again, and I don’t think she would really want to, anyway.”
Gray’s not giving up on the idea of a romance with Whitney, though – and when she offers to accompany him to a posh work gala, he’s over the moon. So much so that he even gives her one of Chantelle’s dresses to wear…
“That’s a bit strange!” says Shona. “Kush can’t understand why Whitney would want to wear Chantelle’s dress, let alone go to this gala with Gray. Whit feels sorry for him, though – Gray tells Whitney that he and Chantelle used to go to the gala every year, but now she’s not here any more. So Whitney offers to go with him, to be a friend.”
However, once Whitney gets there, it’s clear that she’s hugely out of her depth. And she has no idea that Gray is going around telling his colleagues that Whitney is his new girlfriend!
“The night doesn’t go great for Whitney,” confirms Shona. “She’s completely out of her comfort zone – it’s a bit like the film Pretty Woman! She’s trying to be classy, but she’s not. All the people there are really snobby and they’re all looking at her, then one of the guests mistakes her for a waitress, and she’s quite hurt by that. She leaves the house feeling good about herself because Kush tells her that she looks beautiful, but then it all goes wrong from there.”
KUSH IT!
Deeply distressed, Whitney calls Kush to come to pick her up – and when he arrives, she’s reminded of how lucky she is to have found such a kind and generous man. So, on the spur of the moment, Whitney asks Kush to marry her!
“He comes to pick her up with a kebab in one hand, and her trainers in the other!” chuckles Shona. “It’s really cute. Whit just looks at Kush and melts, and she thinks to herself, ‘That’s the life I want’.
“The proposal is completely out of the blue, she doesn’t know she’s going to do
it,” she adds. “It just comes out! Kush is talking about how glad he is that they met each other, and she just says, ‘Well, okay, will you marry me?’ It’s really sweet.”
Shona won’t tell us whether or not Kush says yes – but given that he is due to go to prison soon, we’re not banking on a happy ending for this couple. Yet Shona is still hopeful that a wedding could be on the horizon.
“Whit would be happy to get married in a pair of leggings!” she grins. “Their wedding would probably be a simple one, just about their love for each other rather than big dresses and shiny decorations. Whit knows that Kush is going to prison, but she’s said she’ll wait for him for as long as she has to.”
We know that Davood has already filmed his final scenes on the soap, so heartbreak could be imminent for Whit. However, while we’d all love to see poor Whitney finally settled and happy, Shona tells us that she’s hoping the writers will keep piling on the misery!
“As an actress playing Whitney, I love it when something bad happens as it means I can get my teeth stuck into more drama,” confesses the star. “But I’m gutted that Davood is leaving – everyone is. Kush is such a big character and Davood is a lovely guy, so it’s sad. But everything always goes wrong for Whitney, doesn’t it? I’m sure she’s cursed!”
Everything always goes wrong for Whit – she’s cursed!
DEATH WISH?
That curse could hit Whitney big time if jealous Gray snaps over her romance with Kush – and we fear she could meet the same fate as Chantelle and Tina! Shona does admit that she’s quite fearful for her character’s safety…
“Whitney needs to be careful, doesn’t she?” she ponders. “Obviously she doesn’t know what Gray’s really like, but he could just explode at any moment, couldn’t he? It’s a bit worrying.”
On the other hand, given how close Whitney is to Gray and the access she has to his home, she could be the one who finally brings him to justice – and Shona is rooting for that to happen!
“That would be amazing,” she grins. “When I’m out shopping, all I get from people is, ‘Stay away from Gray’, and ‘When is he going to get caught?’, and I have to just say, ‘I don’t know!’. So if I got some scripts that said Whitney was the one to find out about Gray, then I’d be happy. I’d love to play out that storyline!”