You Ask… Balvinder Sopal (Suki)
EastEnders’ Suki Panesar ...faces your questions! “Do you like playing a baddie on screen?”
Wicked Suki has reached soap icon status in record time due to her villainous behaviour – but will Balvinder melt under the scrutiny of your questions?
“Even though she’s a baddie, people seem to really love Suki – why do you think that is?”
When people tell me that they like Suki, I always wonder why! She’s manipulative, she’s controlling, she gives her children tough love to the point of strangulation, and she rules with an iron fist! Can you actually like a person who is like that? I even question it myself, because I enjoy playing her. I guess we all like someone who’s fearless, has an edge, or something quite dark about them – we’re naturally curious.
“How well do you get along with your screen kids in real life?”
They’re all lovely and absolutely brilliant. We have a great relationship as friends as well as work colleagues – we call each other up and talk about scenes, which is great for bouncing ideas off one another. It’s easy to play stereotypical characters in soap, because it doesn’t require a lot of thinking, but we want to really pull it out of the bag and find something more universal. We all get along really well. During lockdown, every other week we’d have a WhatsApp or Zoom chat, just to catch up and check in with each other.
“Would you like Suki to have a love interest?”
No, I don’t think so.
If love comes into it, I think you lose the edge. You can become comfortable in the right relationship, and there’s an edge to Suki that she needs to maintain. Firstly, I think if she got into a relationship, she’d eat them alive! And secondly, to match that woman, you’ve got to be quite something. I’m not saying that there isn’t anyone on the Square who would stand up to her, but I don’t think that she should have a love affair just yet.
“If you had to play another EastEnders character, who would you choose?”
My instincts go to Sharon, just because I love her. She’s a brilliant character, and has been through so much. People such as Letitia Dean [who plays Sharon] and Adam Woodyatt [Ian] have been on the show for 35 years, on and off, so they have a whole body of this character that they’re playing, and each time they act out a scene or a storyline, they’re filling themselves up with life
“How do you get on with your screen kids?”
experience. How great to be able to have that! I think Sharon’s led a very colourful, interesting life, so I’d like to play her for a day, and put
Ian in his place in the salty way that she does. Letitia’s brilliant at that.
“What would you be doing as a career if you weren’t an actor?”
Interestingly, I wanted to train as a dancer.
I like dance and physical theatre, so I think I might have gone along the dancing route. I also enjoyed gymnastics when I was growing up. I think I would always have done something creative, although according to the Government, we’re unskilled workers! Come on! It’s the most skilful job, because it teaches you about emotions and the human condition. We learn that through performance, art and creativity. I was incensed by those comments.
“What does your own family make of Suki – do they like her, too?”
My mum loves her! She says, “She’s horrible, but I love the way you play her!” Also, they’re so made up that I’m a part of EastEnders, something we’ve all watched forever. There are times when I think, ‘I can’t believe I do this for a living!’ But then you connect with it in a human way, and know that these stories need to be told. My sister is like, “It’s about time we had a female character like this, particularly from an Asian background.” We don’t often see that; we usually see the opposite.
“Will we ever meet Suki’s husband – and are you looking forward to that?”
I am! I don’t know how they’re going to play it. I want them to wait before bringing him in, though; there’s so much more to uncover with the current members of the Panesar family, and I’d love to develop and explore the relationship between Ash and Suki. I think there’s a lot more between those two women, and Ash having an opinion about how
Suki brought up the boys. There’s still a lot more to play out before another person is added into the mix.
“Do you like playing a baddie?”
I do, but there’s a part of me that’s afraid to completely step into Suki’s shoes just because of how much I might like it! Sometimes I feel as though, as an actor, there are so many voices in your head with these characters we play, and I don’t know what accent will come out – or what thought process. I’m sure all actors are a bit like that. We’re always playing or messing about, or being something we’re not, and I think, ‘Who’s the real Balvinder Sopal?’ All I can say is that she’s definitely not like Suki Panesar!