‘KANEEZ IS THE WORST PERSON TO DO SEX ED’
The gang are back in school again for a dramatic new series
Term begins once more at Ackley Bridge, with new teachers, new pupils and new dramas. A regular since series one, Sunetra Sarker plays school counsellor Kaneez and reveals that this year could bring big changes for her character…
Hi, Sunetra! We hear that Kaneez has taken charge of the school’s sex education. How was that?
Well, no adult ever wants that job in school or in the family, do they? Kaneez is nominated but, of course, she’s the worst person to do it. She doesn’t really have any sexual language or intelligence. Her answer to every question is basically, “Wait until you’re married.” It was the most fun we’ve had as a cast.
Did it remind you of your own sex education at school?
Are you kidding me? We literally had a projection with the lights out, with an awful cartoon of people explaining it.
So did you have that chat with your own 17-year-old son, Noah?
I tried. I only got as far as, “There’s some things that are going to be happening with your body…” and he literally just put his hand up and said, “No!” Maybe because he knows once I start, I can’t stop!
What is it like working with the kids on the show? Do you enjoy it?
I always felt I had a lot to live up to. The kids have seen me on TV as they’ve grown up, so they came with admiration for me, and I felt I had to deliver.
What else is coming up for Kaneez this year?
She’s got her GCSES to sit, which she has to pass or she’ll lose her job. Kyle is doing his GCSES with her, so she’s trying to turn him around – and prove herself to Ken that way, by helping the naughtiest boy in school be the student no one expected. Her son, Saleem, is branching into dating, so she’s losing her baby, and the last of her children are growing up. We do have a very interesting speeddating session as well.
What were your school days like?
I went to an all-girls school, which was a blessing for me, as I didn’t get distracted by boys! I was the joker. I was the smallest and I could fit inside the piano and play it from the back – the teachers thought there was a ghost in the room! I wasn’t a girl who would get expelled, but I was definitely put on report a couple of times, much to my parents’ dismay. Fortunately, Brookside came along when I was
15, so I became an actress out of nowhere. As everyone else was going to PE, I was off to Brookside Close.