Shabnam Masood (also Kazemi) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Zahra Ahmadi and Rakhee Thakrar.

Shabnam's storylines during her first stint in the show include a feud with her mother Zainab Masood (Nina Wadia), friendships with Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon) and Carly Wicks (Kellie Shirley), her failed engagements with Muslim men and her difficulty acknowledging her family and religious roots.

Shabnam left Albert Square with Jade, leaving Kush behind after she made the decision for him to stay with his son Arthur, who he fathered with Stacey.

She has aspirations to travel and makes plans to leave Walford but is forced to rethink when she discovers her parents are struggling financially.

Shabnam's lack of direction, friendship with Dawn Swann (Kara Tointon) and recreational activities anger Zainab, causing friction between mother and daughter.

Zainab tries to set Shabnam up with Jalil Iqbal (Jan Uddin) and invites him to stay with the family and work in their post office for a while.

Shabnam discovers that Jalil has a girlfriend, though Zainab sees a picture of her and jokes that she is ugly and that her make-up looks like it has been done by Edward Scissorhands.

When still Kush refuses to commit, Shabnam enlists her aunt Fatima Inzamam's (Anu Hasan) help to find a husband, but she is dismissive of her suitor, Asim Hussain (Nitin Kundra), when he mentions children.

Dean's mother Shirley Carter (Linda Henry) finds out about Roya and tells Masood, who is furious with Shabnam.

She worries that Kush will leave her and believes she will be a bad mother, especially after Shirley's boyfriend and Dean's father Buster Briggs (Karl Howman) asks for her help in gaining custody of Jade.

After she and Kush announce the pregnancy to their families, Shabnam decides to make a statement to the police about the girl gang, and tells Shirley she will support her and Buster in their attempt to gain custody of Jade.

Following an induction, Shabnam gives birth to her stillborn son, whom she names Zaair (which she states means "the visitor").

Shabnam secretly checks the gift, one of Kush's old babygros, and Stacey gives birth a son named Arthur Fowler.

Kush begs her not to leave, insisting that his love for her is real, so she decides that they should tell Martin the truth about Arthur's paternity.

She then plants a tree in Zaair's memory, and says her goodbyes to her family, after which Shirley and Buster tell her that they want Jade to live with her, which she accepts.

However, Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty) tells her that Stacey has phoned Shabnam, who has confirmed that Jade is indeed ill, and unless she gets a transplant, she may not live for much longer.

[3][4] The introduction of more ethnic minority characters is part of producer Diederick Santer's plan to "diversify", to make EastEnders "feel more 21st century".

[5] Prior to 2007, EastEnders was heavily criticised by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), for not representing the East End's real "ethnic make-up".

[6] The expansion of minority representation in EastEnders provides "more opportunities for audience identification with its characters, hence a wider appeal.

The industry has a key part to play in this, it is a powerful tool and can go a long way towards helping to build an integrated society.

"[8] Actress Zahra Ahmadi, a graduate from the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, was cast as Shabnam.

I can't wait to become part of the Masood family and start working with the rest of the amazing EastEnders cast and crew.

On 1 August 2015, Thakrar confirmed a stillbirth storyline for Shabnam and father-to-be Kush Kazemi, in which she realises that her baby has stopped moving.

Speaking of the nature of the storyline, Thakrar commented: "In the UK, 3628 babies were stillborn in 2013, that's one in every 216 births; a shocking fact I've come to learn during my preparation for telling this story."

She added: "It is an experience that profoundly changes a person's life forever, and we feel a heavy responsibility to tell the truth of this.

"[11] Erica Stewart, Bereavement Support Services Manager at Sands, stated: "The death of a baby is rarely talked about.

We hope that with a TV drama as popular as EastEnders covering this heartbreaking experience, it will help to lift the taboo, and raise awareness of all the issues that surround the death of a baby.

[16][17] On 5 February 2016, viewers saw Shabnam depart Walford with her long-lost daughter, Jade following the ending of her marriage to Kush.

Thakrar also extended her thanks to executive producer, Dominic Treadwell-Collins and said she would miss co-stars Ganatra, Patel, Ghadami and Turner.

[19] In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Shabnam 66th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, writing that she had a "series of gritty storylines" in her second stint on the soap.