Sunetra Sarker (born 25 June 1973)[1] is an English actress and presenter, known for her roles as Nisha Batra in Brookside, Anji Mittel in No Angels, Zoe Hanna in Casualty and Kaneez Paracha in Ackley Bridge.
Since 2019, she has been a regular participant on Celebrity Gogglebox, partnering with Georgia Taylor, and became a panellist on the lunch time chat show Loose Women in 2021.
Her initial success came when she was cast as recurring character Nisha Batra in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside from 1988 to 1991, before returning as a regular from 2000 until 2003.
[12] Sarker's next notable role was portraying the part of Clare Burns in the BBC drama The Chase,[13] until the show was pulled after its second series.
[14] Subsequently, Sarker played the role of Dr Zoe Hanna in the BBC medical drama Casualty from December 2007 until May 2016.
[20] In autumn 2014, Sarker competed in the twelfth series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, partnered with New Zealand professional dancer Brendan Cole.
[23] In the third week the couple danced the American Smooth to "The Way You Look Tonight" from the film Swing Time and scored 40, including a 9 from head judge Len Goodman.
[9] Travelling next to Bangladesh, she visited her great-grandmother's ancestral village where she discovered the story of how her family were caught up in the Bangladeshi war of independence from Pakistan in 1971.