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EastEnders legend Lacey Turner has definitely picked up on a dangerous spark between Stacey Slater and newcomer Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry), the father of her boyfriend Kheerat (Jaz Deol).
‘It feels like that. doesn’t it?’ she pondered with Metro.co.uk when we caught up with her.
‘There’s nothing in there at the moment but it feels like it’s coming. It feels like there’s a feud brewing between the Slaters and the Panesars.’
Nish has caused chaos for the Panesars since before his first appearance on screen, when it was announced that he would be released from prison after a 20-year stretch.
Stacey is an EastEnders icon (Picture: BBC)
Lacey picked up the award for All-time Soap Icon at the Inside Soap Awards this week for her role as Stacey Slater.
‘I’m very, very grateful,’ she said of the award. ‘It just seems mad that my name is attached to an award that says “icon.”
‘It’s incredible, really, for people to follow you for 18 years – I think it’s 18 years – to support you, to love you and to go on that journey with myself and Stacey for all that time and still be here now is really quite incredible.
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‘I wouldn’t be standing here without them. They are the most important people. This [award] really is theirs, because without them I would not be here and I would definitely not be called an icon. It’s lovely.
‘It doesn’t matter what she does, she somehow seems to get away with it. I don’t know how. I’m sure one day it won’t go that way!’
The character has been involved in countless storylines over the years, and things are far from slowing down for her.
One of her most talked about stories was one which saw Stacey be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and Lacey revealed that people still mention it today.
‘I’ve been really lucky to have some amazing stories over the years’ (Picture: Metro.co.uk)
‘For me that is probably my proudest storyline, being able to speak to the nation without directly speaking to them and allowing people to open up and say, “Oh, actually I have that, or maybe I have that.” It just gave people the freedom to open up and even if we just help one person it was worth it.’
‘I’d never heard of bipolar back then but it was lovely to be able to tackle something and try and portray it in a way that was as close to real life as possible. I was lucky enough to be given the tools to research that.’
MORE : Gurlaine Kaur Garcha and Shiv Jalota reveal ‘fire and excitement’ for the Panesars in EastEnders
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The actress also reflects on the journey of Stacey so far and her standout storyline.