EastEnders star Nitin Ganatra has promised Masood Ahmed’s exit from Albert Square will be “warm, poignant and heartfelt”.
The actor will depart the BBC soap after playing the good-natured postman for nine years, despite only planning to stay for six months.
He told ITV’s This Morning: “What is lovely about his exit is it’s not high drama.
“The response to him leaving is phenomenal, I just go to work and assume nobody notices. I go home and look after the kids and then I get this response that I didn’t expect.”
He added: “I said ‘people love him from all cultures so let’s keep it warm and poignant and heartfelt’.
“It’s not a big drama but (former wife) Zainab is a catalyst to him rethinking his whole life.”
He said he was leaving the soap so he could explore other roles, explaining: “I want to do some more characters and do some more films.
“Coming up on 10 years is a full stop.
“I was doing films and comedies before so this was a good time to go.”
'Thank you so much for the love you've shown Masood, I'm really touched by that'
— This Morning (@thismorning) November 3, 2016
We're going to miss you on @bbceastenders, @GanatraNitin! pic.twitter.com/do4vdc5AR9
He is not ruling out returning to the show in future and said producers have promised him the door will be open for him to come back.
