Enders' Ganatra: We'll miss Elliott

EastEnders actor Nitin Ganatra has said he is "very, very sad" that on-screen son Marc Elliott is leaving the soap.

Marc and John Partridge, who play gay lovers Syed Masood and Christian Clarke, are being written out after Marc decided to leave the long-running BBC One soap.

And Nitin, who plays patriarch Masood Ahmed, said: "It's very sad, because we get along so well as actors, we do behave like a family - there's a strange kind of osmosis that takes place, and we start barking at each other like we really are a family.

"With Syed and Christian it's been such a great storyline. It's been groundbreaking, the whole gay Muslim storyline has never really been done, and done in this way. It caused a lot of controversy, it opened a lot of doors to people speaking out about these issues, and also it's a love story, a family story, and it's going to reach this climax."

He added: "Of course we're going to be very, very sad to lose a member of our family."

Show bosses have remained tight-lipped about how the couple will leave Albert Square.