Emmerdale is set to welcome an evil EastEnders villain to the village tonight as Anil Goutam takes on the role of Amit Sharma, the father of Jai and Suni Sharma.
Anil previously played twisted businessman Ranveer Gulati in EastEnders, who tried to sexually assault Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) and was later killed by his 'son' Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), who disposed of his body.
Now, he's swapped Walford for the Dales as he makes his Emmerdale debut as the mysterious Amit in tonight's episode (Monday, October 9).
Back in the summer, Jai (Chris Bisson) was devastated to discover that his biological dad was actually his uncle Amit, the brother of his late father, Rishi Sharma (Bhasker Patel) after Georgia had an affair with him when she was working as his secretary.
After grieving the loss of Rishi, Jai decided to tell Suni they are siblings and not cousins.
In tonight's episode, chef Suni is reeling from the bombshell, leaving Jai wracked with guilt. Meanwhile, Jai's wife Laurel Thomas (Charlotte Bellamy) comforts him and encourages Jai to give Suni space to process it all.
Later on, a stressed Jai is relieved when Suni arrives at his, ready to talk. However, the pair are left stunned when their father, Amit makes an unexpected appearance in the village.
Talking to What To Watch, Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw revealed more details surrounding "complex" newcomer Amit.
She said: "Anil Goutam plays Amit, a new character joining us as part of the Sharma family. Obviously, we found out not so long ago that Rishi was not Jai's biological father, and actually Jai's father is Amit, who is Rishi's brother and Suni's father. So, clearly, we weren't going to leave that one hanging for too long before we brought Amit in!
"What you'll see with Amit is quite a dark and complex character, and although we see Suni wanting him to stick around, could Suni end up regretting that? Is Amit hiding another secret that threatens to blow the whole family apart?"
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7.30 pm on ITV1, with a hour-long episode on Thursdays — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on ITVX.
