Who Is Sakira Vel? EastEnders’ New Ash Panesar Had a Very Different Career Before Walford
Who is Sakira Vel? Meet the former NHS emergency doctor making her television debut as the new Ash Panesar in EastEnders.
Sakira Vel is the new face of Ash Panesar in EastEnders, but her journey to Albert Square is anything but typical. Before turning to acting, she spent more than a decade working as an emergency medical doctor.
That makes her first major television role particularly fitting. Ash is also a doctor, meaning Sakira is bringing years of genuine medical experience to a character viewers already know.
Born and raised in East London, Sakira studied Medicine and Surgery at King’s College London before working in the NHS and Australia. Alongside medicine, she developed a very different side to her life through music, dance and performance.
Sakira holds a BA in Carnatic Music and South Indian Dance from the Academy of South Indian Arts and is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She later pursued acting seriously, training in improv at The Free Association and at the Actors Studio at Pinewood Studios.
Before EastEnders, she appeared in independent productions including Papa, The Price and Retracing Jemma, alongside commercial work for brands including Google, Škoda and Heineken, as well as voiceover work.
How did Sakira Vel become Ash Panesar?
EastEnders marks Sakira’s television debut, but rather than arriving as a completely new character, she has been handed a role with plenty of history.
Ash was previously played by Gurlaine Kaur Garcha from 2019 until 2023, when the character left Walford to take a medical job in Canada. Sakira admitted she struggled to believe she had landed the part until she actually reached Albert Square.
“When I got the call offering me the role, I don’t think I could truly believe it until I finally made it onto the Square!”
Ash is bisexual and was originally introduced as Iqra Ahmed’s girlfriend, with the couple publicly confirming their relationship with a kiss in Walford in 2019. Her sexuality, relationships and often difficult dynamic with mum Suki subsequently became important parts of Ash’s original time on the Square.
For Sakira, taking over the character brings her career almost full circle. After more than a decade dealing with real medical emergencies, her first television role has brought her back to medicine as Dr Ash Panesar.
Only this time, the emergencies are happening in Walford.
EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday on BBC One and is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
