After it was discovered that Zack Hudson (James Farrar) had HIV, next EastEnders scenes are expected to humiliate Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara) for his intolerance.
After being questioned about his decision to forgo a boxing match with Ben Mitchell (Max Bowden), Zack will divulge his diagnosis to everyone in the Queen Vic.
Zack was scheduled to face Ben in the main event of the neighbourhood boxing match, but Zack was forced to withdraw after learning that he would have to submit to a blood test.
This encouraged him to tell his sister Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and best friend Martin Fowler (James Bye) about his condition.
Martin is left to console Zack while the spectators gasp in shock.
‘Martin has lived through losing a family member as a result of HIV as his brother Mark’s HIV progressed to AIDS, so his ability as a man to own it and tell Zack that he has nothing to be ashamed of helps Zack process things immeasurably. Martin helps to simplify it for him in his head’, actor James Farrar revealed.
He reveals that the reaction he gets from the Walford residents is not what he expected at all.
We will see how it plays out. “Because of the response that Sharon and Martin gave Zack only a week prior, I think he was hoping that people would side with him.”
“It hurts, and the people in Walford are making some stupid remarks.” Zack encounters all of these prejudices for the first time, which tears him down due to a lack of knowledge but also enables him to weed out those individuals from his life that he doesn’t need.
Ravi is one of the characters that exhibits his ignorance, but it doesn’t take long for someone to educate him on his actions.
Son Nugget (Juhaim Rasul Choudhury), who is back in Walford East, makes him feel inferior by reading him the riot act for his erroneous ideas about HIV.
Will Ravi own his mistakes and offer an apology?