Arshad Ahmed is the uncle of Masood Ahmed, grandfather of Iqra and Habiba and husband of Mariam. He made his first appearance on 1 January 2018. He is portrayed by Madhav Sharma.
Backstory[]
Arshad Ahmed and his wife Mariam are foster carers who have fostered 122 children.
Storylines[]
In November 2017, Masood Ahmed makes a return to the Square to break the news to Carmel Kazemi that he will not be renewing her tenancy at 41 Albert Square, to allow Mariam and Arshad to move in. Arshad and his wife Mariam Ahmed arrive with their five-year-old foster daughter Daisy. During her fostering, Daisy was being watched by her foster cousin Masood and went missing, but was later found by Ian Beale. Daisy had a hard life growing up and was around her abusive parents who would fight and swear in front of her so when she was taken into care, she thought that it was acceptable behaviour, and would thusly she would often swear, spit in your face, cry and often threw massive temper tantrums. Daisy remained in Mariam and Arshad's care until she was adopted by Ashley and Dan.
Whilst taking their new foster child Harley out for a walk, the Ahmed's got comments about how beautiful Harley is. Mariam and Arshad struggle to settle Harle due to loud music. Arshad asks Karen Taylor to turn down the music, who apologises and tells her son, Keegan Baker, to turn it off which makes Harley start to cry again, so Keegan turned the music back up. The next day, Kat Slater told Arshad that Harley was beautiful. Harley began to play with Kat's earirngs so Kat made him some for himself.
Arshad took Harley shopping where Tiffany Butcher took a selfie with him and posted it on social media - this led to Harley's biological parents Bijan and Chloe to see it and they snatched Harley from his bed after Bernadette Taylor pointed out which house the Ahmeds' lived in. Kat, her cousin Stacey Slater and their nan Mo Harris helped to look for Harley while police surrounded the area. Bijan demanded garage worker Keanu Taylor to fix their car but he told them that it was broken so they ran out into heaps of police vehicles and fled to Maximum Motors. Bijan demanded to have a car and Max Branning gave him the keys to one. Max's wife Rainie Branning managed to talk round Chloe by telling her that this is not what's best for Harley and that she should just return him with his foster parents. Chloe handed Harley to Rainie and got in the car with Bijan who hit her but then drove away. Max and Rainie then gave Harley to a police officer who handed him back to an emotional Arshad who was praying that the child would be found. Arshad held Harley and genteelly kissed him. Arshad then went to see Max and Rainie to tell then that if there was anything they needed, they only had to say. As Rainie was so good with Harley, Max took her to meet his granddaughter baby Abi Branning.
In October, Jean sends Hayley Slater to go shopping and get everything she needs for when her baby arrives. Hayley becomes stressed in Honey Mitchell's shop when she can't figure out what size nappies to buy the baby. Honey tries to calm Hayley down just as Mariam walks in. She tells Hayley to go home with her and they chat. Mariam asks Hayley to look after her foster child Harley, while she finishes cooking. Hayley does this and stops him from crying. Hayley then walks into the living room and spots some pictures of lot of children, whom Mariam and her partner Arshad have fostered in the past. Hayley spots this one child who suffers from deformations due to his mother drinking while she was pregnant. Hayley tells Mariam how her and her mates used to make fun of this girl at school because she looked like that. Then Hayley becomes upset that her baby might have this as she drinks all the time during her pregnancy. She runs off home and confronts Jean about it. Jean tells Hayley that she isn't always drunk, but she is most of the time. On the 29th October 2018, Hayley tries to make herself go into labour as she wants the baby to hurry up and be born. Originally, Hayley wants the baby to be put into care as she believes she is like her mother who left Hayley all on her own for long periods of time at a young age. Hayley tries to eat some spicy food which Mariam gives her but the baby kicks and she does not go into labor until hours later. Hayley then leaves her baby on the doorstep of Mariam and Arshad, with a note asking them to look after the baby. Hayley then goes to see her mother who tells Hayley she did the right thing. Kat, Mo, Stacey and Jean worry frantic about Hayley and the baby, thinking she has done a runner. Mariam tells Arshad not to call social services as they will take the baby away and Hayley trusted them to look after her.
The next day, while giving the baby, Cherry Slater, her bottle, Mariam and Arshad's nephew, Masood, burps the baby and notices she is vomiting blood. Mariam tells them that sometimes babies swallow blood at birth and its nothing to worry about but they immediately call Hayley and rush her to hospital just incase. The name Baby Slater is called and Hayley and her mother Bev arrives there just in time. Mariam can tell she's drinking but tries to be calm for the baby's sake. Meanwhile while sitting in the café, Kat notices Masood carrying nappy's and asks him who they are for. He quickly runs away but Kat catches up and forces him to tell her the truth. Kat immediately rushes to the hospital and cries and begs Hayley to come home with them. Kat tells Hayley that the best for her baby is not with Bev but Hayley apologizes and goes home with Bev and the baby, leaving Kat crying in the middle of the hospital. While at Bev's house, Hayley tries to hold and feed her baby but she does it all wrong. Bev tries to teach her but while feeding the baby, Hayley leaves the lid off the formula and it goes all dry. They have no money to but anymore, therefore Bev suggests breastfeeding to Hayley as the baby cant go hungry. Hayley tries this but it doesn't work. While Hayley holds the baby, Bev shows her a picture of her when she was a baby, the name says Rose and Bev explains that Hayley was named Rose for the first five days of her life, but she decided to change it as it was two much of a nice name for a screaming baby. Hayley looks at her baby and Bev tells her that its not a bad name for her baby. Once the baby had gone to sleep, Hayley tells Bev she cant do it. Bev tells her that she's right and says that they will find a nice family for the baby and might even make some cash out of it.
Mariam's necklace is stolen, and she becomes incredibly distraught. She tells Arshad about this and says she no longer feels safe in London. She later finds out that foster son Adam Bateman is cheating on Honey Mitchell with Habiba Ahmed. She disowns him and tells Honey. Due to feeling incredibly unsafe and heartbroken from Adam's betrayal, Mariam and Arshad decide to leave Walford. Habiba and Iqra Ahmed organise for many of the children who Arshad and Mariam fostered previously to see the pair off, which cheers them up.
Resident history[]
| Address | Years |
|---|---|
| 41 Albert Square | 2018-2019 |
| Pakistan | 2019-present |