Carmel Kazemi is the mother of Kush, Darius and Shakil Kazemi. She is also the wife of Umar Kazemi and grandmother of Zaair Kazemi and Arthur Fowler.
Storylines[]
2015-2016: Arrival[]
Carmel comes for dinner with Shabnam Masood after she becomes engaged to Kush. She gets on well with her father, Masood Ahmed, and they go for a drink together, where Masood tells Carmel that Shabnam had a secret daughter named Roya which she abandoned seven years ago. Carmel is understanding and offers her support to Shabnam, although it just makes Shabnam angry at Masood for revealing her secret. After her son Kush had proposed to Shabnam she tries to take control by wanting to have an engagement party for them but Shabnam isn't having anything of it but then in the episode which aired 11th June Carmel gets Stacey to rally up the guys to practice a dance which her zumba teacher taught her. Carmel visits the Masoods frequently and Shabnam dislikes her heavy involvement with the wedding planning. She is delighted when Shabnam and Kush announce they are expecting. Carmel arrives at Shabnam and Kush's flat, upset as Kush's father is selling her house. Shabnam begrudgingly allows her to move in temporarily, but later catches Carmel and Masood in bed together. After Kush learns that his and Shabnam's baby boy Zaair Kazemi is stillborn, his father contacts Carmel and allows her to move back in to her house. Before returning to Essex, she and Masood help Kush and Shabnam reconcile for Zaair's, funeral.
Carmel is angry at Kush when he reveals that he is the father of Stacey Branning's son Arthur due to them having a one night stand before Arthur was born. This caused Shabnam and Kush to split up. Arthur was believed to be Martin Fowler's son, however once Stacey found out that she was four months pregnant, she revealed that the father cannot be Martin and that it must be Kush. Martin adopted Arthur, although Kush and Carmel both see him regularly.
2017-2018: Relationship with Max and Shakil's Death[]
In September 2017, Max Branning is requested by the Willmott-Brown Family (who are currently orchestating a plan to demolish the Square and replace it with luxury tower blocks) to begin a relationship with Carmel, as she is a member of the planning department. Later that year in November 2017, Masood returns to Walford to break the news to Carmel that he will not be renewing her tenancy at 41 Albert Square, to allow his aunt and uncle Mariam and Arshad Ahmed to move in the following year.
In October 2017, Carmel babysits Arthur and his half-sister Lily Fowler and she finds some bruises o Arthur's arm and Lily tells Carmel that their mother Stacey did it, therefore Carmel calls social services who then investigates Arthur's bruises. However she realises she has made a mistake and phoned social services again. They then arrive and ask Stacey if anyone can have Lily and Arthur for the night and Carmel and Arthur's dad Kush say the children can stay with them for the time being. However a pediatric report confirms that neither Stacey or Martin hurt Arthur. Lily and Arthur return to Stacey and Martin after Lily admits that she gave Arthur the bruises as she was jealous that he was getting all of the attention. After Carmel tells Stacey that she was the person who phoned the Social, Stacey punches Carmel and banns her from seeing Arthur.
In December 2017, Carmel finds an engagement ring while tidying up the house and mistakenly believes Max wants to propose to her, when in fact it is intended for his secret girlfriend Fi Browning. The following day Carmel still believes Max is going to propose to her and prepares to celebrate with him at The Queen Vic. However, when he walks into The Vic, he deliberately ignores her and kisses Fi, humiliating Carmel in front of everyone and finally revealing his scheme. Realising she has been used, Carmel upsettingly storms out of the pub. Carmel and Shakil then moves in with Kush and Denise. While Carmel is at Windsor for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Shakil is stabbed in the back by a gang and the delay in finding him proves fatal. She rushes to the hospital to be told her son is dead. After hearing that Kush may still leave for Dubai, she feels helpless and tries to commit suicide but she is then strengthened by the discovery of Shakil's watch. She attends Shakil's memorial in the Square's gardens and makes amends with Karen Taylor. Shaki's best mate, Keegan Baker takes her to where Shaki's killer, Bruno, lives and offers to square things but Carmel warns him against and they have the police arrest Bruno; outside the police station, Carmel reveals herself to his mother, Sophie. When Carmel finds Keegan in possession of a knife, she anonymously hands it in and decides to campaign for a knife amnesty, where young people can hand in knives to a public knife bin and their identities remain secret. She then tries to start a youth club. On a prison visit, Bruno pretends to Carmel that he is contrite. At Halloween, Keegan stabs a boy who disrespected Shakil and Carmel allows him to think that the boy died, Carmel and Karen have a heated row leading to Keegan finally being made to see sense. Carmel and Keegan make amends before she moves abroad.
2021: Kush's Death[]
In April 2021, Carmel discovers off-screen that Kush has died. She is devastated to hear this and phones Martin to say that she will not be returning to Walford as it contains too many bad memories and would like Kush's body to be moved to her in Dubai.