Rakhee Thakrar

Rakhee Thakrar is an English actress who was raised in Leicester's St Matthew's district and studied drama as a school subject before taking stage roles. On radio she played Roopa Chauhan in Silver Street, the BBC Asian Network drama, from 2004 to 2010. Her first television part came in the BBC drama Banglatown Banquet in 2006, and she went on to appear in Doctors, Holby City and Peep Show and to take a lead role in the British-Asian drama Cloud 9. Cast in EastEnders in 2013, she first appeared as Shabnam Masood in January 2014 and stayed until early 2016, winning praise from viewers, critics and colleagues for her work in the character's stillbirth storyline. From 2019 she took the part of Emily Sands in Sex Education, the Netflix comedy drama, and she gives voice to Bliss, the Eighth Doctor's companion, in Big Finish's audio series Doctor Who: The Time War.