Tamwar Masood

Name: Tamwar Masood
First Appeared: 1st October 20007
Last Appeared: 30th September 2010
Played by: Himesh Patel

Super-geek Tamwar Masood always seemed destined for the ivory towers of academia, but instead, he decided to stick around in Walford, adding his sardonic put-downs and dry wit to every occasion. His failure to get into Oxbridge was a massive blow to his overbearing mum, Zainab, who loved using his academic achievements to outdo her rival, Denise Johnson. But Tamwar managed to earn her forgiveness by saving the family (temporarily) from financial ruin and becoming the proud owner of The Argee Bhajee. Unfortunately, his brother Syed ran the restaurant into the ground, leading to repossession.

In 2014, Tamwar faced the return of his strong-willed sister, Shabnam, who seemed determined to shake things up for the Masood family. Meanwhile, their dad, Masood, wasn’t helping matters by gambling away Tam’s entire university fund. Tamwar initially blamed Fatboy for the missing money, unaware that Masood was actually at fault. When Tamwar was accused of stealing market cash by his boss, Aleks Shirovs, a guilty Masood interrupted, leading Tam to keep his job but lose faith in his father, eventually asking him to move out. With Shabnam back, family life began to recover—until the potential market closure loomed over them.

Tamwar struggled to run the family restaurant, and when Syed took over, he stole money from it and neglected the mortgage, leading to repossession. It was revealed that Zainab had lent Syed money from Tamwar’s college fund. Feeling betrayed, Tamwar accused Zainab of favouring Syed, prompting Masood to tell Zainab to leave. Tamwar decided to go back to college but ended up taking over Zainab’s job in the local shop to help with finances. Though Zainab returned and set a wedding date with Masood, their eventual breakup sent her back to Pakistan with Tamwar’s younger brother Kamil. Tamwar took a job as the assistant market inspector and briefly dated Alice Branning before Michael Moon interfered, leading to their breakup.

In early 2014, Shabnam returned to Walford, disrupting Masood’s romance with Carol Jackson. After Masood’s mother died, he went off the rails, and Tamwar was left to look after him after he was mugged. When Aleks accused Tamwar of stealing workplace money, which Masood had actually taken, it led to a heated confrontation and a physical altercation. Shabnam permanently returned to Albert Square to help sort out the family’s issues. Tamwar left with Nancy Carter to travel in 2016, but their journey took a turn when Nancy was struck by a car in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2019, Nancy and Tamwar got engaged in Australia and later settled in New Zealand. However, by 2021, their marriage was on the rocks, leading Nancy to return to Walford and reveal to Linda Carter that she and Tamwar were getting a divorce because they wanted different things in life.