Emmerdale Shila Iqbal Aiesha Richards
Soaps

Emmerdale fans solve awkward problem of axed actress Shila Iqbal’s final scenes

She'll soon disappear from the Dales...

Ever since Emmerdale confirmed the news that actress Shila Iqbal had been axed, fans have been wondering how her character would be written out.

Last night (Wednesday 17 April), viewers saw Aiesha Richards in some of her last scenes in the ITV soap – as she annoyed her stepsister and brother Priya and Jai.

Shila was axed from the soap after historic controversial comments (Credit: Instagram)

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As she caused problems onscreen, fans made light of the situation, claiming to have solved all of Priya’s problems…

As Aiesha thrilled her stepdad Rishi Sharma with a sweet message in his birthday card and some posh booze, Jai and Priya were not impressed…

Feeling like they’d been upstaged and made to look stingy in comparison, they had their noses put seriously out of joint.

Priya was put out by Aiesha’s thoughtfulness towards Rishi (Credit: ITV)

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When a massive cake arrived at work with a balloon, Jai and Priya really were put to shame.

But fans suggested the sibling rivalry would soon be solved!

One wrote: “Don’t worry Priya, she’ll be gone in two weeks.”

Another added: “That will be the last cake Rishi gets from Aiesha as she’s off soon for being naughty #Emmerdale.”

https://twitter.com/mrcrh11/status/1118577496407072771

https://twitter.com/sallhype/status/1118577331495419906

“So are these the last scenes of Aiesha then? Please!” implored another.

Shila has left the soap, after what can only be described as an uncomfortable chain of events.

She will only be onscreen for another two weeks after being sacked from the ITV soap for historic controversial tweets.

ED! reported earlier this month that Shila had been axed from her role after offensive historic social media posts came to light in which the N-word was allegedly used.

Shila off-duty before the scandal broke (Credit: Instagram)

Shila recently joined the ITV soap as a regular character, playing Aiesha Richards, daughter of Manpreet, Rishi’s girlfriend.

The 24-year-old posted a series of racist tweets in 2013, when she was 19 and a student.

Shila deleted her Twitter account when news of the old messages surfaced.

An Emmerdale spokeswoman said: “As a consequence of historic social media posts Shila Iqbal has left her role as Aiesha Richards on Emmerdale.

“The programme took the decision not to renew her contract as soon as these posts were brought to the company’s attention.”

Shila as Aiesha in the ITV soap (Credit: ITV)

Apologetic Shila said after the scandal broke: “I am terribly sorry and take full responsibility for my use of such inappropriate language…

“I have paid the price and can no longer continue the job I loved the most at Emmerdale.

“Although I was young when I made the tweets, it was still completely wrong of me to do so and I sincerely apologise…

“The only consideration I would ask is that I have recently received hateful tweets telling me that, as a Muslim, my Emmerdale role means that I am ‘committing sinful acts, promoting sin and deliberately going against the Quran’.

“We live in sensitive times for members of all communities and especially those in multi-racial Rochdale where I grew up…

“I regret that I too have let people down by the use of such language, albeit six years ago.

“I, like everyone else, have a responsibility about the language I have used on social media as well as in conversation.”

Did Shila deserve to be fired? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know.


Helen Fear
TV Editor

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