EastEnders' Aaron Thiara teases new twist for 'desperate' Ravi after fans predict death

EastEnders star Aaron Thiara has teased that a twist in his dark storyline with Jack Branning is on the way – and it will all play out 'next week'. The actor, 32, stars as Ravi Gulati on the BBC soap, which beat out competition from Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks to scoop the NTA for Serial Drama, and admitted that his alter-ego has 'got caught in the spider's web' recently.

Viewers will know that Zoe Slater (Michelle Ryan), who made a dramatic return to the serial in recent weeks after 20 years away, was shot by a stray bullet outside the Queen Vic during a heated confrontation between Jack (Scott Maslen) and Ravi. She was rushed to hospital, and Jack pressured Ravi to hide the gun as it all started to play out.

But the soap star has now teased that his character, who also heads up a drugs operation, will be presented with an 'opportunity' in the coming days as things become more and more 'desperate' for him.

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During a chat on ITV's Lorraine with stand-in host Ranvir Singh on Friday, he said: "He's got caught in the spider's web with the drug business that he's involved in. That's gonna put pressure on him so he's gonna get a bit more desperate but an opportunity will present itself next week between Ravi and Jack."

Aaron has nothing but praise for the way the storyline has been put together, but isn't sure he would label his character as a 'villain' despite everything.

He said: "What's been brilliant with what Ben Wadey, our producer, and the story people have kind of put together with the story is the pressure that he's got from loads of different places. He doesn't really want to be doing it, that's how I see it."

"I don't think Ravi is [a villain]. I don't think he wants to be doing it. He might see himself as being good at doing it, but we did see a few months ago that Bernie Taylor had taken a lot of the money. So, he needed to make money quickly. Really, Bernie's the villain here!," the actor added.

The secret still remains a mystery to the rest of the Sqaure, and the police, although Ravi revealed all to Jack's partner Denise Fox earlier this week and of course, chaos struck. A guilty Jack later revealed all to Denise, and things took a darker turn in scenes that played out.

Ravi and Jack bumped into each other on the street – and Ravi came with serious threats in hand after Priya threatened to leave Ravi as she grew suspicious he was still involved in criminality, despite her only agreeing to get back with him if he was on the straight and narrow.

"Your little visit earlier nearly cost me my relationship," he said. "So now it's 100k in cash, or it's my turn to play hide and seek with the gun."

"If I get done for this, I'm taking you down with me Ravi, so don't be stupid," Jack responded, although Ravi was already five steps ahead as he warned: "Don't you be stupid Jack. You're the one who should be scared of prison. So, what's it going to be?"

Now, fans predict the storyline is set to take a dark turn, with a death of either of the duo. Taking to Reddit after the episode, one fan penned: "I'll be honest, I see Ravi or Jack dead by the new year :(".

Another responded: "Between the two of them, it will definitely be Ravi. Jack has been in the show for the better part of 20 years. He's iconic. Ravi isn't."

A third said: "Thing is Jack is boring now, it's just the same stuff and ordering takeaways. He's not really had any storylines that are just him and not work related for ages. I do agree it'll likely be Ravi though, but I'm not sure I'd want it to be."

But how will the storyline end?

EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.