| AJ Ahmed | |||||||||||||||||
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| EastEnders character | |||||||||||||||||
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| Portrayed by | Phaldut Sharma | ||||||||||||||||
| Duration | 2012–2014 | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | Episode 4458 9 July 2012 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | Episode 4783 10 January 2014 | ||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||
| Introduced by | Bryan Kirkwood | ||||||||||||||||
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AJ Ahmed is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Phaldut Sharma. The character made his first on-screen appearance in episode 4458, which was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 9 July 2012. Sharma filmed his final scenes before Christmas 2013 and the character's final episode was broadcast on 10 January 2014, being episode 4783.
AJ is an extension to the established Masood family, the younger brother of established character Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra). He is disliked by Masood's wife Zainab Masood (Nina Wadia), but brings out a previously unseen fun side to his brother. AJ is portrayed as a mechanic who is cheeky, fun-loving, irresponsible, annoying and spontaneous, though he makes decisions by flipping a coin. Other storylines include a feud with Derek Branning (Jamie Foreman), divorcing his wife Aliyah Ahmed (Ann Wenn) and lending support to Masood through financial problems and his breakup with Zainab. The character has received mixed comments from critics, with Laura White from Inside Soap saying he is "the perfect tonic for a family almost constantly dogged with crisis", and Anthony D. Langford from AfterElton.com praising the character but wondering if the writers knew what to do with him.