Nitin Ganatra is set to star in a new cooking show.

Nitin Ganatra

Nitin Ganatra

The 'EastEnders' star - who has just filmed his final scenes as Masood Ahmed in the popular soap - has just returned from filming a new series, based on Corfu cuisine, for Channel 5.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he said: "I've just come back from Corfu where I've done a thing for channel 5, with, at the moment, the working title is 'Corfu Cooking School'.

"They've taken six celebs over to Corfu to learn about Corfu culture and their cuisine and how to cook their cuisine. I'm a brilliant cook, I love cooking but the problem is I eat too much."

And it's not just cooking shows the 49-year-old actor has lined up now that he's left the BBC One soap, which he appeared on for nine years, as he'd also like to explore a bit of comedy.

He explained: "I've done nine years on the show and I feel the need to go off and do some other characters now, go do some films and do some television. I want to do some comedy, so I'm excited about the future prospects."

However, although he's keen to broaden his horizons, Nitin has admitted he deeply misses his former cast mates.

He said: "I'll miss them all. I get along with everyone. I've been away from it for a month and even now I've been getting texts from Diane Parish [who plays Denise Fox] and Rita Simons who plays Roxy Mitchell. Everyone is texting me all the time.

"You do forge good friendships while you're there because you work so hard together. It's better that you get on with each other than not."