Syed Masood is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Marc Elliott, and first appeared on screen on 21 April 2009. Syed is a British Pakistani and is the eldest son of Masood Ahmed (Nitin Ganatra) and Zainab Masood (Nina Wadia), and older brother of Tamwar (Himesh Patel), Shabnam (Zahra Ahmadi) and Kamil Masood (Arian Chikhlia). Syed's storylines see him fall in love with a man, Christian Clarke (John Partridge), and his eventual acceptance that he is gay. Syed initially marries girlfriend Amira Shah (Preeya Kalidas) but later comes out, and enters a relationship with Christian, despite the pressures of his family and his Muslim faith. In 2009, it was announced actor Marc Elliott would be joining the EastEnders cast. In an interview with Digital Spy, Elliott described his arrival: "It is so exciting to join the cast of EastEnders and to be working with actors such as Nina Wadia and Nitin Ganatra who I have admired for many years. "The Masood family have really made a name for themselves in the Square and it will be interesting see how Syed plans to stir things up!" In September 2012, it was announced that Elliott would be leaving EastEnders alongside John Partridge. He departed on 15 November 2012.