Yahoo News EastEnders actor Deepak Verma has been awarded an MBE
Former EastEnders star Deepak Verma was awarded an MBE by Prince Charles yesterday (November 16).
The actor, who played Sanjay Kapoor from 1993 to 1998, received the honour as part of the annual Birthday Honours.
Along with newsreader Natasha Kaplinsky (who was also given an MBE) and June Whitfield (who was made a Dame), Verma attended Buckingham Palace to be recognised for his service to the arts by the Prince of Wales.
During his time on EastEnders, Verma had plenty of good storylines, with Sanjay having a gambling problem and an affair with his wife Gita's sister.
Outside of the Square, Verma appeared on Taggart, Holby City, Doctors and River City.
He also created production companies and wrote a multitude of scripts for stage and screen, as well as creating a yearly short-film festival focusing on people and their faith.
Back in 2009, the star criticised EastEnders for its lack of Asian characters, stating: "My character and Shobu [Kapoor's] character were the first real characters on the show that were proper [Asian] people.
"We didn't have accents. I just acted like a Hackney boy, like a barrow boy. We did that 15 years ago. We need to move forwards. It's going backwards."
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