‘Wrong direction for EastEnders’

A former EastEnders boss has slammed the BBC soap, saying it has “gone the wrong way”.

Diederick Santer, who was executive producer of EastEnders between 2006 and 2010, said: “I think that it has not been brilliant in the last few months.

“I don’t really know what has gone on, but I have not found it massively watchable in recent months.”

Reviewers have criticised the show in the last year, with the deaths of popular characters Ronnie and Roxy Mitchell, above, causing some controversy.

Producer Sean O’Connor left in June after just a year in charge.

But Santer admitted the success of the show was “cyclical”.

He said: “It’s about balance. It always has to walk a line and this is where I think it has gone the wrong way lately.

“It has to walk the line between social realism and stuff that is exciting, stuff that grips you and makes you gasp – and you have to tune tomorrow to see it.”

Craig Charles has a reputation as a party animal from his days on Corrie. And tonight the great and the good of the TV industry head to the Why Not club, where he will DJ funk and soul until 2am.

It’ll be a long night for Square Eyes...