MPS criticise £87m revamp of Eastenders

EASTENDERS is being outperformed by its soap rivals, according to MPS as they criticised the BBC over plans to spend £87 million to revive the show.

They highlighted growing concerns over plans to revive the set using licence fee money as part of a scheme called E20, which will now cost £27 million more than originally expected.

Running five years late, the project is expected to be complete in May 2023.

MPS heard the set, built in 1984, is “no longer fit for purpose” and the rebuild is “crucial to the future success of Eastenders”.

A new external set is being built to “better reflect modern East End London”.

The public accounts committee said: “The BBC has managed [the] project badly.” It said it was “disappointed by the BBC’S complacency in managing” the project, “particularly in its early stages”.

The BBC “underestimated the scale and complexity of the project, including how it would age the new sets so that they either exactly replicate what viewers are used to, or look realistic where there are new locations”. The committee said: “Eastenders is being outperformed by its soap rivals and its overall audience has reduced as fewer people watch traditional linear TV.

“Therefore it is important for Eastenders that the BBC completes E20 so that the programme is best placed to not only succeed but to also secure its long-term future.”

Meg Hillier, the committee chairman, said: “The BBC made fundamental mistakes in planning and delivering E20, at significant extra cost to licence fee payers.” A BBC spokesman said: “We welcome the committee’s recognition of the importance of the E20 project.

“However, we strongly reject the notion that there has been any complacency.”

♦ Lord Hall, the BBC director-general, will tonight reveal plans for a new, independent foundation to tackle “chronic under-reporting” of local news after talks with the Government, newspaper groups and big tech companies.

‘We strongly reject the notion that there has been any complacency’