EastEnders is 'twice as white' as the real East End warns BBC Trust boss as she calls for 'authentic portrayal of modern Britain'

Diane Coyle said flagship soap is 'almost twice' as white as real East London

BBC 'compares population of Walthamstow in East London with Walford'

Comes after Lenny Henry and director-general Tony Hall announced a series of targets for staff from ethnic minority backgrounds last week

EastEnders is 'twice as white' as the real East End according to the head of the BBC Trust, who has called for the corporation to do more to 'provide an authentic portrayal' of modern Britain



Acting head of the BBC Trust Diane Coyle, said the popular BBC One soap is also too young and has too many people born in the UK to be an accurate reflection of an area such as Walthamstow, one of the boroughs on which the fictional Albert Square is based.

In her first public speech since taking over as chair of the BBC’s governing body Miss Coyle - who is in the running to replace Lord Patten as head of the trust - said the programme did not provide an accurate picture of modern day Britain.

EastEnders is 'twice as white' as the real East End according to the head of the BBC Trust, who has called for the corporation to do more to 'provide an authentic portrayal' of modern Britain

She said: 'The Audience Council figures suggested that there are almost twice as many white people living in fictional E20 as in real life E17, while the population of EastEnders tends to be younger than their real life counterparts and more likely to have been born in the UK.'

Ms Coyle said the BBC's Audience Council for England 'compared the population of Walthamstow in East London with Walford - the fictional home of EastEnders'

She said it would be 'daft' for the show to be a 'perfect replica' of the real world, but said it was 'important to ask whether the BBC can do more in its popular output to provide an authentic portrayal of life in modern Britain'.

In her speech at the London School of Economics, which will be widely seen as an application to replace Lord Patten who stepped down in May, she said the BBC’s independence was 'not as secure as it might seem' and that it had 'become more and more entangled with parts of the machinery of government, Parliament and the State in all sorts of other, more or less obvious ways'.

She said there needed to be 'clearer terms of engagement' over what parliament has scrutiny over, otherwise 'there is a real risk that the BBC could in the future end up looking over its shoulder trying to please politicians rather than focusing on licence fee payers'.

Ms Coyle, an economist by profession whose husband is a BBC journalist, said there was 'every reason' to think the licence fee was 'sustainable' and called for a 'full, open public debate' about funding.



Her comments – made on the same day comedian Lenny Henry repeated his criticism that there are too few people from ethnic minorities on television – are based on research carried out by the Audience Council for England.

The BBC plans to spend £2.1million of licence fee money on fast-tracking ethnic minority talent onto the screen with a new ‘diversity’ committee.



Director-general Mr Hall said the corporation had ‘to do more’ to increase ethnic minority representation both on and off camera.

He said the ‘diversity creative talent fund’ would help ‘fast-track’ certain shows onto the screen and create a series of development programmes aimed at encouraging future commissioners and executives from ethnic minority backgrounds.

The director-general said he wanted to see ethnic minorities account for 15 per cent of air talent in the next three years and said he would also set ‘local off-air targets’ in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester to reflect the population of those cities.

Actor Lenny Henry, who has criticised the TV and film industry in the past for not providing a 'fair and honest reflection of our society', has signed up to the committee to help advise the corporation

He also said he wanted those from ethnic minority backgrounds to account for 15 per cent of senior staff by 2020.

Actor Lenny Henry, who has criticised the TV and film industry in the past for not providing a ‘fair and honest reflection of our society’, has signed up to the committee to help advise the corporation on its representation of ethnic minorities.



The star joins other names including Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, former footballer Jason Roberts and TV presenter and Liberal Democrat peer Floella Benjamin.

