The Stage

Heggessey blames cast for EastEnders’ decline

Published Tuesday 31 August 2004 at 12:45 by Joanna Taylor

EastEnders cast members must take the blame for the criticism of the show and for its failing ratings, BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey has said.

Speaking at the EITF, she claimed that producers of the show had been forced to string out a much mauled storyline involving the Ferreira family because of the absence of other key actors.

Said Heggessey: “When you have a cast where one is ill, one is pregnant, one may be in rehab and another in a car crash, that’s when you end up being over-dependent on a storyline about a kidney transplant.”

The storyline in question was dragged out for months in the early part of this year leading to criticism about the quality of scriptwriting and characterisation. But Heggesey assured delegates at the festival that there is nothing more seriously wrong with the Corporation’s flagship soap than a spate of absenteeism.

She added: “EastEnders has had a very, very slight decline. There is always 50% of the available audience watching and I would suggest that is not a serious decline.”

Heggessey also rejected suggestions that her position could be in doubt saying that she has no intention of leaving the BBC and would like to be the longest serving controller in the BBC’s history.