EastEnders revamp to better reflect modern London
BBC producers have vowed to drag eighties soap EastEnders into the 21st century by rebuilding the famous Albert Square set and introducing a raft of new characters to reflect the ethnic and economic make-up of the city as it now exists.
This will see the familiar families of working class cockney’s augmented by an influx of ‘hipsters’ in acknowledgement of the sweeping gentrification taking place in the real east end, from Shoreditch to Hackney.
Changes to the show will stretch to include its title sequence with ‘the edges of Shoreditch’ making an appearance alongside the traditional gritty locales.
Albert Square, as first conceived in 1985, was intended as a realistic portrayal of working class London and was based on Fassett Square in Hackney. Over the intervening years however house prices have shot up to over £750k for a detached house.
Speaking to Radio Times magazine EastEnders executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins said: "It should feel more like London. It's been frozen in aspic for too long. Sharon said recently that she's looking to be a landlady and as a result you'll see the edges of Shoreditch creeping into EastEnders. It's got to reflect the modern world."