Heggessey defends EastEnders

BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey has said that EastEnders' recent difficulties are the result of cast problems, reports MediaGuardian (free registration required).

Ms Heggessey said producers had been forced to string out a storyline that was mauled by TV critics involving the Ferreira family because of the absence of key members of the cast.

"When you have a cast where one is ill, one pregnant, one who may be in rehab and another in a car crash, that's when you end up being overdependent on a storyline about a kidney transplant," she said.

"EastEnders has had a very very slight decline, there are always 50% of the available audience watching, I would suggest that is not a serious decline."