EastEnders has Tories in a lather

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk_politics/8517740.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Weeks before an election it seems the Conservatives are split - over whether or not EastEnders is a force for good.

Shadow culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has heaped praise on the BBC soap for tackling "difficult social issues" and even wished it a "happy 25th birthday".

But shadow children's minister Tim Loughton is less sure, saying it is unrealistic and uses stereotypes that could potentially be "very damaging".

Mr Loughton is currently appearing in Channel 4 show Tower Block of Commons.

The reality programme sees him and three other MPs living with families in deprived parts of Britain's inner cities.

'Potential liability'

Mr Hunt posted a message on his personal website responding to an article in Monday's Guardian newspaper.

In it, columnist Mark Lawson suggested that a "shift in right-wing thinking on media policy" under the Tories could make EastEnders "a potential liability for the BBC".

"Ed Vaizey and others in Cameron's cultural team have recently seemed to suggest that the best justification of the licence fee is to provide services that commercial organisations do not," he wrote. "In this context, EastEnders becomes a possible example of subsidised TV competing 'too well' against ITV."

Mr Lawson adds that the show "could be called in aid... as an excuse for ­constraining or breaking up BBC One".

Social workers are always caricatured as sandal-wearing interferers Tim Loughton, shadow children's minister

But Mr Hunt hit back, insisting that the idea "that EastEnders is the kind of programme that the Conservative Party would like to see the BBC make less of" in fact "couldn't be more wrong".

"They have consistently tackled difficult social issues, and crucially reached large audiences in doing so, ever since," he wrote.

"So Happy 25th Birthday for Friday from the Shadow Culture team!!"

'Dim' police

Mr Loughton, writing on the Conservative Home blog, seems to be torn over the show.

While admitting he has been "addicted" to EastEnders since it began, he insists "it cannot be portrayed as real life".

"Ironically for a set of characters who so fail to resemble anything like the satellite married family that remains at the heart of British social mores, albeit rapidly shifting ones, Peggy et al are constantly preaching to us that 'nothing matters as much as family'," he says.

Agreeing with Mr Hunt, he says "soaps can give out some very powerful and important messages", but he goes on: "By the same token the stereotyping of many characters in EastEnders has the potential to be very damaging.

"Social workers are always caricatured as sandal-wearing interferers; the police as pretty dim and flat-footed and teachers as snotty busybodies. "

Mr Loughton also links EastEnders to "the sexualisation of young children" and says "the responsible screening of soaps" is important to prevent it.

Friday's episode of EastEnders will be performed live for the first time to mark the 25th anniversary.