EastEnders writer defends racism storyline over ‘Poles go home’ backlash

EastEnders scriptwriter Leo Richardson has defended the recent racism storyline after he faced a backlash from viewers.

The BBC soap tackled racism and xenophobia in a Brexit-fuelled plot which saw the words “Poles go home” graffitied on the Queen Vic after a Polish themed night at the pub.

A group of locals were seen crowded round the venue in Tuesday night’s episode as Danny Dyer’s character Mick Carter attempted to jet spray the offensive message off of the door.

Denise Fox (Diane Parish) asked “what on earth is going on in this place?” before Konrad Topolski (Piotr Baumann) said: “It is the Britain we live in now.”

One viewer described the scene as “beyond disgusting” while others accused the BBC of having an anti-Brexit agenda with one writing: “Incredible #Brexit bashing storyline on #EastEnders this evening. Normally this is The One Show territory. Prime time unabashed BBC bias.”

Richardson tweeted in defence of the storyline after one viewer asked him to “not write for this soap again”.

Richardson hit back: “So are you saying that racism doesn't exist? And that this isn't a very real problem in Britain today?

“What you saw on screen was a fictional character expressing his own belief. The side of a under represented group of people, I might add.

“This troll. Criticising the show I work on because it did a story about the very real racism Polish people have experienced post-Brexit.”

Others praised Richardson and said it was "brave and relevant to highlight the issue".

Another wrote: "#Eastenders raising important topical issues tonight, good to see."

A third said: "I'm glad Eastenders isn't shying away from realism and all the hideous things that are happening. Great episode!"

EastEnders is on BBC One on Thursday at 7:30pm.