Tory MP criticises EastEnders for depicting Milton Keynes as ‘grotty slum’

A Conservative MP has called on the BBC to apologise to his constituents in Milton Keynes after residents complained that it was portrayed as a “slum” on EastEnders.

Ben Everitt said he would be contacting the soap’s producers following Monday’s episode of EastEnders, which saw the return of Bianca Jackson, played by Patsy Palmer.

Set in Milton Keynes, the programme featured a child living in the city who was described as playing truant while “roaming the estate, carting drugs around and eating out of bins”.

One viewer, who has lived in Milton Keynes since the 1970s, said the soap had depicted the city as a “slum”, while the MP said the area came across as “run-down, dilapidated and grotty.”

Mr Everitt, who has represented Milton Keynes North since 2019, said he would invite producers on a tour of the city to highlight the “brilliant parts” of Milton Keynes.

“I am quite positive about Milton Keynes, and I want them to show the good side as well,” said Mr Everitt. “Like every city, we have parts that aren’t as good as the others, but the characterisation is completely out of order.”

Mr Everitt said the depiction was not a major political issue, but it was important for his city to be represented accurately.

He said: “It’s fiction, it’s a soap opera, it’s just the telly... I’m just not happy it’s Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes is a beautiful, vibrant city that is going places – to everyone except, perhaps, the producers of last night’s EastEnders.”

Speaking to the Milton Keynes Citizen, Mr Everitt added: “All jokes aside, it’s a gritty show, depicting real, gritty, lives, and while it is fiction it often aims to address powerful topics in almost real-life storylines.

“This version of MK is far from that, and producers owe an apology to the people of MK for this negative portrayal. Like many across Milton Keynes, I was disappointed to see that the BBC soap opera depicted our great city as run-down, dilapidated and grotty. It is far from that.”

Filming of the episode reportedly took place in Barnet, London, and saw characters Whitney Dean, played by Shona McGarty, and her partner Zack Hudson, played James Farrar, visit Bianca.

Bianca was first seen in EastEnders in 1993 but has not appeared on the programme since 2019.

One caller to the BBC Three Counties Radio said he had to switch off BBC One when he watched the programme.

Arthur, who has lived in Milton Keynes since the 1970s, said: “They’ve chosen my city, my home, as a place to depict as being a slum. If it was a business the producers would have lawyers sitting on their doorstep looking to sue them.”

Destination Milton Keynes, the city’s official tourism service, said: “We’ll leave it up to a fictional soap opera to choose how they want to depict Milton Keynes, but we know it to be a thriving, multicultural community with more than 6,000 acres of free green spaces for residents and visitors to enjoy, and with a booming visitor economy.”

The BBC was contacted for comment.