Summary
EastEnders is one of the BBC’s flagship TV programmes. Its external set was built 35 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose. The completion of E20 will be critical if EastEnders is to compete successfully against rival shows and retain audiences in a context where fewer people are watching traditional linear TV. However, E20 is late and over budget due to the BBC’s fundamental project management failures. We are concerned that E20 has gone off-track yet again after the 26-month delay that we heard about in 2016, and disappointed by the BBC’s complacency in managing this project, particularly in its early stages. The project is now set to cost licence fee payers £87 million — £27 million more than budgeted. It is not set to be complete until May 2023, nearly five years later than originally planned.
Published: 20 March 2019