Complaint
A viewer objected to the programme’s statement that Anita Dobson (who played Angie Watts, the original landlady of the Queen Vic) “was the second most photographed woman in Britain… after Princess Diana” when at the height of her fame, maintaining that Margaret Thatcher would have been more photographed during the relevant period. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ѿý’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
While there is no definitive way of establishing who was the more photographed, the ECU considered that the context suggested the contested claim did not relate to coverage of political events (which would account for a substantial proportion of the photographic coverage of the then Prime Minister), and that viewers in general would have understood it as a reflection of the widespread appeal of EastEnders and Ms Dobson’s role in it, rather than a precise quantitative statement. In that context, the ECU did not consider viewers would have been materially misled.
Not upheld