[alex_front2]

Love the new Shabnam. Hope Rakhee as Shabnam becomes a leading character this year as the real eastend is multicultural and like alot of people I am bored sh#tless by producers trying to pretend Sszzztacey return is welcome by everyone (most are bored already) or that blond blue eyed Ronnie really represents Eastend better than Denise or Shabam.

[waterhog]

with all due respect - nothing will top the last shanam - she was fantastic. very disapointed with EE but then again i am always am. nothing in it that appeals to me. not even the 1980's living conditions that have failed to move with the times.

[alex_front2]

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...bbc-john-yorke


The last Shabnam didn't get any SL and was a background character to Karly Wicks and Dawn Swann. There was a scene in Shabnam's first stint when all three lasses came back from clubbing and Zainab and Massood were annoyed and bizarrely Shabnam did the least talking in this scene....to her parents?! No wonder the previous Shabnam actress Zahra Ahmadi left over lack of SLs she was merely an extra in the Stacey Branning show.

If she's shrewd Rakhee can hold DTC and the production team to ransom over getting top storylines. EE has played lip service to diversity and has never had a lead character or an iconic character who is not white (eg Pat Wicks, Phil Mitchell, Dirty Den, Sharon, Stacey, Dot Cotton, Ronnie, Nasty Nick are iconic) which eould be hilarious if it wasn't for the fact large swathes of eastend are non white. DTC has decreased the amount of non white characters eg Sam and Ava (Shabnam obviously is not anew character) whilst slyly adding 7 white characters.



http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/...-asian-actors/


http://www.thetvcollective.org/2014/...ack-and-white/

[Redway]

Why not see people as just that and leave everything else out of it? I seriously doubt EastEnders are purposely neglecting the ethnic minority cast, not when you consider the amount of high-profile stories that have gone to them over the years (and righty so).

[reece(:]

Originally Posted by Redway

Why not see people as just that and leave everything else out of it? I seriously doubt EastEnders are purposely neglecting the ethnic minority cast, not when you consider the amount of high-profile stories that have gone to them over the years (and righty so).

Yeah, the Masoods have had a Christmas and a New Year dedicated to them in the past few years.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by reece(:

Yeah, the Masoods have had a Christmas and a New Year dedicated to them in the past few years.

Yup. Not to mention Chryed, Lucas' killing spree (didn't like this one), Denise/Owen, etc. People like to moan.

[Redway]

Originally Posted by alex_front2

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...bbc-john-yorke


The last Shabnam didn't get any SL and was a background character to Karly Wicks and Dawn Swann. There was a scene in Shabnam's first stint when all three lasses came back from clubbing and Zainab and Massood were annoyed and bizarrely Shabnam did the least talking in this scene....to her parents?! No wonder the previous Shabnam actress Zahra Ahmadi left over lack of SLs she was merely an extra in the Stacey Branning show.

If she's shrewd Rakhee can hold DTC and the production team to ransom over getting top storylines. EE has played lip service to diversity and has never had a lead character or an iconic character who is not white (eg Pat Wicks, Phil Mitchell, Dirty Den, Sharon, Stacey, Dot Cotton, Ronnie, Nasty Nick are iconic) which eould be hilarious if it wasn't for the fact large swathes of eastend are non white. DTC has decreased the amount of non white characters eg Sam and Ava (Shabnam obviously is not anew character) whilst slyly adding 7 white characters.



http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/...-asian-actors/


http://www.thetvcollective.org/2014/...ack-and-white/

I'd hardly call Stacey and Ronnie icons. The longest-serving of the two has barely been in it a decade (with a 3-year gap) and it's not like her name is instantly recognisable with ex-viewers and those who have never watched. Same for Ronnie. Couldn't care less about colour and I'd imagine most others don't give a second thought to the supposed 'under representation' of ethnic minorities.

You referring to all ethnic minority characters as 'white' is wrong as well. Irish people and those from all across Europe are just examples of white people who are classed as minorities in Britain - we haven't had a Russian or Latvian family in the show's history; are these to be ignored because of their light skin tone?

[InOne]

It's a well known fact the token ethnic family always fails miserably on the square. The Masoods are no exception

[Redway]

That's the thing, though. It's better when their presence is natural rather than forced and done purely for tokenism. Box-ticking and that. Remember the likes of Gus and Juley in around 2006/7...

[Gstar]

omg gus and juley!!! completely forgot about them

[Redway]

Both were horrific creations. Especially Juley.

[alex_front2]

Originally Posted by Redway

Why not see people as just that and leave everything else out of it? I seriously doubt EastEnders are purposely neglecting the ethnic minority cast, not when you consider the amount of high-profile stories that have gone to them over the years (and righty so).

No offence but that is bull. If people are people why are so many of the extras in EE white? Take a gander round the real eastend. All the kids in Bobby's spelling bee competition were white. It might be a stereotype but kids from Asian backgrounds tend to dominate selling bees. Never mind the fact a real school in eastend would be 80% non white, even the teacher / invigilator in the spelling beewhite, as is the new doctor, the snooty hair salon woman and the local councillor, stall trader. Why can't they be asian, mixed or god forbid black. DTC is making EE more white and he knows it. Shabnam is a returning character whereas he has added whites: Carters, plus Babe, the dad, and Lee, Dot's grandson. He's also retuned Jane (Denise will take a back seat now), Deano, Stacey and Sonia and daughter. The axed ava and sam. The weird thing is whenever there is an attractive or pleasant non white person - eg syed with christian, syd with bradley, patrick with pat and now cora, denise with ian etc - they pair them up with a white character (can't have the god looking non whites being together now can we).

The highest profile storylines are always for whites eg who killed archie, bradleys fall ( both involving stacey an no non white characters, don't remember which non white characters were in 2010's 25th anniversary live show), then there's who killed phil, and all the mitchel storylines. There has never been an iconic non white character eg den, sharon, stacey, phil, peggy, sharon, nick, pat, dot, kat). The longest serving is Rudolf Walker as Patrick since 2001 (although the actress who plays Denise played another character in 1990s).

It's exactly 1 year to the day till ee has the 30th year ep I bet no non white characters will feature heavily in live ep and it will involve a Stacey/ Ronnie/ white character main SL.ZZZZZzzzzz. Heck Stacey is in this years 29th anniversary ep so no shock.

Stacey has four Doof Doffs, how many has Shabnam #2.

Shabnam should ultimately be the main female protagonist on EE but just like Zahra before he as Shabnam, Rakhee seems to be a bit part filler to the Stacey Show.

There used to be a couple of non white writers, they are all white except one mixed woman. Pathetic DTC.

[Vanessa]

She has short hair. It's cute, i like it.

[Redway]

To be fair, it's unknown at this point whether or not Jane's returning full-time. I agree that Walford is overwhelmingly white and grossly disproportionate of the 'real London' but colour isn't something I pay attention to... only fussed about the quality of the characters themselves. Ethnic backgrounds don't bother me in the slightest.

[Niamh.]

I much preferred the original Shabnam, this new one is all grumpy and annoying like a young Zainab

[Vanessa]

I like the actress actually. Nice scenes with Masood yestaerday. She's softening her attitude and i'm warming to her.

[flamingGalah!]

Cannot stand Shabnam...

And to say EastEnders only gives the biggest storylines etc.. to white cast members is absolute crap! It has the most diverse cast of any soap & always has...

[Shaun]

[alex_front2]

Originally Posted by InOne

It's a well known fact the token ethnic family always fails miserably on the square. The Masoods are no exception

Whites are the token/minority increasingly in real ee and it's becoming more ethnically diverse and interesting. So much SL potential that's not being released by DTC and his team of exclusively white writers.

MAsoods are the best family in square, Shabnam and Tamwar are bright smart and have a completely different moral compass to the rest of the residents. Bored of most of the white characters and faimlies eg Slater-Moons, Brannings, and even Mitchells. Of the token whites only the Carters are of interest and that's more due tothe fact they are sort of new but not and potential showdown between Shabnam and soldier Lee.

So you see white fans, Masoods are it's not token, in some parts of eastend some parts are almost 90% black/ brit asian/ asian/ mixed. White people from eastend often move to essex and there are some streets in eastend where you ONLY see Muslim men, and women in burqas. Islam is the dominant religion and super mosques are being built.

[alex_front2]

Originally Posted by flamingGalah!

Cannot stand Shabnam...

And to say EastEnders only gives the biggest storylines etc.. to white cast members is absolute crap! It has the most diverse cast of any soap & always has...

Not factually correct, EE actually had less than Emmerdale at one point. There was a period embarrassingly last year after Tameka/Kim Fox left (temporarily apparently but still gone), the Ava and Sam Hartman axed when bloody Emmerdale, set in rural Yorkshire which had more non white characters (Sharmas and kids, Dom and daughter, Ruby) Eastenders has actually reduced it's non white characters and brought in loads of white tokens eg Carters, Luke (had to be white of course), Aleks (had to be white, perish the thought of having a smart handsome groomed guy who is gulp, black ).


As for the SLs wow the non white characters get 4 big SL in 29 years, shucks us non white folk are truly greatful for those crumbs. Would love to know how many DUff duff authentic eastend type character Shabnam gets compared to token increasingly unrealistic eastender
Stacey, which is funny as Stacey has already clocke up more duff duffs than most of the non white characters put together.

PS still all white writers from DTC's team, bless maybe someone should tell him that even reliably "white" fav shows like Midsomer Murders and Downton Abbey have "ruined" themselves by having non white characters and writers.

[flamingGalah!]

So do you think EastEnders should axe all white actors, writers, producers etc.. & only use black, asian actors etc.. ?? Just so that one particular road in a certain part of the real East End of London is accurately represented??

Perhaps they should bulldoze the Queen Vic & build a Mosque on the site, I mean if the square was filled solely with Muslims they wouldn't need a pub would they

EastEnders is a SOAP. It has to represent everyone watching, the UK is a predominately white country. Deal with it...

[Redway]

Originally Posted by flamingGalah!

So do you think EastEnders should axe all white actors, writers, producers etc.. & only use black, asian actors etc.. ?? Just so that one particular road in a certain part of the real East End of London is accurately represented??

Perhaps they should bulldoze the Queen Vic & build a Mosque on the site, I mean if the square was filled solely with Muslims they wouldn't need a pub would they

EastEnders is a SOAP. It has to represent everyone watching, the UK is a predominately white country. Deal with it...

Exactly. And Stacey's been in the show nearly a decade so is bound to have had more cliffhangers than someone whose presence makes the combined length of about a year and a month.

[Gstar]

Eastenders is definitely the most diverse soap, as a black person the whole colour thing doesn't really bother me as there is nothing to be bothered about. Denise has had enormous storylines in the past (and by the looks of it she's part of another big one), as did Patrick and his family. The masoods have also had loads of big storylines, and like someone else said they even had a christmas AND boxing day centered around them.

But like I said i'm not bothered by colour/race, I love Eastenders, I grew up watching this soap (and corrie) and I'll always love it

[alex_front2]

In an open letter to broadcasters and culture minister Ed Vaizey, a group of East Asian performers has claimed that, despite being the third largest minority ethnic group in Britain, East Asians are not “reflected on our stages and screens”.

In particular, the signatories have argued that long-running soaps such as EastEnders and Coronation Street have failed to represent the UK’s East Asian community or provide roles for its actors.

British East Asian Artists – a campaign group comprising actors, performers and writers – states in its letter: “In 30 years, except for one Chinese DVD seller who lasted barely three months, the popular soap opera EastEnders has never featured any recurring East Asian characters whatsoever. The hospital dramas, Casualty and Holby City, have featured only three young East Asian regular characters each despite the high number of (diverse) East Asians working in our health service. Coronation Street, set around Manchester with its long-established Chinatown, has featured only one East Asian character (a female Chinese immigrant) in its entire history.”

It adds: “When East Asians are featured they are nearly always heavily accented, the women passive and submissive, the men brutish, asexual and devoid of any individualistic character. East Asians are, more than any other ethnic minority, rarely seen as indigenous.”

A spokeswoman for the BBC responded to the criticisms by claiming that the Corporation “always strives to reflect the diversity of modern Britain through our output and across our workforce so that they better reflect our audiences”.

She added: “We know more needs to be done to ensure more people from ethnic minorities are better represented both on and off screen throughout the broadcast industry which is why we listen to our audiences and staff, using that feedback to help inform our decisions. This is ongoing but we are making progress.”

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/...-asian-actors/

Kind of shocking and embarrassing for a show suppsedly set as a contemporary East London drama

FFs, Stacey's been back for 5mins and she's on her 4th or 5th duff duff. Shabnam has none. If I were actress Rakhee I'd quit EE immediately, that would really show EE up for what it really is. All big SLs★ in 2014 have featured whites: Johnny coming out gay, Stacey return, Ian and the market, Cindy's pregnancy, Carol's cancer, Ronnie killing Carl. The few dramas the Masood had were equally about whites, Tamwar's white saviour Nancy, and the lovely white Carter's saving him from his nasty drunken theiving Asian Muslim dad, the nasty mixed lesbian* Tosh dating the lovely white Tina

★A big SL is one that gets most hype,a way to measure is if I see it on the cover of those tacky sosp mags I see in Tescos. Always white actors on cover.






* love how all doomed plot device relationships now involve a non white character, so EE and other soaps can tick ethnicity box but ultimately write out these relationship eg Kim rejected by every other guy, Bradley ditching mixed girl Syd for Stacey, Becca rejected by Max for Stacey, Shabnam #1 rejected by Dean for Stacey, Denise soon to be rejected by Ian for Jane, Ray rejected by Bianca, same trope happens in other soaps I see black girl Gemma (?) rejected by chav boy for Dingle girl, girls dad rejected by Alicia for David, on Corrie Todd flees from mixed guy after stealing his cash...

[Gstar]

Stacey has been with more people than I thought

I see your points and they are valid but that's just how it goes sadly. England is a white mans country, we should be grateful that other ethnic backgrounds are even allowed to be shown on TV.

btw that johnny being gay SL lasted about 3 episodes and no one cares anymore