The new culture secretary will make seismic decisions on the national broadcaster and shape the future of
British viewership
In today’s cabinet reshuffle, the future of the
BBC was placed in the hands of a politician who, in his maiden parliamentary speech in 2015, boasted that EastEnders characters Phil Mitchell and Ian Beale were his constituents. Oliver Dowden, the new culture secretary, even referred to himself as “the member of parliament for Albert Square”, the fictional setting of BBC1’s cockney soap.
Dowden’s justification for this fantasy was that his Hertsmere constituency in Hertfordshire contains the BBC studio centre in Elstree, where shows including EastEnders and
Strictly Come Dancing are filmed.