EastEnders won’t change opener

The Olympic Park won’t be added to the EastEnders opening credits

EastEnders bosses have insisted they will not be updating the soap’s opening credits to include the Olympic Park.

Local mayor Sir Robin Wales, whose Newham borough includes the iconic Park, wrote a letter to BBC director-general Mark Thompson proposing the change to the iconic title sequence. The credits were made prior to the Olympic Stadium and its surrounding venues in Stratford being built and features aerial map shots showing East London and the River Thames.

An EastEnders spokeswoman said: “A letter has been received and it will be responded to in due course – but we will not be updating the credits.

“We updated them last year for the 25^th anniversary and for HD. But the Olympics will be referred to in the show and have already been mentioned several times, and that will be ongoing.”

Sir Robin, who sits on the London organising committee for the Games, had asked the soap’s chiefs to “update the iconic EastEnders title sequence to include the transformation already underway in London’s East End” in his letter.

He wrote: “I would ask that you intervene to ensure that as the Olympic broadcaster of the 2012 London Olympics, the BBC helps to support our regeneration efforts as we look to ensure they inspire people in Newham, across London and beyond. I trust therefore that you will help ensure that the Olympic Stadium and other iconic symbols of East End regeneration are put firmly – and rightly – on the map.”

The EastEnders credits were amended in 1999 to include the Millennium Dome, now re-named the 02 Arena, and underwent a makeover in 2009 to include a three-dimensional coloured map and a tweaked theme tune.