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REPRESENTING QUOTA: Actress Diane Parish plays Denise Fox in Eastenders

EASTENDERS HAS been blasted for its poor portrayal of the culturally diverse east London it aims to represent.

The long-running soap was branded "almost twice" as white as the real east London and has been advised to "provide an authentic portrayal" of modern Britain by the acting head of the BBC Trust.

Diane Coyle said although it would be "daft" for the show to be a "perfect replica" of the real world, she said it was "important to ask whether the BBC can do more in its popular output to provide an authentic portrayal of life in modern Britain.

"The Audience Council figures suggested that there are almost twice as many white people living in fictional E20 as in real life E17," she said.

Coyle's comments echo those made by actor and comic Lenny Henry about increasing the numbers of ethnic minorities in television and film.

Director-general Tony Hall subsequently announced a series of targets to increase staff from ethnic minority backgrounds last week.

Responding to the comments, a BBC spokeswoman said: "Diversity is an important issue and last week we announced plans in place to ensure the BBC of the future represents every family and community in the UK.

"In the next three years we want to see on-air BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) portrayal increase from 10.4 per cent to 15 per cent."