Civic leaders in Telford have welcomed their town’s latest spell in the spotlight - thanks to the newest character in hit BBC soap EastEnders.The latest character to arrive in Albert Square, pretty 19-year-old Danielle Jones, made the town known to millions of viewers across the world when she revealed her Shropshire roots during her debut appearance on Monday.
The blonde, played by Birmingham actress Lauren Crace, arrived at Walford’s market looking for a job and and described her home town as somewhere “between Wales and Birmingham” to bemused stallholder Stacey.
Councillor Miles Hosken, former Telford mayor, said: “I think it’s wonderful Telford has been mentioned on national TV.”
Councillor Hosken said it was about time that TV scriptwriters took note of the town, which is celebrating its 40th birthday this year.
“I’m rather surprised that we have not been put on the national map before,” he said.
“I think it’s a cracking place and I am keen people come and see what we have to offer. We are universally known for the Iron Bridge and there is a lot going on with the new railway and development of the town centre.
“Shropshire is a beautiful county and we are a progressive part of it.”
Sarah Raper, chief executive of economic development company Transforming Telford, which is spearheading the regeneration of the town, also welcomed the news.
“We hope the new character will portray Telford in a positive light and increase national awareness of the town,” he said.
Councillor Eric Carter, Telford & Wrekin Council cabinet member for regeneration, also welcomed the news of the popular soap’s newest character. “There are a lot of people working to put Telford on the map and this will help,” he said.
7 Comments
Really…Haven’t our civic ‘leaders’ got better things to be doing? This story almost has as much gravitas as the ‘Chav Telford’ one.
Be fair merkio, the Star probably rang them up and asked them - I hardly think our civic leaders have been holding meetings about it. Had they not dained to comment they would have just looked po-faced.
You would with both..
I’m just a bit disappointed that we haven’t had the usual “Borough bosses said that this could bring up to 10,000 extra jobs to the town” comment!
Television for people circling the plughole of life.
she’s a hotty
I found this article and the fact that civic leaders in Telford had nothing better to do but claim that somehow the good people of this Shropshire town would benefit from its mention of a London based soap. Lauren Crace is in fact from Birmingham, not Telford and this ‘big-up’ is somewhat bogus when you consider that the character Danielle Jones merely described it as ’somewhere between Wales and Birmingham’! Not much of a write up, just a snippet of Midland knowledge from a hired scriptwriter. The executive producer was perhaps more concerned about securing the role for the particular actress who does not have a London accent, and did not want to mention Birmingham because of the prejudice dished out to Brummies. Oh, by the way Birmingham is far bigger and cosmopolitan than Telford, even without a landmark bridge!