Inside EastEnders’ £87m Albert Square transformed for King’s Coronation after Charles and Camilla visited iconic set
EASTENDERS bosses have spent a six-figure sum transforming the set of the BBC1 soap for scenes celebrating King Charles’s coronation.
These exclusive pictures show how Albert Square has been festooned with bunting as well as Union Jacks bearing the new monarch’s image.
Dotted around the Walford landmark are various fairground-style attractions, an ice cream van and even a stage in the middle of the gardens.
An entire side of the square will be filled with tables where the cast will be seen enjoying a street party for the coronation which will take place on May 6.
A TV insider said: “Show bosses wanted to show there’s still a strong East End tradition of ordinary people celebrating the royals, particularly on a day as momentous as this.
“Particularly as the King and Queen Camilla visited the set of EastEnders last year and even had a cameo in a special platinum-themed episode of the soap.
“So no expense was spared transforming the square into the setting for a right royal knees up.”
Producers had to carry out the set dressing now so that they could film the scenes and have them edited ready to air two months from now.
The then Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall featured in an episode last June to coincide with the late Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee.
They went on a tour around Walford and were even seen interacting with some of the show’s characters, including Jack Hudson, played by James Farrar, telling the then heir to the throne how he had taken part in The Prince’s Trust years before.
Meanwhile the Duchess tied a special ribbon to commemorate “all the victims of domestic abuse”.
The latest change comes days after The Sun exclusively revealed how EastEnders bosses were splashing the cash on expanding the soap’s set again.
It could be getting a new backlot stage with a host of new filming locations, just a year after the Beeb spent £87m on a whole new set.
Planning documents submitted to the local council show the scale of the plans that could cost millions.
The documents suggest they are planning on putting in a huge warehouse set, a parade of shops and houses and an area with nine shipping containers that will vastly expand the soap’s filming locations.