Danniella Westbrook doesn't pay TV licence as BBC 'doesn't work for working classes'

Danniella Westbrook has revealed that she no longer pays her TV licence, despite having risen to fame as part of the cast of BBC soap EastEnders.

The 48-year-old actor made the revelation during a panel discussion on GBNews programme Mark Dolan Tonight on Friday, which focused on the value for money provided by the licence fee.

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Westbrook said: "To be perfectly honest I don't pay a TV licence, so I don't watch the BBC. Long gone are the days of Only Fools and Horses and great comedy and great drama that they made."

The star said she found the organisation's Breakfast show to be "very stuffy" and said she often sought other channels for "different opinions".

She added: "They're very one-sided, very middle-to-upper class opinion. It doesn't really work for the working classes, I don't think."

Westbrook said she is a "homegrown" BBC star and is proud of her time there, but criticised the company over its handling of Jimmy Savile's abuse and said she has seen a "huge change" over the years.

"Back in the late 80s and early 90s, it was a very fun and free place to work and it was very good and very fair," she said.

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"But I think nowadays it has got a lot more stuffy and, it is what it is, but there's a lot more channels on TV now, thank goodness, for people like me to work on."

Westbrook added: "I just don't think they cater for the working classes, even in their drama and even in their soap operas with the storylines and things they run.

"We don't get things like Only Fools and Horses and On the Buses and the great things we used to have any more. It just doesn't make TV like that any more."

Westbrook rose to public prominence for playing the role of Sam Mitchell on EastEnders on and off throughout the 1990s and noughties.

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Pressed on whether she still watches the show that made her famous, Westbrook said she has "never watched EastEnders" and instead prefers ITV soap Coronation Street.

The role of Sam was permanently recast with Kim Medcalf when she returned this year, leading Westbrook to threaten legal action against the soap.

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