EastEnders starts filming on troubled new 拢87m Albert Square set

Image caption, Filming in the replica Albert Square began on Tuesday

EastEnders has moved into a new Albert Square, with the cameras rolling for the first time on a troubled 拢86.7m replacement for the 成人快手 soap's set.

The show's original home at Elstree studios in Hertfordshire was only intended to be used for two years, but has lasted since 1984.

However, the nearby replacement has been plagued with problems, going way over budget and schedule.

It was originally due to be finished by 2018, at a cost of 拢59.7m.

After filming began in the new Albert Square on Tuesday, a 成人快手 statement said: "The investment in the 成人快手's longest-running TV serial drama and wider 成人快手 Elstree Centre, enables improved HD for our audiences and enhanced filming options.

"EastEnders production are now able to explore new areas on screen and writers, producers and directors have greater freedom to drive further creativity."

Image caption, The new Albert Square is near the old one at Elstree studios

In 2018, a critical report from the National Audit Office, the public spending watchdog, said the old set was no longer fit for purpose, but that the new set wouldn't deliver value for money in the way that was envisaged when it was planned in 2015.

Some of the problems were "built into" the project from the outset and "some of the reasons for the delays and cost increases could have been addressed earlier by the 成人快手", it said.

The following year, MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts select committee described the construction as "flawed from the start", saying the 成人快手 was "complacent" and had made "fundamental planning mistakes".

At the time, the broadcaster "strongly rejected" the notion that it had been complacent, explaining that there had been "challenges along the way, including construction market issues beyond our control, and working on a brownfield site".