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EastEnders actor Kristian Kiehling says the soap should include more black characters, because east London is "much more diverse than we are on screen right now".

But he also told 5 live he is "very grateful" to the show for giving him the chance to represent London's Latvian community on screen, in the form of market inspector Aleks Shirov.

Nej Adamson played the Turkish café owner Ali Osman from 1985 to 1989.

His character was originally supposed to be a moustachioed Tom Selleck lookalike, but Nej says he was never able to grow the requisite facial hair.

As the soap approaches its 30th anniversary, Nej told 5 live "it's good they use different nationalities" and "different actors from different countries".

This clip is originally from 5 live Hit List on Sunday 8 February 2015.