LONDON (Reuters) - London Mayor Boris Johnson makes a brief appearance on Thursday in "EastEnders" and gets a broadside from feisty pub landlady Peggy Mitchell who is angry about public services.
Johnson, who has appeared several times as a panellist on a weekly satirical news show, filmed his guest role for the long-running BBC series in the Summer.
The mayor, elected in 2008, is seen doing a walkabout in Walford, the fictional east London borough that has been home to the cast of EastEnders since 1985.
When he enters the Queen Victoria pub, landlady Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor, has a few things to say to the mayor and in a typically forthright manner makes her views known.
"EastEnders is a true London icon and I was delighted to highlight to its huge audience the part the mayoralty plays in the city's rich tapestry," Johnson commented in July after his scene was shot.
"It was, of course, a tremendous honour to step inside that most venerable of London landmarks, the Queen Vic, and share a scene with another of the capital's icons, the fabulous Barbara Windsor."
EastEnders regularly attracts up to eight million viewers per episode and has even played host to Queen Elizabeth. The monarch visited the set in 2001 and was photographed behind the bar of the Queen Victoria, which is named in honour of her great-great grandmother.
(Reporting by Matthew Jones; Editing by Steve Addison)
