Former Eastenders actor Mohammed George has criticised the show bosses for their treatment of black actors on the show.

The Daily Star reports that Mohammed made the comments whilst filming for The One Show.

“Jonathan Ross once said that black people at the BBC are mainly cleaners and guards and he’s right,” the newspaper quotes George as saying.

He continued: “Gus was a very popular character who played an important role. I grew up in the real East End and there are many people like him. But I was like a footballer, always on the bench, waiting sometimes for three months to do filming. I asked again and again for bigger lines. All I wanted was a break but it never came.”

George claimed that June Brown (Dot Cotton) tried to land him some bigger storylines to no avail.

“June Brown actually went out of her way to go to the top bosses and ask them why they didn’t do more with Gus,” he commented. “She told them that he was a good guy and that people really liked him.

“One star openly said that the bosses just didn’t know what to do with black actors. Their storylines have always been weak and I have no idea why.”

Responding to the criticism, an EastEnders spokeswoman insisted: “Throughout the history of EastEnders we have always reflected the diversity of London’s East End. Currently, the Masoods, the Trumans and the Foxes are among our most-loved characters, with some of the most topical and ground-breaking storylines of recent years.”