Co-creator of "EastEnders", Julia Smith, has been quoted as saying, "Our EastEnd setting was chosen for the diversity of its past — the strong culture it has and the multi-racial community that has developed." However, the way that "EastEnders" treated their black characters during the 1980s has been criticized. Stephen Bourne, author of "Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television" has commented that "["EastEnders"'] black characters have rarely been as interesting as their white counterparts, or been given storylines of any substance...Viewers were more likely to tune in to watch the antics of Dirty Den, his wife Angie and bad boy Nick Cotton, than characters like the Carpenter family and Carmel." In Robert Clyde Allen's book, "To be Continued--: Soap Operas Around the World", Christine Geraghty has added "none of the black families "EastEnders" rivaled the Fowler/Beale position at the heart of the programme's structure, and black characters were pushed to the margins of the story-lines. Carmel and [her brother Darren clearly had an extended family along the lines of the Fowler/Beale nexus but its other members were rarely seen."