BBC pulls plug on controversial cot death plot - AFP

(AFP) – 10 hours ago

LONDON — The BBC is to end a controversial EastEnders storyline prematurely, after it drew thousands of complaints from viewers.

The New Year's Eve special, in which Ronnie Branning lost her newborn son to cot death before swapping him with Kat Moon's baby, was met with almost 6,000 complaints.

The BBC now says that screenwriters will wrap up the plot within "months", after originally planning to run it for longer.

Broadcaster Anne Diamond, who lost a son to cot death, described the storyline as "tacky sensationalism".

"I find it amazing that a cot death isn't awful enough for any drama," she said. "That they've had to actually make the cot death mother go slightly mad and then do a baby swap is, frankly, offensive."

Justine Roberts, founder of parenting website Mumsnet, said mothers simply wanted the issue of cot death to be tackled "with intelligence and sensitivity".

"Our members are concerned that, as is all too common, a bereaved mother has been portrayed as deranged and unhinged," she wrote in a letter to BBC Director-General Mark Thompson. "In fact the reality is very different."

Responding, BBC Vision director Jana Bennett said the show was "absolutely not suggesting that this behaviour is typical of a mother who has suffered such a terrible and tragic loss".

Actress Samantha Womack, who plays Ronnie, prompted speculation that she quit over the storyline, after announcing she was leaving later this year. But her agent insisted her contract has simply met a "natural end".

"Her departure later this year has been planned with the producers for several months," added a blog post on the EastEnders website.

"So, there is no truth in the recent reports that she is quitting over her current storyline, but it does allow for her character's exit, so she will be taking a break."

The cot death storyline is the second most complained-about in the show's history, attracting fewer complaints only than a 2009 plot involving the death of Ronnie's daughter, Danielle, in a car crash.

That episode drew more than 7,000 objections from viewers.

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