Eastenders Complaints - A Bit Silly ?

[joggerjayne]

Seen on the News tonight ... 1,000's of complaints about the Eastenders "cot death baby swap" story.

Isn't this all a bit over the top?

It's just a story.

[joggerjayne]

I don't have a problem with it, Welshy.

It's a story.

I have more of a problem with those viewers who jump at the opportunity to wallow in their own self pity. And Anne Diamond ... she was on, whingeing away. I could have predicted she wouldn't pass up the opportunity to invite everyone to feel sorry for her again.

We all know the plot. Nobody is forced to watch these programmes.

[poortony]

Its a soap opera, BUT sadly this has happened in real life.

Remember you can change channels or simply switch off and pick up a
nice book to read - fiction or non-fiction

Happy 2011

[joggerjayne]

Life is full of tragedies.

It's the way of the world.

And telly programmes are full of melodrama.

That's also the way of the world.

[joggerjayne]

Aah, well ... time for bed, I think.

x

[welshlibranr]

jj, I don't have a problem with it either!.......it's fiction!........but obviously some folk do struggle to cope! they need to just change channels!........

[sandyRoe]

And wasn't there a similar story in the Bible? Took the judgment of Solomon to sort it out.

[bednobs]

Jayne, sorry if you feel i am whingeing away, or trying to make you feel sorry for me. The truth is that no one else in the entire world except my husband ever even aknowledges that i had a child, so speaking about her on here is sometimes the only place where i get to say her name or talk about her in "normal" terms. So insignificant to the rest of the world, so significant to us. Perhaps anne diamond feels the same way about her child that died, and welcomes being "allowed" to talk about them
I haven't complained to the BBC about EE cause i haven't watched it, so can't. I think the problem comes because as you say, people look on it as more "real" than it is, and now may well think i am going to kidnap their children

[joggerjayne]

Oh, bednobs ...

I was not referring to you ... quite the reverse.

I've been through it, as have you. Neither of us felt the need to wave our arms about and write to the BBC.

Why do people do that? All it does is gives even more publicity to the programme.

We deal with it in our own ways. If a subject on the telly causes someone distress, sitting and writing a "Dear Sir, I wish to complain ..." letter will just cause them even more distress. So why do it?

Thankfully, neither of us is quite so irrational.

Love ... J x

And now ... definitely bed time.

[bednobs]

ach, just ignore me anyway - bad day today

[Jemisa]

It has been a good enough storyline and does promote awareness BUT - Why do the swap thing that wasn'y right. Also the BBC is dragging it out too long, evidently its going on for a few more weeks yet.
OK Ronnie has mental health problems but how can she let it (the funeral) go ahead without breaking down.
& Why hasn't anyone got suspicious yet? It all looks soo wrong.

jem

[bednobs]

i haven.t been watching, but how come K and A didn't clock it wasn't their baby?

[sherrardk]

Hi Bednobs, K has said it's not her baby but A said it was beacue she was grieving, etc. Hope you are ok. x

[chinadog]

Im with bednobs here. The way the whole thing has been done is wrong. What mum would'nt know her own baby? The producers did'nt stop to think what damage it could do to mums who have lost their baby to SID. Oh yes, they put up the usual message but by their own admittance they felt compelled to turn down the sound of Kats baby crying after so many complaints. Samantha Womak ( Ronnie) said she was'nt happy with the whole thing and is working her notice,she leaves in March.

[Ankou]

about 11milllion people watched it and 3,500 of them complained. it seems a bit over the top to complain about the complainers, no?

[joggerjayne]

Ankou ...

Are you complaining about the thread complaining about the people who complained?

LOL

=0)

[Ankou]

i'm not one for complaining....................... but.......

lol, no i didn't mean you, i just mean all the press coverage etc. its all a fart in a jam jar really aint'nt it.

[joggerjayne]

If any character on Eastenders farted in a jam jar, there would be complaints.

[Ankou]

only a matter of time. i reckon ian'll do it in the caf, then get done by the environmental health.

[joggerjayne]

I don't really know the characters.

[andy-hughes]

I don't watch any soaps any more, but as i have observed previously, I do believe that writers try to address social issues because it is the only access to anything approaching information that some people will ever get.

Soaps do tend to moral in the main - rarely does a wrong-doer escape for ever without retribution - but their sense of morality has to be balanced with the needs of a drama, and creating an engaging storyline.

From what I have read, the complaints are less about the cot death, but more about the 'swap' - which can be interpereted as inferring that all cot-death parents become baby snatchers, which is patently not true.

Hopefully anyone who has personal experience of this dreadful situation will adjust their viewing schedules in accordance with their sensitivity to the portrayal of such events in a mainstream tv drama - bearing in mind that it is a drama first and foremost, not a reality / documentary viewing strand.