A public outcry has failed to diminish over the plot of a British soap opera concerning the mother of a victim of sudden infant death syndrome who swaps her dead baby with a healthy one. News reports in the British press said today (Friday) that the BBC has now received 6,000 complaints about the episode on the long-running evening soap Eastenders and that the British broadcasting watchdog OFCOM has received hundreds more. One of the complaints came from a BBC Radio news anchor, Anne Diamond, who herself lost a son to SIDS. She told the London Daily Telegraph , "I find it amazing that a cot death isn't awful enough for any drama. That they've had to actually make the cot death mother go slightly mad and then do a baby swap is, frankly, offensive." Some reports indicated that a revolt had arisen even among the show's cast and writers. The actress who portrays the mother involved in the baby swap confirmed that she will be leaving the show but insisted that the controversial episode was not a factor in her departure); other reports said that a "core team" of 20 of the 50 writers who work on EastEnders disagreed with the plotline, which, the reports said, had been suggested by a few writers who do not have children. The London Independent reported today that producers of the show have decided to bring the current storyline to an early end.

07/01/2011