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Eastenders SIDS storyline.... Too Far??

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 349 ✭✭RH149


    Eastenders has already done a cot death story line-years ago, and they did it well, very sad but it was handled sensitively, without a sensationalist baby switch plot to make a real life issue...unrealistic. The baby of Ali and Sue (who owned the cafe) died of SIDS and I remember it being sad and shocking ....the unexplained and sudden death of the baby eventually caused so much strain on the couple that their marraige broke up (which is how the cafe was sold to Ian's mother Cathy).

    The baby switch has made this unrealistic as how likely is it that Ronnie would leave her baby in the Vic like that and walk away.....its more likely she'd just keep holding him and refuse to accept he was dead. I imagine anyone who has suffered such a tragic loss in real life cannot watch at the moment but maybe the fact that the writers have treated this in such a sensationalist way which makes it so far removed from real life, will actually lessen the impact of this.....they should have watched some of their archive shows to see how to handle a sensitive issue....with sensitivity.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,449 ✭✭✭SuperInfinity


    d1975 wrote: »
    I'm not really into watching that story line, but I notice after the show ended on BBC there was voice over guy saying if your effected by this story line you can contact.... etc...

    and I switched over to RTE and they didn't do anything at all I'm disapointed that RTE as a state broadcaster not putting information about ISIDA (Irish Sudden Infant Death Association)


    BBC have been putting up info since the story line started so can't see why RTE don't

    To me personally, statement has always seemed a bit (for want of a better word) "nannyish" to me. People can look up the internet themselves if they want.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Susie_Q


    I don't understand the uproar over this storyline at all. Eastenders is always dealing with various serious and/or gloomy issues, this is one of them.

    If you don't want to watch it, no one is forcing you to. Nor is anyone forcing you to read about the story online or in magazines. It's very easily avoided really, I can't get my head around the commotion this has caused. It's only a tv show for goodness sake!


  • Registered Users Posts: 84,323 ✭✭✭✭JP Liz V1


    I'm not sure what's so bad about this storyline, after all Emmerdale have done it, Corrie have done it, so why doesn't it seem right with EE? I dunno is it simply the fact that it's Ronnie's baby that died, that she's had such rotten luck with kids already so this is just a step too far for that character. If it was simply that Alfie and Kat's baby died it'd be bad enough, but I think it's the Ronnie element and the baby swap that makes it so much worse.

    Still I'm sure they'll win loads of awards for a job well done :rolleyes:

    The swaps in Emmerdale and Corrie were the hospital's fault not the parent(s) - the Emmerdale one was very well done and acted imo and even in that one of the babies died. Eastenders have gone way ott with this storyline.


  • Registered Users Posts: 17,324 ✭✭✭✭Cathmandooo


    d1975 wrote: »
    I'm not really into watching that story line, but I notice after the show ended on BBC there was voice over guy saying if your effected by this story line you can contact.... etc...

    and I switched over to RTE and they didn't do anything at all I'm disapointed that RTE as a state broadcaster not putting information about ISIDA (Irish Sudden Infant Death Association)


    BBC have been putting up info since the story line started so can't see why RTE don't

    BBC made the show, RTE didn't, to me that's why RTE haven't put up a helpline number to call.

    I don't think the swap is far fetched at all. The people who watch the show know what Ronnie has been through, she's hardly been of sound mind, she was sexually abused as a child, protected her sister from being molested, her mum walked out on her, gave birth, gave the baby up, in later years her baby came back as a teenager and died in her arms, her dad was murdered..the list goes on really. She didn't take her baby out to do the swap, she brought him out to get help. With the new years celebrations she was pushed and shoved around until she heard Tommy crying and she was drawn to him. Out of sheer desperation for just once having soemthing go right she took baby Tommy. Then you see her regretting it and going to swap them back but got stopped by Jack.

    Kat hadn't seen her baby much up to that point as she was pretty bedridden, she did know he wasn't hers but Alfie convinced her it was just his sparkle gone so he looks different.

    It's a very very sad storyline but I do think it's being done well, while it's not necessarily helping anyone who has gone through such devastation it might be an insight for people who havent to know what people go through.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    JP Liz V1 wrote: »
    The swaps in Emmerdale and Corrie were the hospital's fault not the parent(s) - the Emmerdale one was very well done and acted imo and even in that one of the babies died. Eastenders have gone way ott with this storyline.

    As far as I remember it was the mother of the dead baby who did the swap in Emmerdale. Her son had some hereditary illness and she knew he was going to die so the mother swapped them in the hospital?

    Again in Corrie, one set of parents new about the swap, which is how the Connors found out about it.

    I think it's only the fact that it's Ronnie that this happened to that is making it seem far worse. As I say, Alfie and Kat are playing a blinder and if it had happened to them it would be a very good storyline.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    d1975 wrote: »
    I'm not really into watching that story line, but I notice after the show ended on BBC there was voice over guy saying if your effected by this story line you can contact.... etc...

    and I switched over to RTE and they didn't do anything at all I'm disapointed that RTE as a state broadcaster not putting information about ISIDA (Irish Sudden Infant Death Association)


    BBC have been putting up info since the story line started so can't see why RTE don't

    Good point. It'd be nice for RTE to put something up alright.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    Susie_Q wrote: »
    I don't understand the uproar over this storyline at all. Eastenders is always dealing with various serious and/or gloomy issues, this is one of them.

    If you don't want to watch it, no one is forcing you to. Nor is anyone forcing you to read about the story online or in magazines. It's very easily avoided really, I can't get my head around the commotion this has caused. It's only a tv show for goodness sake!

    People don't like what they see, they air their views. Simple really.


  • Registered Users Posts: 160 ✭✭annieire


    To be honest, i'm not really shocked by what i see in soaps anymore and i haven't been affected emotionally by them...until now.
    I can imagine some new mothers are even more stressed out with worry as a result of this story line. I even found myself shedding a few tears and if i had a new born child i would have been in a complete state!


  • Registered Users Posts: 84,323 ✭✭✭✭JP Liz V1


    As far as I remember it was the mother of the dead baby who did the swap in Emmerdale. Her son had some hereditary illness and she knew he was going to die so the mother swapped them in the hospital?

    Again in Corrie, one set of parents new about the swap, which is how the Connors found out about it.

    I think it's only the fact that it's Ronnie that this happened to that is making it seem far worse. As I say, Alfie and Kat are playing a blinder and if it had happened to them it would be a very good storyline.

    In Emmerdale it was Laurel's mother who looked into the illness her "grandson" died from and then discovered the swap. I dont think the other mother did the swap as they already had another grown up child with no illness so they didnt know about the illness. The switch happened in the hospital and both Laurel and the other family the Dolands werent involved.

    And in Corrie it happend again at the birth as in the hospital where Michelle real son was mixed up.

    I think for me it is not fact that the baby died it is that Ronnie was so heartless to just let her dead baby there and take another of all she knew the heartache of losing a child - It might have been best just to show the heartbreak of losing a child to cot death without the bizzare stupid baby swap which has ruined the character of Ronnie and it rumours are true the storyline will continue for a year or two.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,893 ✭✭✭Hannibal Smith


    JP Liz V1 wrote: »
    In Emmerdale it was Laurel's mother who looked into the illness her "grandson" died from and then discovered the swap. I dont think the other mother did the swap as they already had another grown up child with no illness so they didnt know about the illness. The switch happened in the hospital and both Laurel and the other family the Dolands werent involved.

    And in Corrie it happend again at the birth as in the hospital where Michelle real son was mixed up.

    I think for me it is not fact that the baby died it is that Ronnie was so heartless to just let her dead baby there and take another of all she knew the heartache of losing a child - It might have been best just to show the heartbreak of losing a child to cot death without the bizzare stupid baby swap which has ruined the character of Ronnie and it rumours are true the storyline will continue for a year or two.

    Are you sure about the Emmerdale storyline? I was full sure the other mother did it in the hospital?

    Either way I agree with the last paragraph. It's too far fetched, a mother's instinct is to protect her own and to just leave her baby and as for the breastfeeding :eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 84,323 ✭✭✭✭JP Liz V1


    http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/soaps/article/1867/eastenders-a-new-low.html

    The New Year baby-swap storyline on ‘EastEnders’ has caused controversy, with the BBC accused of using misery to try and grab ratings.

    The episodes, which were watched by over 10 million viewers, saw Ronnie Branning lose her son James to cot death and then, in a fit of grief, switch the body with that of Kat Moon’s son Tommy. The harrowing story has seen many viewers complain to the BBC.

    The Daily Mirror TV critic Kevin O’Sullivan called the plot “trashy and insensitive.”

    Criticism on Twitter is aimed more at the baby swap rather than the death itself.

    “I could handle the cot death but the swapping of babies is a horrible storyline,” wrote flossy30.

    “Cot death is a difficult subject alone, but to add the switch is bizarre, hard viewing,” wrote Andilou70.

    “Horrendous,” wrote AMP2210. “Fair enough, do a cot death story, but to swap a dead baby for an live one is just sick.”

    But there were people willing to defend the soap.

    “People are complaining that the ‘EastEnders’ cot death/baby snatch storyline makes all mums look bad,” wrote Poppy The Cat. “No it doesn't! And it has happened.”

    “’EastEnders’ deserves an award for the Kat and Ronnie baby storyline. It's raising awareness of cot death,” wrote Stuart North19.

    The BBC released the following statement about the episode.

    “‘EastEnders’ is a drama which explores many difficult issues and inevitably these do sometimes touch a nerve with some sections of the audience. We have sought guidance and advice from the FSID (The Foundation for the Study of Infant Death), as well as speaking to parents who themselves have lost babies through cot death, to ensure that our portrayal is as sensitive and realistic as possible.”

    However the FSID has distanced itself from the storyline, releasing a statement reading:

    “FSID has received several complaints and comments from bereaved parents about the ‘baby-swap’ story on ‘Eastenders’.

    “We are very sorry to know of the very natural distress caused by this plotline but would like to stress that our involvement was limited to advice on SIDS risk factors, bereavement and the involvement of health professionals and the police.

    “FSID had no involvement in the planning or adoption of the 'baby-swap' plotline. The behaviour and actions of Ronnie Mitchell are in no way 'endorsed' by FSID as a typical, or even likely, reaction of a bereaved parent. “


  • Registered Users Posts: 84,323 ✭✭✭✭JP Liz V1


    The BBC has now received nearly 6,000 complaints about EastEnders' controversial baby swap storyline, it has been confirmed.

    A plot which is currently airing on the Walford show has seen Ronnie Branning lose her newborn son James to cot death, before secretly switching him with Kat Moon's (Jessie Wallace) child in a moment of despair.

    BBC News reports that a total of 5,826 complaints have been received by the corporation since the storyline was first announced last November. The number has risen in the past two days as 3,400 complaints had been confirmed on Tuesday.

    Although the media regulator Ofcom is known to have also received 374 complaints over the plot, it is understood that an official investigation is unlikely as the episodes in question are not thought to have breached the broadcasting code.

    A statement released by the BBC has insisted that "EastEnders has a long history of exploring difficult issues, and the storyline regarding Ronnie and Kat follows in this tradition".

    Show bosses have also promised that "viewers will see the situation resolve itself over the coming months".

    Meanwhile, EastEnders has today confirmed that Samantha Womack - who plays Ronnie - will be leaving the soap later this year.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,213 ✭✭✭daenerysstormborn3




  • Registered Users Posts: 3,087 ✭✭✭Duiske


    annieire wrote: »
    To be honest, i'm not really shocked by what i see in soaps anymore and i haven't been affected emotionally by them...until now.
    I can imagine some new mothers are even more stressed out with worry as a result of this story line. I even found myself shedding a few tears and if i had a new born child i would have been in a complete state!

    Agreed.

    Shock story lines have always been part of the soapland ratings battle, but i think Eastenders may have shot themselves in the foot with this one. I'd imagine there will be a clamber by the script writers to resolve the story sooner than planned, or else they risk people reaching for the remote instead of the popcorn.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,466 ✭✭✭jimmynokia


    over 6000 complaints gone in so far and some bird quit too:eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,590 ✭✭✭Dues Bellator


    personally i found it all a bit too much , not only was it a case of S.I.D.S but to swap the corpse of your dead baby for a friends baby is crazy, pure ratings grabbing if you ask me. plus to put it on over the xmas was classless .:mad:


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