EastEnders paedophile storyline prompts 200 complaints
Friday, September 19th, 2008
An Eastenders storyline in which a paedophile grooms his teenage stepdaughter has prompted over 200 complaints.
In last Friday’s episode former jail-bird Tony King arrived in Albert Square and was shown passionately kissing 15-year-old Whitney Dean, played by Shona McGarty, before falling onto the teenager’s bed while his girlfriend Bianca, played by Patsy Palmer, was having a bath. The storyline suggests that he manipulated Whitney Dean into a relationship before being sent to prison, and his relationship with Bianca will soon be revealed as a front to hide his interest in her stepdaughter.
Prior to the controversial episode that introduced the new theme 34-year-old Chris Coghill, who plays Tony, said that he expected a backlash from viewers.
“I haven’t prepared myself yet, but I’ll be going out to buy myself a very large hat, wig and a false moustache,” he said.
Over 8 million viewers watched the pre-watershed show. The BBC said that 163 people had made complaints about the plot since it began on Friday. Meanwhile the industry regulator Ofcom received 41 complaints.
The BBC defended the storyline, saying that it had been created in collaboration with the NSPCC and that it complied with industry regulations.
A spokesperson for the corporation said “EastEnders has a rich heritage of tackling difficult social issues, such as domestic violence and mental health. Our current storyline about child abuse is another such issue which had been created in association with the NSPCC and in accordance with BBC editorial policy.”
Ofcom confirmed it will look at the suitability of the story, which was written with the help of the NSPCC.
This is by no means the first time that EastEnders has come under fire for a controversial storyline. In August scenes of a character being stabbed to death prompted 156 complaints. Viewers saw Jase Dyer being attacked by a criminal gang then lying dead in hospital. In its defence the BBC said the violence was “implied rather than explicit” but admitted some viewers had found the scenes “uncomfortable”.
