EastEnders’ controversial cot death story was yesterday cleared of breaching broadcasting regulations by the UK media regulator, Ofcom.
The storyline, which generated a record 13,400 complaints to the BBC, recounted the trials of troubled mother, Ronnie Branning (played by Samantha Womack), whose child died of sudden infant death syndrome. Branning subsequently swapped her dead infant with that of Kat and Alfie Moon’s (watch clip here).
According to a report in the Guardian, the key episodes, which were broadcast last New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, prompted viewers to complain that the plot was an “inaccurate, insensitive and sensationalised portrayal” of sudden infant death syndrome. One of the most high-profile complainants was TV presenter, Anne Diamond, who lost her son Sebastian to cot death in 1991.
Ofcom ruled that the scenes were “not unduly disturbing or graphic” although it added that the New Year’s Eve episode was “in isolation... clearly capable of causing offence” but the issue should be considered in context.
The storyline concluded in April when Branning, distraught at her baby swap actions, returned the child to the Moons (watch clip here) and turned herself in to the police.
Actress Samantha Womack, who has since left the soap, said that the role left her “physically and emotionally shattered".
"You're crying, weeping and telling your brain something awful has happened, so of course that is going to affect you and your body. My brain may know I am acting, but my body was doing a different thing," she said.
