Every Rose
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I have great sympathy for anyone thats lost a child, I can't imagine how terrible it must be, I imagine there aren't words that would describe how it feels. But I don't think the soap writers should be made to feel guilty because of the storyline, in soaps there are deaths all the time - which will hit home for a lot of people. For example, how do you imagine some people will feel if they lost a family member due to a shooting? But that happens fairly often and you don't see people complaining. I just think some people took it a little too personally - I understand they are grieving and the storyline may/will be hard for them but thats all it is, a storyline. If people are going to be upset too badly by it, then they shouldn't watch it, it's as simple as that.
My Gran lost a child at 17, he fell from a tower block building, you see people falling from high heights often too, if she knows its going to happen, she won't watch. Same goes for when she lost a child at 5 month. I think if people are going to watch soaps they have to be prepared for stuff which might hit home, if they don't like it, don't watch.
I don't see what the problem is with the cast members joking around either. At the end of the day it's not real, and baby Tommy is still alive, it's not like their grieving a real loss. I don't see why they should have to be miserable for the sake of a fake storyline - i'm sure they will have great sympathy for those parents who have lost a child, just because they were laughing doesn't mean they don't have a heart. Though I do remember reading in an interview that they found some scenes too hard to get through. (I haven't heard anything about them saying anything offensive, so sorry I can't comment on that).
I'm sorry to argue with you, i'm just getting my point across too. I don't think it is sick to boost ratings, they do it every year with a murder which again will hit home for some people.
I agree that the characters moved on quickly, but as we can see Ronnie hasn't moved on, she is grieving - and some people in life will go to these extremes, rare admittedly. Plus, if they were as miserable in the programme as what people were in real life, then the programme wouldn't be entertainment, no one would watch it - harsh but true. Thats the thing with soaps, they do take everything to the extreme, its expected.
Again, i'm sorry to argue with you (though I actually call stuff like this a healthy debate) but i'm just giving another perspective to it. I mean no disrespect in any way to parents who have lost child, I do have full sympathy
Well, it's not the just fact that they used a cot death storyline, it's the fact that they hid behind a cot death storyline to promote a baby snatch one and pretty much hid behind the phoney excuse of raising awareness.
As for the joking around. It might not be real to them, but it is real to thousands of parents and their joking around is a slap in the face. Even in the story you keep saying "baby Tommy is alive" but baby James is dead. Fake or not, they are making a mockery of real grief. And joking around doesn't exactly show them as sympathetic to the parents who are going through it.
If you look at my next post you will see I quoted a couple of insensitive quotes by the cast, Shane Richie being the worst offender.
Eastenders rewrote some the planned storyline following the complaints, that's why you are seeing Ronnie greiving. Because people complained about it.
It's not as simple as telling people not to watch. Eastenders is a high profile programme, it has trailers for weeks leading up to a big story line and most magazines and newspapers have interviews and pictures and information. Sometimes it's impossible to avoid.
You can't say that they don't want characters on the show to be as miserable as genuine bereaved parents because nobody would watch and it wouldn't be entertainment without confirming that they are treating the death of a baby and the kidnapping of another as entertainment, which is offensive. If they had treated it decently and understood that the death of a baby is dramatic enough without having to throw in deranged kidnapping then they wouldn't have had half the complaints that they got. And you can't then say that the soaps take things to extreme so we should expect it. There's not much that's more extreme than grief and yet they haven't shown it realistically at all.
And for you it's a healthy debate because you have no vested interest and don't really care about the storyline but for too many people it is real life.
I've actually spoken to my ex-boyfriends new partner, who had their baby at the same time as I had my second loss (to prematurity and neonatal death). Their baby was six weeks old when I met her in a shop and she ran off and left me standing by the pram, then ran back and said "I am sorry..." and I thought she was going to apologise for being so insensitive as to leave me babysitting when she continued "...you might have wanted to steal him might you?"
