General Chat

Could you really be bothered ?

I was shocked to read that so many had complained about the Eastenders baby swap story line...really...if I didn't like the direction a soap was going in..I'd simply stop watching !! It's a SOAP FGS...not real life..and things are over dramatised or exaggerated..its' the nature of the beast !

I have been known to complain about things I've felt strongly about ...but I'm not sure I could be bothered to give that much credibility to a soap story line.

What are your views on this?

(apologies if this topic has been done already btw...I'm a bit out of the loop lol)

LOL I thought you were talking about the wash your hands soap.

I wouldn't bother complaining about that - unless it had acid or broken glass in it!

As for Eastenders - i don't watch it - or any other soap for that matter - but agree with you - it's fiction and overdramatised - bit like a tabloid Newspaper (I don't read those either)

Guess who's not interested in overdramatics or what the 'celebs' are doing?

I last watched Eastenders when Dirty Den was killed off for the second time!

I stopped watching Corrie and Emmerdale several years ago.
It was intentional, just got out of the habbit of watching them I suppose.
I dont like medical Dramas either, they are so unlike reality that I just get irritated.

I did hear about the Eastenders story line and I can understand that people got upset, I think it sounded very traumatic, but if people turned off the powers that be a the BBC would soon get the message

Teresa

Just had a thought. Do people in rural districts complain about Midsommer Murders? Makes the countryside seem a very dangerous place - all those murders in a small area.
Even worse was Morse. Just as well there are students arriving each year, or the population of Oxford would be decimated!! LOL

Hi Muffy,

I think with Eastenders generally the scriptwriters have always been seen as dealing with 'serious issues' rather well in the past. Storylines like the first gay relationship, domestic abuse, Downs syndrome have been well researched and 'sensitively handled'.

This is perhaps the first time they have taken a really serious subject, cot death, and quite frankly, made a mess of it. So I can see why people may be especially affected and feel strongly enough to complain.

It could have been handled so much better I think and given an insight into the effect such a tragedy has on parents. Not playing to the 'extreme' that it did.

Well I remember well the carry on people held when Derdrie was sent to prison , people sent a petition to downing street lol . how mad is that ?

I think the newspapers are very good at egging people on. Wasn't it The Sun that started the free Deirdre campaign in a bid to sell more copies.

I don't have the time to complain about fictitious characters

I stopped watching Eastenders for ages...but then got back into it again around about the time Archie Mitchell got killed...(I secretly have a bit of an *older man thing* about Larry Lamb lololol)...

I can't say I LIKE the storyline but it's like reading a book..if i got bored or couldn't get into it then I'd dump it...like I did with Eastenders when Baby Den got killed off...pee'd me off so much I thought *can't be doing with this anymore* lol.

Sooo glad it's not just me that thinks it's a bit *out there* to make the complaint..

Having said that...I think the acting (for a soap) has been brilliant...and it has reduced me to tears a few times...so it's def doing it's job...I just understand it's a STORY and not meant to be a true reflection of real life x

I can't imagine writing to the newspapers or anywhere else and complaining about a storyline or any of the characters. We are about 3 months behind the UK with Eastenders and to be honest I don't often watch it. I find the storylines too unbelievable. Now Corrie..........

S

Now Corrie I've NEVER been able to get into.

But I blame that on my mum...she used to chivvy us off to bed just after Crossroads and before Corrie...so the theme tune always makes me feel resentful ( I could hear it blaring out from my bed) LOLOLOL x

I like Corrie - although it can get a bit silly at times. What amazes me is the amount of crime that goes on in such small areas - I've lived here in this house for over 30 years and there's never been any murders etc nor on my parent's street or my brother's or any friends.

A petition to free Deirdre? Someone was having a laugh. Even if it was real why would you want to free her - lock her up for life I say:-)))

S x

Yeah for crimes against perms and glasses LOLOLOL x

Even some of the *enders cast* are leaving because of the fictious baby..fgs,,its acting,

my head twirls like that horror film,,,it really does,

On--Off,,theres the choice or what do we have here oodles of channels to broaden the senses with real life. proper real life.

next week......,,does Ian let Phil die,theres a spoiler for you....!
will he or wont he....get a comfy edge of the sofa to sit on...}}}

I have to agree about the acting in East Enders, it has been brilliant around the baby storyline. And I agree that people can switch off if they don't like it. However, I think the main complaint was that it did a disservice to mothers who lost a baby in those circumstances. People felt that the storyline about cot death could have been much more informative and helpful if it had not been over dramatized and sensationalised. So an opportunity was wasted.

I remember that, Amy - "free the Weatherfield one" :-)
I think even the prime minister at that time got involved.

Possibly Ann...but I guess it all depends on what you expect a soap to do for you. I don't expect to be educated...I watch it for escapism...and even if i do find the story difficult to watch ... I can put myself in the position of a grieving mother (scarily easily in fact) ...and compare how I THINK i would act in that situation to the way it's being portrayed. Which often makes me question my responses. However superficial.. I certainly don't rexpect true life from a soap...they are there to probe the boundaries and create drama and in turn ratings x

Yes Joy it was actually brought up in the house of commons lol

Just checked who it was, Amy -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/71934.stm
Prime Minister Tony Blair has promised to intervene, newspapers have launched campaigns and thousands of ordinary people are outraged at a gross miscarriage of justice.
The campaign to free Deirdre Rachid is gathering momentum with the Home Secretary Jack Straw under orders to look into the case.

God that is just PATHETIC lol.

Dumbing down at it's very worst !!!

when it was raised in parliament...did they take it seriously??? Even tongue in cheek?

Have to say I've only watched PMQs for a couple of years so this must have just missed my radar lol x

I don't regularly watch soaps, but I do watch at times. I saw some of the cot death episodes and think Jessie Wallace was amazing.
I can to a degree see why people have complained, feeling that the baby swap plot made it look as if bereaved mothers would do the same thing in real life.
I felt that the portrayal by both actresses has shown how differently grief affects each one of us.
I am pretty sure there has been a cot death in Eastenders before - think the father was Ally or something like that.