Eastenders Complaints: Who takes Ownership?
On Tuesday evening, Eastenders viewers saw Kat’s baby returned to her after Ronnie swapped her dead child for Kat’s. The controversial plot began on Christmas Day and has since received thousands of complaints. The BBC have since had to apologise and cut the story shorter than previously planned, but should they of had to?
The Christmas storyline was published months before it unfolded, and viewers were aware of what was coming up due to the spoilers; even those who don’t watch Eastenders were aware of the storyline. And yet thousands of complaints still came through, which begs the question, why did these people still watch it?
It is interesting that once again, like the Andrew Sachs and Russell Brand complaints, that it took a newspaper to report complaints for everyone else to join on the bandwagon. But who are these people who find it easier to pick up the telephone and complain rather than switching the channel, or even turning the television off?
This is not so much about the storyline, or even the soap itself, it is about ownership of the person sat in the living room deciding what to watch. If Eastenders hadn’t published the spoiler, and the family were sat around the television on Christmas Day horrified at the scenes before them, then maybe we could empathize, although the fact that Eastenders has a dramatic and unsettling story every Christmas Day should surely be a lesson alone.
A couple of years ago, a children’s television channel received complaints that Porn had accidentally been broadcasted on the channel during the day. It received thousands of complaints. This incident was worthy of its criticism as it was unexpected, put on the wrong time, on the wrong channel and would of upset a lot of children and mothers. Just like if someone was to swear on children’s television or live on the news. Eastenders do not fall into this catagory, and is up to the person watching the television to decide whether to carry on watching or not, rather than the BBC who like many creators of television, art, literature, tried something risky and interesting; this is the beauty of creation.
The ironic factor of it all, is that for the more bad press a program receives, the more viewers it gets, and therefore the people complaining in the scenario have actually caused more people to tune in and watch the show. When they say there is no such thing as bad publicity, these types of events really prove the theory; it would be much more worth while if the people complaining did in fact just turn the television off, as the lack of viewers would hurt the show more than the free publicity your complaint is causing.
And so next time you are sat at home, watching the television and you know a program coming up is something which is likely to be offensive to your rather sensitive self, rather than picking up the phone, why not switch the channel, or switch off all together and maybe go for a walk or read a book; in the long run if you are really that upset about the program, the lack of viewers will upset the creators much more than any complaints.
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The author of this piece, David Hatton, also wrote an ode to Coronation Street on their 50th anniversary: http://davidhatton1987.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-birthday-coronation-street.html
Sorry but there’s a flaw in your logic. The people who have sent in complaints aren’t necessarily the same section of viewers that take the time to find out about storylines months beforehand. It’s not even out of the question that some of the complaints have been sent in from people who don’t even watch Eastenders. That’s why, in large, I don’t understand the point of your article.
Sean, my main point is… that to these television bosses, all they are bothered about is ratings, and when these people, like I’m guessing yourself since you obviously seem quite sensitive about my article, call up and complain, all you are doing is giving them more media attention and have more people tune in out of interest. The best thing people can do out of protest is just not watch. And as for your argument about people not knowing about the storyline before hand? Who didn’t know this storyline wasn’t coming up? Its been on every media channel, newspaper and magazine for months, you didn’t have to go looking for it. I don’t watch Eastenders and knew about it months advance. It is like saying someone was oblivious to the Corrie tram crash…. it was inevitable. A friend of mine doesn’t even have a television and he gets annoyed enough about how much he hears about whats going on. It doesn’t matter if you watch the show or not, rather than giving them media attention, just turn off your television and stop giving shows like this the media attention they so dearly want.
I find ur article pointless… Majority of people complained about the baby swap as it was insensitive and poorly written, I don’t object to a story line in SIDS but every aspect of the story line was not at all thought out. True. I could of turned the tv off, but why should I?? Especially when initially they were going to keep the story going for months and months… I didn’t want to hear about a disatetous story line anymore and am glad they are bringing it to a end!! I think kirkwood should go back to hollyoaks and stop ruining eastenders as I now believe un time they will have to cancel the show, as the writing and the potratal of characters is getting so bad … My opinion only…
But you are missing the point Dee, these television producers only care about ratings… so if people are calling in and complaining and the media are reporting it… more people tune in. If these people stopped calling in and complaining and just watched something else, the producers would soon realise it isn’t working. Why is my article pointless? I’m asking people to take a bit more ownership over what they watch and stop having a hissy fit over what is essentially a television program, and not a very good one, I might add. Who are these idiots where television is the centre of their lives? It is utterly ridiculous. Don’t like it? Turn off. And you will find a much more effective form of protest.
Hi David
I disagree that everyone knows what story line is coming up in Eastenders. I watch every episode, and the reason I dont read the spoilers is so i don’t spoil it for myself! As for missing it in the press, maybe I don’t watch enough daytime TV.
However I fully agree with you that complaints against the airing of the current story line are pointless. As you say, just switch off and do something else. I would like to contest the nature of the complaints though – that the story is offensive and insensitive is stupid. Its a soap opera that deals with very sensitive topics, and this is another of them – involving Ronnie, who is clearly unstable and prone to doing crazy things – maybe people are forgetting this is a TV drama and not a segment of real life created by the BBC.
thanks for your comment Jonathan. You must be like me with Coronation Street, I avoid spoilers at all cost, I hate knowing what happens, but yahoo and new media sites always manage to put it everywhere! I completely agree with you that I didn’t find this subject offensive, it does deal with sensitive topics, and subjects like this do happen, sadly. In reality if a young person is watching this, it teaches them about life… and probably how not to deal with it! but it prepares people for the worst, or builds an understanding of people going through this type of thing, and allows others to prepare themselves to look after or talk to people going through these situations. Thanks for your comment Jonathan.
I do agree with all the comments that this storyline is horrible, and dragging it out is cruel. But regarding all the complaints the show has had about it, if you didnt want to watch it then turn off your television. There is no-one being forced to watch eastenders. I have a hard time understanding why so many people have complained about this particular storyline when, they will still watch it te next time it is on to see what happens. Also in response to an earlier post by Dee, they will keep Eastenders running for as lon as is humanly possible, as it is the most favoured show on tv, the storylines may be controversial but they are much more interesting that those of Corronation Street or Emerdale.
“On Tuesday evening, Eastenders viewers saw Kat’s baby returned to her after Ronnie swapped her dead child for Kat’s.” – false lol. I am an EE fan and the baby hasn’t been returned yet but i aggree with every other comment you made and although I didn’t like watching some of the scenes shown I wouldn’t ever waste my time complaining about a drama/soap or anything else on tv, I bet almost all the people who made the complaints are quick enough to switch over when the “go compare” ad comes on! lol. great article