Live Webchat with EastEnders Producer, Bryan Kirkwood. Friday 21st January at Midday

[RachelMumsnet]

Following recent debates on the EastEnders' storyline, and our meeting with BBC executives and two mumsnetters to discuss the baby snatch story, we're delighted Executive Producer of EastEnders, Bryan Kirkwood is joining us to answer your questions this Friday (21st January) between 12 and 1pm. If you're unable to join us at that time, please post your questions to Bryan on this thread.

My first deleted post too!

Just voted for anyone but EE in the NTAs - genius idea from the emotional MNers

Re. Justine's comment of 11.22 - can see your point about apologising seeming weak (to his bosses), but I for one might have had more respect for him if he'd at least bothered to answer the key question in full, with confidence, and really explain why they chose the babyswap storyline. The only vague reason he gave was that this would give the two biggest female characters a good storyline. So, as has been said countless times, the SIDS story in itself wasn't seen as strong enough. But he so conspicuously avoided the question of why.

Utter, spineless bullshit.

Also my first deleted post - but I did call him something that begins with t and rhymes with hat. Sorry m'net - I was annoyed that he answered so few questions and brushed off criticism rather than dealing with it head on.

could've been worse, could've called him something that begins with c and rhymes with hunt. d'ya think he reported any posts he construed as a personal attack?

"the SIDS story in itself wasn't seen as strong enough. But he so conspicuously avoided the question of why."

I'd hypothesise because he knows they know nothing at all about parenthood or bereavement and therefore find it impossible to empathise properly with the idea of a child dying. Why else would anyone not think the SIDS scenario alone is incredibly dramatic?

Either that or it's actually cheap sensationalist ratings chasing, and maybe they actually wanted predicted this storm.

I'm sorry I missed this, I was looking forward to it because I felt that Bryan was probably the one who seemed to listen more to us. I am very disappointed in his answers. This is my response to certain things I've picked out:

?whether it be older storylines such as Arthur Fowler's breakdown or more recently the relationship between Christian and Syed.?

Both of those are realistic events. Old men have breakdowns, Muslims are sometimes gay. It doesn't compare.

?we haven?t suggested they advised into the swap part.?

Not what was said to us.

?The EastEnders team is very diverse, and includes many women with children. Indeed, some of the more powerful episodes broadcast over the past few weeks were written by mums.?

Would it excuse a racist storyline if you had lots of none white workers and writers?

?This midwife advised us that the weight loss discrepancy was not unusual enough to cause concern.?

Many MumsNetters will tell you they were forced to formula feed or dragged back into hospital because their baby lost 10%, many will tell you their MW/HV was good about it. A 10% loss being explained away is realistic, 20% loss is not.

A discrepancy like that is serious. Medical records are legal documents, someone could be in serious trouble for it. Just as an aside, did the MW or any of the mums on your team not tell you that green notes stay in your hospital records after you?ve had the baby?

?we have had a lot of positive feedback from our viewers as well as critisism.?

What we never found out though is what the positive feedback is. We won?t argue that in isolation the SIDS storyline with Kat and Alfie has been done amazingly well. If this had been just them you?d be appaulded. How many people have said well done on the swap? How many people said ?thank you, I swapped my dead baby and I?m so glad someone has done this story?? If you have had positive feedback from the swap, has it honestly been from bereaved parents?

I agree with Justine. We came away with that feeling and the meeting was not much different to what's been said here.

Just catching up with this.

Why on earth did y come on MN if you had no intention of answering the questions?

I would have expected a top executive to research a meeting, ie. in this case have a look at previous webchats to see how MNetters react when they are fobbed off and insulted.

Obviously you didnt do this, or you would have known that MNetters would not be appeased by your answers.

He probably thought it would be as easy as the meeting, not that we gave them that easy a time but we weren't the full force of MN!

Actually, I suspect he just didn't care. This is not going to get any headlines, even if people on MN are disappointed, so it's not important to him. He had to come because his boss told him he had to and wrote that in the reply to MN to dampen down the storm. So he came, stuck to the agreed public BBC responses, said as little as possible and left. It was something he had to do, and he doesn't care, because he remains pleased with his storyline and probably chuffed that EE has been all over the headlines.

None of that impresses me by the way. I just think it's the reality of the situation.

In the grand scheme, though, it's not the EE producer that matters here. What matters is that we rattled the cage of some more senior execs. People who care about swathes of complaints and accusations of misogyny and offense because they understand the BBC's unique position as our public service broadcaster. Even they may not agree with the views expressed on MN, but they cannot simply dismiss 12,000 complaints.

A soap producer, on the other hand, cares about the drama, pushing boundaries, ratings etc etc etc.

lunatic, why are you in hospital lovely?

Bryan Kirkwood, for example.....

What an insult to bereaved mothers everywhere.

oooo

Oh Lunatic, are you an impatient mummy like me, then? I get them out so early that last time I was stressing when I got as far as 35 weeks!

Keeping my legs crossed for you

lunatic keeping everything crossed for you, I have been where you are now. Wil be thinking of you

I call ladies who always deliver early impatient mummies, I'm one so I use it tongue in cheek because I know I would rather keep in and get annoyed at pregnancy impatience. I want to aim my care as a Doula at impatient and angel mums (often the same thing :()

I just go into labour, my first one (my angel baby) was 20 weeks because my body fought the placenta so there was nothing that could be done, because I've delivered that early my body doesn't allow me to go too far. Last time I only went as far as I did because the medication wasn't working fully and I was attacking the placenta again, although this time it was "just" IUGR. She was so small she was a little bigger than her sister born 4 week earlier (gestationally) than her.

Oh good, I wasn't sure :) Thank you, I want to get in with the local hospitals so that they know there's someone for mums like us. I think postnatal care could be helpful too, you know when your baby is in NNU and there's so much you can't do because you don't want to leave or you feel like a gatekeeper because no one comes to see you they just want you to take them to the unit because only the parents can go in.

I hate it, it really winds me up. I've seen postmature premature babies in the NNU, I guess either induced or sectioned because of their dates but they weren't ready to be born. If the baby hasn't come yet, they're just not ready.

My first two were a good size, apart from the fact I don't go to term they're healthy babies. My first was just under 1lb at 20 weeks (about 22/23 weeks in size!) and my 31 weeker was 4lb 2oz.

It's another secret world, another taboo, another storyline gets mucked up by TV. I had my youngest just after Amy in EastEnders and the staff were complaining about the effect it had had on the unit. Have you had the stupid comments "Well at least you won't have stretch marks/insert other annoying symptom here"? Yeah, stretchmark free but my baby is still under the paediatrician 4.5 years later, needs laxatives for her bowels to work, takes the highest possible dose of asthma meds (because of the scarring to her immature lungs from being ventilated) that aren't working and we can't do a thing about it because there's no where to go from here. As soon as she's old enough she needs a lung function test and she may need to have her tonsils and adenoids out if things don't improve. But we're not sure about her tonsils because she's so fed of being poked around she won't open her mouth anymore! My youngest isn't too bad, she's in 9-12m clothes at 2 years and only just learnt to walk because she's so small and we've been referred to a specialist because there are concerns about that. Oh and she's too small to walk outside because no one can hold her hand!

Can you tell I've heard people wishing their pregnancy away or telling me to be grateful too many times?