Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Telly addicts

Related: Film discussion forum.

Original poster

Eastenders New yrs eve storyline , madness and insulting (SPOILER)

63 replies

travellingwilbury · 12/11/2010 10:18

So apparently Ronnies baby will die of SIDS she will run to vic for help realise Kats baby is crying and swaps babies .

What a load of shite ! Fact !

I don't watch EE anyway but I have never heard anything so stupid . Now ok it is only what I have read in the paper but it is ridiculous to think that a mum would find her baby like that and do something so insane .

OP posts:
5inthebed · 12/11/2010 20:51

What an awful storyline. Absolutely terrible.

I am not watching EE anywmore after this, I am sick of the depressing storylines anyway, but this takes the biscuit

jobobpip08 · 12/11/2010 20:58

I was saddened to see that FSID apparently support the storyline. I don't know what percentage of the population this is supposed to represent, but when DS2 was stillborn I only wanted him. And I only know other angel mums who feel this way, I have never come across anyone who felt that any baby could be a replacement. BTW I never watch EE but it worries me that some of the people who watch (and believe) will think that all bereaved mothers are like this. I had hoped this was a way of thinking that was long gone.

shabbapinkfrog · 12/11/2010 21:13

The recent story in EE about Carol Jacksons son dying was 'done to perfection' (apart from the sleeping with his friend Hmm

My best friend rang me after one episode which showed Carol walking through the Square where everyone was busy and noisy but she couldn't hear them. My friend was in floods of tears and simply said 'Shabbs - is that how you felt? Is that really true?' I re-assured her that yes that is exactly how I felt. I sobbed each night watching Carols melt down.

I do feel that this story is a step too far. I have never ever seen RL news coverage or read a story that is the same as this. It is not doing bereaved parents any credit - it is not exploring the long, hard journey after the death of a child. It is - quite simply - ridiculous.

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 12/11/2010 21:21

I am just pissed off with parents who have children that die being portrayed as complete nutters , for a couple of weeks anyway . Obviously after a month maximum the child is never mentioned again and all goes back to normal .

OP posts:
CazandBelle · 12/11/2010 21:25

Exactly what Shab said - the daze and lashing out of Carol Jackson was played spot on in the days after Billie death.

BUT this Ronnie/Kat storyline is a step too far. I am not going to be able to watch this, as it cuts too close.

I reiterate Jobobpip - when my darling little girl was born sleeping in June I only wanted her. The same is true now almost 5 months on. I only want her. Babies are not replaceable...

It is going to paint us bereaved Mummies in a poor and totally unrealistic light.

shabbapinkfrog · 12/11/2010 21:25

Yes, you are right TW.

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 12/11/2010 21:35

I have had this going round my head all bloody day , I think the thing that is annoying me most is actually all the bereaved mums I have ever met showed great dignity when their precious children died and the maddest thing about us is that we don't display outwardly how bonkers we actually are inside .

And because most (I say most but probably all) fiction based stuff about children dying shows parents doing properly insane things it actually makes you think that you aren't doing it properly or something .
I don't really know how to explain myself fully but I hope someone understands what the buggery I am on about .

OP posts:
shabbapinkfrog · 12/11/2010 21:48

TW - outwardly I think I appeared calm, good humoured if sometimes a bit sad......Inwardly I was totally, utterly, horrendously 'out of my depth', barking mad, so low that it would have been impossible to get any lower etc etc

CazandBelle · 12/11/2010 21:49

I get exactly what you mean TW - I've obviously not been acting insane enough and people will think everything is ok with me after watching EE at New Year, because I can get through the day like a normal together person. Nevermind whats going on underneath...

They've always got to take it the absolute extremes don't they. Which I know they do for the ratings. Especially over Cmas and New Year, but with such delicate issues such as baby death, I had really hoped they would play it in such a way that the devastation would be realitically played. And ongoing as well, not everything be back to normal in a month. My life certainly isnt. It never will be.

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 12/11/2010 21:52

That's what I mean Shabs , I spent a long long time wanting to scream , shout and punch an awful lot of people (still do tbh) but never really did , just once it would be good for someone to show it how it really is .

They won't though , not so much entertainment in that is there ?

Much better to show a mum willing to let another mum think it was her baby that died .
I wouldn't wish that pain on my worst enemy .

OP posts:
Original poster
travellingwilbury · 12/11/2010 21:53

Exactly Caz x

OP posts:
Shallishanti · 12/11/2010 21:56

I agree that this sounds extreme (but EE always is) but

  1. I can't believe Kat wouldn't notice straight away what's happened and Ronnie will soon be found out, after a mad car chase or something
  2. Isn't it usually the case that when a baby is snatched, the person taking the baby turns out to be a mother who has been bereaved in some way?
Whis is NOT to say that all bereaved parents are 'mad' just that extreme things can drive SOME people over the edge.
Rockbird · 12/11/2010 21:58

I absolutely love Eastenders, I am not ashamed to say it's my favourite programme. I like Ronnie and I bloody love Kat. This storyline has been rumoured for a few months now and each time anyone mentioned it I could feel my blood pressure going up. I'm speechless now that it's been confirmed and, after 25 years of loyal EE viewing, that's me finished. I will not be watching once this storyline kicks off. I'm just disgusted by it, for all the reasons mentioned above. And I know I'm a saddo but I'm upset about it, both from pov of being a parent but just because I will miss watching. But they've gone too far for me.

1944girl · 12/11/2010 22:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

shabbapinkfrog · 12/11/2010 22:03

Shalli - I take your point about someone snatching a baby - but I am almost 54 and I think I can only remember a couple of RL stories about bereaved mums doing this. I could be totally, totally wrong.....BUT....In my experience a bereaved mum wants her OWN baby....and, to be honest, wouldn't have the energy to snatch another persons baby.

Im off to google it - just out of curiosity!

Lydwatt · 13/11/2010 08:39

I have read this thread through again this morning and am still upset by it.

I get that EE is fiction but they also present themselves as tackling difficult issues. If they do so, then it must be done sensitively and with care.

rainbowinthesky · 13/11/2010 08:58

That's it for me too. I'm going to stop watching and warn my family about it too.

PenelopeGarcia · 13/11/2010 15:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rockbird · 13/11/2010 18:12

And it's shit anyway. My main issues are that they are trying to tell you that you wouldn't be able to tell that the baby you are holding isn't the baby you gave birth to. And, almost the worst one which is so offensive I can hardly type it, is that you would take your precious deceased newborn's body, stick it in a cot, pick up the live baby and walk away, turning your back on your own child. Now I've been lucky enough never to have lost a child and I may be talking bullshit here and I hope I'm not offending anyone, but they'd have to wrestle my child's body from me. The fact that they think we'd buy the notion of leaving it to someone else and replacing it just makes me spit with anger.

Lydwatt · 13/11/2010 18:21

I remember the footballer's wives version of this really upsetting me (I had just given birth) but at least was selling itself as being a complete, laughable pile of shite.

EE sets itself up as being somehow above that sort of level Hmm

Original poster
travellingwilbury · 13/11/2010 20:12

Rockbird , my 14mth old son doed in my arms and you are absolutely right , this is the thing that is making me so cross about it .

They will try and put it across in the press that they are raising some frigging awareness to get round it but it is all bollocks .

OP posts:
PenelopeGarcia · 13/11/2010 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

heymango · 13/11/2010 20:35

I read this in the week and have already given up watching.

Totally distasteful, upsetting rubbish.

QueenOfTheNight · 13/11/2010 20:35

travellingwilbury I am so sorry for you loss. You and Rockbird are completely right. My DS had a life threatening illness when he was 8 and we were told that he might not survive. I could not imagine ever, ever letting go of him. Thankfully he pulled through but they would have had to fight me for his body if he hadn't.

I still remember that all encompassing rush of love for him when he was born and there would've been no way I'd have left him anywhere or swapped him for another baby. Ever. He was mine and I was keeping him.

This is such a shit, awful storyline. Badly researched, badly planned but they aren't going to change it now. They've probably filmed most of it already.

onadietcokebreak · 13/11/2010 23:01

Im disgusted by this story line and will be writing to put pressure on them to change it.

Can anyone who gets a response let me know what the reply says.