Eastenders Baby Death Storyline

[deemented]

Once again, no one can live happily ever after

Ronnie's baby James, dies and she puts his body in Kat and Alfies son's crib, and steals their baby boy, Tommy.

Why oh why oh why do scriptwriters insist on portraying bereaved parents - mothers especially - as mad and deranged??? Maybe it's because they can't begin to imagine how awful the death of a child is, but really, whilst we are mad with grief, it is our own child that we want back, not someone else's stolen child. When are scriptwriters ever going to understand that?

Still, it'll be a riveting watch, no doubt.

lorraine kelly/loose women etc are all on twitter

lorraine kelly is @reallorraine; @itvthismorning for this morning, @loosewomen for them, Kevin O'sullivan (who does some tv round-up stuff on lorraine's show) is @TVKev.

@VicDerbyshire for victoria derbyshire (yes, I follow them all ).

Would be happy to contact them all but not sure if my input is welcomed at this stage given my previous comments..

ive been thinking about all this the last hour.

the BBC have an easy answer to the complaints centred around steroetyping grieving mothers as going off the rails and equating grief with lunacy and baby theft etc. and the issue that its not a baby you miss, its your own baby.

and the answer from the BBC would be:

the character of ronnie has been developed as an unhinged basket case anyway. due to her father and various other issues such as a daughter she never knew she had being run over.
in that sense, the BBC could argue it is not a misrepresenatation of mothers suffering cot death grief, it's a correct representation of the character of Ronnie Mitchell as presented over the years anyway.

I follow philip schofield as well.

Does anyone have contact with Edith Bowman, sarah cox, Jo Wiley (all recently had babies) or Holly willougby (pregnant), Fearne Cotton (her bessie mate)... to see if they would cover it on their shows...

How would they justify the opposite side of this coin? Bereaved mothers having to watch a person grieve whose child is actually alive and well?

Where's Anne Diamond when you need her? I wonder what she makes of it ?

How to contact This Morning

would imagine the majority of them are on twitter too. I know that holly what's her name is (I don't follow her but could do).

clutha -I think we discussed that angle a few pages back...

Wannabe, I for one would be really grateful for your support with getting it into the media. I think in general you have not been dismissive in your posts. In the end you have been looking at it from a less emotional, more media savvy perspective. And for that reason, I think you would be a good person to raise it - especially given you already have those inroads, and have come up with some very good suggestions of how to make a demonstration that has impact.

Twitter and FB are a mystery to me .

I wonder if FSID or other support organisations are putting stuff out to the media to counteract some of this hype? For example, some publicity about what SIDS is really like for parents, the reactions they encounter and how they might be better supported alongside info about reducing the risk of cot death?

I'm off to bed but will rejoin this in the morning.

I really do think that we need to voice our feelings as a 'whole' - as in MN thinks/feels"XYZ".

Night all xx

Love to all who have lost.

FSID have had complaints and are doing their best to distance themselves even though their Chief Exec has gone on record as applauding EE for their accurate portrayal of sudden death.

Night Mouseface x

Yeah... isn't that the sort of thing Justine and others are often heard doing on Women's Hour and elsewhere (hint)?

Problem with that mouseface is that not all people on MN think the same. It's just that voicing any other opinion on this thread gets you dismissed as insensitive and uncaring and upsets a lot of people.

I hate Eastenders but my teen daughter watches it all the time - I am furious that they see a cot death as something to entertain the masses, somethings such as rape, child abuse, cot deaths should remain out of bounds for these idiot scriptwriters!!

It must be very hard for you lal

I expect Anne diamond will discuss it on the wright stuff.

lal123 what do you mean? Surely, if 100 (for example) MNers think that the story of the 'snatch/swap' is sensationalised, fabricated, insensitive etc, it carries weight???

Thanks joni xx

If 90% of people agree on something why should they be prohibited from speaking about it as a collective, majority view?

MNHQ - have a poll?

I think a boycott of the funeral episode is a good idea - providing it was publicised well - FB, twitter ect, i think it could have legs.

dobie They should remain out of bounds for the idiot scriptwriters but despite this nonsense from EE I think it is important to raise these issues in soaps. Just hand them to the excellent script writer. By doing so taboos can be addressed.

However they are not issues that should be sensationalised. just portrayed sensitively so that vulnerable groups are not further margonalised. Because, for all the "its not real" "it fits with her character" etc the fact remains soaps are hugely influential in our society and how different groups of people are percieved.

Dee - yes! Great idea.

just want to say that i will boycott the funeral.