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Ofcom confirms it won’t investigate Coronation Street over controversial storyline

The scenes involving Steve and Leanne had a mixed reaction from viewers

A Coronation Street episode featuring scenes of controlled crying which sparked more than 130 complaints will not be investigated by Ofcom.

Viewers saw Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) struggle with the technique, which was shown to have mixed results.

A spokesman for the broadcasting watchdog said it assessed but would not be investigating the episode, which aired on July 31.

They revealed: “We considered complaints that this episode promoted ‘controlled crying’, a parenting method which attracts strong views.

“We found the plot centred around the relationship between two characters, and did not promote a view on whether controlled crying is appropriate or effective.”

The episode sparked 132 complaints.

At the time the episode aired, fans weren’t impressed with the content and took to Twitter to express how they felt.

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It’s not the first time an ITV soap recently escaped a review by the television body.

Emmerdale was in the firing line last month when 10 people complained about scenes featuring Emma Barton bullying young Arthur Thomas.

When Arthur watched the video of her manipulating Ashley, the youngster confronted the nutty nurse and told her she wasn’t very nice as she made people cry.

Realising what he’d seen, Emma went all out to cover herself as she desperately tried to stop him spilling the beans to anyone else.

She lied to him that his mum Laurel was seriously ill, as well as destroying his treasured videos of his late dad.

After everything else she’d done, the bullying of a nine-year-old boy was a step too far as far as viewers were concerned and some of them even felt it necessary to complain to regulating body Ofcom.

Ofcom revealed that it had 10 complaints from viewers who were uncomfortable at the way Emmerdale showed the “bullying of a young child”.

It’s not exactly a record number of complaints, and it seemed Ofcom agreed as they decided not to launch an official investigation.

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A spokesperson told Digital Spy: “We assessed a small number of complaints about a bullying story in Emmerdale. We found the content was limited, and the perpetrator was not presenting in a positive light.

“We also recognise that audiences expect soaps to present difficult or challenging social situations.”


Carena Crawford
Associate Editor (Soaps)

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