A controversial EastEnders cot death storyline is to be brought to an early conclusion following almost 6,000 complaints to the BBC.
The story of Ronnie Branning swapping her dead child for another baby drew criticism from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) awareness campaigners.
The story will now end in the spring.
The BBC had said there was "no inference that Ronnie's actions are in any way typical of a bereaved mother of a newborn baby".
It has now confirmed the storyline is "due to finish earlier than planned".
In new year episodes, Ronnie, played by actress Samantha Womack, was shown finding her baby, James, dead in his cot.
She was later shown in the living quarters above the soap's Queen Victoria pub where she swapped James with baby Tommy, the newborn son of characters Kat and Alfie Moon.'Crass twist'
On Thursday, actress Womack - who is leaving the soap - denied she had quit over the storyline, saying her exit had been agreed with producers for several months.
Her agent added: "Her contract comes to a natural end later this year and she will be taking a break from the show."
Sids awareness campaigner Anne Diamond, whose baby son died in 1991, told the BBC News website EastEnders scriptwriters had "lost the plot".
The TV presenter said the baby swap storyline was a "crass twist to an otherwise credible storyline" that had not done "one iota of good in educating a young audience about cot death".
But BBC controller of drama production John Yorke told Radio 4's World At One programme that the job of the show's creators was to "create a drama that people talk about".
"What's cheering about this - and I do hear the concerns - is that everybody's talking about cot death and we're putting it back on the agenda, he added.
The story of Ronnie Branning swapping her dead child for another baby drew criticism from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) awareness campaigners.
The story will now end in the spring.
The BBC had said there was "no inference that Ronnie's actions are in any way typical of a bereaved mother of a newborn baby".
It has now confirmed the storyline is "due to finish earlier than planned".
In new year episodes, Ronnie, played by actress Samantha Womack, was shown finding her baby, James, dead in his cot.
She was later shown in the living quarters above the soap's Queen Victoria pub where she swapped James with baby Tommy, the newborn son of characters Kat and Alfie Moon.'Crass twist'
On Thursday, actress Womack - who is leaving the soap - denied she had quit over the storyline, saying her exit had been agreed with producers for several months.
Her agent added: "Her contract comes to a natural end later this year and she will be taking a break from the show."
Sids awareness campaigner Anne Diamond, whose baby son died in 1991, told the BBC News website EastEnders scriptwriters had "lost the plot".
The TV presenter said the baby swap storyline was a "crass twist to an otherwise credible storyline" that had not done "one iota of good in educating a young audience about cot death".
But BBC controller of drama production John Yorke told Radio 4's World At One programme that the job of the show's creators was to "create a drama that people talk about".
"What's cheering about this - and I do hear the concerns - is that everybody's talking about cot death and we're putting it back on the agenda, he added.
Source: BBC News
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