EASTENDERS may have drawn 3,400 complaints for its cot death plot but it hasn't hurt the soap's ratings.
Furious viewers bombarded the BBC after watching Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) exchange her dead baby with Kat Moon's (Jessie Wallace) newborn after her son dies from cot death.
But despite the controversial storyline which aired on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the soap won its best peak audience for almost a year with 11.1 million tuning in last night.
Fans don't seem to have been dissuaded from tuning into the show by the gruesome storyline with average viewer figures rising from 10.4 million on Monday night to 10.7 million last night.
Last February the Walford soap earned 15.6 million viewers for is dramatic live episode which saw Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) revealed as Archie Mitchell's killer.
The BBC has continued to defend its shocking storyline despite mums who lost children to cot death complaining it was insensitive and sick.
Broadcaster Anne Diamond, whose son Sebastian died from cot death in 1991, said she was horrified by the storyline.
She said: "I was shocked to find cot death itself is no longer dramatic enough for today's screenwriters.
"It wasn't enough that poor Ronnie Branning should lose her newborn son. She had to lose her senses, too, and swap her dead baby for Kat Moon's healthy son.
"If I had known that was what they were planning, I would have raised the roof."
But EastEnders boss Bryan Kirkwood claimed the show's fans were warned about the plot before and given help line details as the credits rolled.
He said: "We took care to ensure viewers were aware of the content in advance.
"We also provided action line numbers at the end of the show."
Furious viewers bombarded the BBC after watching Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) exchange her dead baby with Kat Moon's (Jessie Wallace) newborn after her son dies from cot death.
But despite the controversial storyline which aired on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the soap won its best peak audience for almost a year with 11.1 million tuning in last night.
Fans don't seem to have been dissuaded from tuning into the show by the gruesome storyline with average viewer figures rising from 10.4 million on Monday night to 10.7 million last night.
Last February the Walford soap earned 15.6 million viewers for is dramatic live episode which saw Stacey Branning (Lacey Turner) revealed as Archie Mitchell's killer.
The BBC has continued to defend its shocking storyline despite mums who lost children to cot death complaining it was insensitive and sick.
Broadcaster Anne Diamond, whose son Sebastian died from cot death in 1991, said she was horrified by the storyline.
She said: "I was shocked to find cot death itself is no longer dramatic enough for today's screenwriters.
"It wasn't enough that poor Ronnie Branning should lose her newborn son. She had to lose her senses, too, and swap her dead baby for Kat Moon's healthy son.
"If I had known that was what they were planning, I would have raised the roof."
But EastEnders boss Bryan Kirkwood claimed the show's fans were warned about the plot before and given help line details as the credits rolled.
He said: "We took care to ensure viewers were aware of the content in advance.
"We also provided action line numbers at the end of the show."
Source: The Sun
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