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7 January 2011
Last updated at 10:57 ET
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' Parenting website Mumsnet was flooded with complaints, prompting it to write a letter to the BBC suggesting that "as is all too common, a bereaved mother has been portrayed as deranged and unhinged".
On Friday, the site published a letter of response from BBC Vision director Jana Bennett.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
In the letter, she acknowledged it was "without doubt a very challenging and emotional story and one that has had a deep impact on many of those who have been watching it".
She added: "Taking Kat's baby is the action of a character in great distress due to a series of events that have befallen her in the last 18 months.
"It is the culmination of these that has driven her to this one moment of madness rather than as a direct result of the loss of her baby."
She also invited Mumsnet staff to meet the programme's makers to discuss the storyline further.
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.
TV presenter and Sids awareness campaigner Anne Diamond, whose baby son died in 1991, told the BBC News website 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".
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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' Parenting website Mumsnet was flooded with complaints, prompting it to write a letter to the BBC suggesting that "as is all too common, a bereaved mother has been portrayed as deranged and unhinged".
On Friday, the site published a letter of response from BBC Vision director Jana Bennett.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
Taking Kat's baby is the action of a character in great distress due to a series of events that have befallen her in the last 18 months”
End Quote
BBC Vision director Jana Bennett
In the letter, she acknowledged it was "without doubt a very challenging and emotional story and one that has had a deep impact on many of those who have been watching it".
She added: "Taking Kat's baby is the action of a character in great distress due to a series of events that have befallen her in the last 18 months.
"It is the culmination of these that has driven her to this one moment of madness rather than as a direct result of the loss of her baby."
She also invited Mumsnet staff to meet the programme's makers to discuss the storyline further.
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.
TV presenter and Sids awareness campaigner Anne Diamond, whose baby son died in 1991, told the BBC News website 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".
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