A few EastEnders viweres were 'shocked' when the BBC soap aired a gay sex scene in a funeral parlour on Friday. TV censor Ofcom received 48 complaints after Ben Mitchell (Harry Reid) was seen getting frisky with Paul Coker (Jonny Labey) in front of an
open coffin containing a dead woman's body.
Twitter was inevitably 'awash' with 'shocked' comments from a few viewers criticizing the storyline, branding it disgraceful and distasteful .
The scene, which saw both teens strip off
their shirts when their romp was interrupted by Paul's grandparents leading to Ben hiding under the coffin.
A BBC spokesperson responded:
The millions of regular EastEnders fans who tune in each week know and
expect dramatic storylines. We are always mindful of out time slot in which we are shown and the scenes in question were implied and not explicit.
Update: BBC responds
22nd July 2015. See
article from bbc.co.uk
The BBC has published a response to the whinges about EastEnders:
EastEnders, BBC One, 16 & 17 July 2015
Complaint
We received complaints from viewers who
felt the scenes between Ben and Paul in the Chapel of Rest were inappropriate.
Response
We do appreciate that for some members of the audience the scenes in the Chapel of
Rest might have a particular resonance, but it wasn't our intention to cause any distress or upset to our viewers with Ben and Paul's storyline.
When the Cokers were introduced as funeral directors, it was inevitable that their
work would feature in storylines, and that in keeping with the tone of the show, these would range from serious to light-hearted. We try very hard to be true to our characters and keep their comments and actions as authentic as possible, sometimes this
will include actions others find disagreeable.
We approach our portrayal of homosexual relationships in exactly the same way as we do heterosexual relationships; ensuring depictions of affection or sexuality between couples are
suitable for pre-watershed viewing. In this case we were careful to ensure the scene was implied rather than explicit, but we appreciate all of the feedback we've received.
Update: Ofcom inevitably not
interested
6th September 2015. See article from dailymail.co.uk
Ofcom said it
assessed the complaints but concluded they didn't raise issues warranting further investigation . Its decision continued:
We found the scenes were justified in the context of a long-running plotline and sexual
contact between the characters was implied rather than overt. Our rules don't discriminate between scenes involving opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
