Most people enjoy our popular soaps, like EastEnders and Coronation Street. They look forward watching festive episodes, in the company of family members, their highlight for the cold Christmas night, especially for those unable to throng nightclubs, restaurants and pubs, due to age, health or families with young children.
Yet, more and more soaps adopt draconian storylines, inexorable trend that spread gloom and doom, rather than gentrification, festive atmosphere. EastEnders’s storyline, killing two popular characters, idolized by many, two sisters, one on her honeymoon night is unbelievably short-sighted, extremely in poor taste.
It is easy to shock viewers with tragedies, affairs and cruelty, rather than happy events. Then so often they give free telephone numbers to ring if viewers are distressed! So why depress, upset them in the first place?
In extreme cases, venerable, infatuated, sensitive viewers may need medical attention that add to extremely high workload on NHS at this time of the year when A & E departments are inundated with patients due to overindulging in drinks, drugs and food poisoning.
Some A & E even have to close their doors due to high number of patients they could not cope with! Is it too much to request producers to spread happiness at such a festive time or their kidology is to achieve high viewing figure at any cost?
Kumudini Valambia
By email
