EastEnders: BBC chief defends cot death storyline

Jana Bennett, the executive responsible for all BBC TV channels, has defended the controversial EastEnders cot death storyline, saying the issue had been "sensitively handled".

Bennett, the outgoing BBC Vision director, added that the show was "absolutely not suggesting" that EastEnders character Ronnie Branning's behaviour was "typical of a mother who has suffered such a terrible and tragic loss".

More than 6,000 complaints have been made about EastEnders episodes broadcast in the last week in which Ronnie, played by actor Samantha Womack, lost her baby James and swapped him for Kat and Alfie Moon's newborn son, Tommy.

Bennett's defence of EastEnders comes in a response to parenting website Mumsnet, which wrote to the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, earlier this week describing the cot death storyline as cynical and ill-informed and likely to reinforce misconceptions about bereaved mothers as "deranged and unhinged".

The BBC has already decided to cut short the controversial story, which looks set to become the long-running soap's most complained-about plotline to date.

Bennett said that as the narrative unfolds "viewers will see Ronnie struggle to come to terms with what she has done", with the storyline to be resolved "early in the spring".

"The show is absolutely not suggesting that this behaviour is typical of a mother who has suffered such a terrible and tragic loss," 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."

Bennett also said "the issues of grief caused by the loss of a child and sudden infant death syndrome more generally are sensitively handled". "EastEnders has a long history of tackling difficult issues in a way that allows viewers to learn and debate the topic at hand," she added.

 To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.