'Eastenders' violence provokes rush of complaints

The BBC has received more than 1,000 complaints about violent scenes and references to the Hillsborough disaster in 'EastEnders'.

The broadcaster sparked anger with the episode, in which thugs attacked drinkers with baseball bats and glasses in the Queen Vic, and the heavily-pregnant character Honey Mitchell was thrown to the floor.

The episode, which was shown pre-watershed earlier this week, also led to complaints about a reference to the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy, in which 96 football fans died.

The BBC received at least 651 emails and phone calls about the violence and 377 about the reference to the football tragedy.

Media watchdog Ofcom also received 177 complaints.

In the soap, car mechanic Minty said: "Five years out of Europe because of Heysel, because they penned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch and then what did we end up with? Hillsborough."

The BBC said it was "very careful" to ensure "that the violence portrayed was, in the main, implied rather than explicit".

But Sunday's omnibus edition will now be re-edited.

One viewer who complained said: "I think the comments made about the Heysel and Hillsborough stadium disasters were irrelevant to the show.

"I think it was highly distasteful as it had no context whatsoever."

A BBC spokeswoman said Minty had actually been "reminding" another character that football hooliganism at Heysel "led directly to the fencing in of fans at football matches".

She said that Minty pointed out that there had been "tragic consequences" for the innocent spectators at Hillsborough.

The BBC added that it apologised if these remarks were misinterpreted or caused any offence.

The Hillsborough reference will remain in the repeat.

The spokeswoman insisted the plot was in line with BBC editorial guidelines for pre-watershed viewing and the script was "carefully prepared and filmed".