Emmerdale Storyline Sparks Viewer Complaints

Ofcom may launch an investigation after receiving numerous complaints about one of Emmerdale's latest storylines.  According to Digital Spy almost 50 viewers contacted the broadcasting regulator after scenes of an upsetting nature were shown pre-watershed on Thursday evening without a warning from ITV. The scenes included an incident in which Alicia Metcalfe (Natalie Anderson) was sexually assaulted by Lachlan White (Thomas Atkinson). Lachlan developed an unhealthy obsession with Alicia. Ofcom are said to be in the process of assessing the complaints and may launch an investigation into the matter. Speaking about the decision to do this storyline, producer Kate Oates said: “It’s obviously a challenging thing to explore at 7.00pm, so it certainly wasn’t an easy thing to do but I’m glad that we’ve been able to approach it.” She added: “It was difficult to get the right tone. We worked really hard with compliance and with the writers. We also talked to Natalie about what she was comfortable with.”