THERE has been a strong reaction this week to a story in EastEnders in which a young mother, on finding her baby dead, switches it with the living baby of a friend.

Quite strong stuff. The stuff of drama, and not just any drama, but a soap.

I don’t think that EastEnders has any pretension to be a modern Play for Today in airing sensitive and powerful issues in a drama documentary way. It is a soap opera.

The trouble is, however, that many viewers become so used to seeing the characters in their living rooms that realities can become blurred. Just read the comments about the programme claiming that it depicts ‘real life’ in a gritty and truthful way. No it doesn’t. Real life doesn’t have dramatic events every half hour. EastEnders is as close to the real life in an east London square as Midsomer Murders is to the life of a West Country village.

Any human tragedy shown in a television programme is bound to stir up an emotional response to someone who has endured similar events. Imagine seeing an episode of a police drama immediately after you have lost a loved one in similar circumstances to those depicted on the screen.

My wife and I lost our first child, a son, to cot death in 1983. I wouldn’t want to watch this storyline even now and I can only imagine how recently bereaved parents would feel. But I would suggest that that is no reason not to include subjects like cot death in plays or television programmes. It can even be an opportunity to stimulate debate and raise the issue publicly. Of course, that is not the intention of the broadcasters. They are making television programmes and hope to increase ratings through sensational story lines.

The help they offer via phone numbers at the end of the programme is a consequence of the anticipated effect the programme may have, not their motivation for making it.

From what I’ve read about this particular treatment of the subject, my main concern would be that anyone should for a second consider that real mothers whose children have died suddenly and unexpectedly might conceivably then behave in the way that the character in EastEnders has.

I sincerely hope that the programme makers will take their responsibility to real parents whose babies have died as seriously as they do the drive to attract more viewers.