Ofcom receives 47 complaints following Emmerdale's sexual assault storyline
A DARK storyline in Emmerdale has prompted several viewers to make complaints to Ofcom, it's been revealed.
Thursday night's episode of Emmerdale featured a rather dark storyline
Thursday night's episode of the ITV soap saw Natalie Anderson's character Alicia Metcalfe sexually assaulted by teenager Lachlan White, played by Thomas Atkinson.
And despite fans of the show being told that the episode included 'distressing scenes' before it was shown, many were still angered by what they saw.
The episode had been brought forward to the earlier time of 6.45pm because of Europa League football, so perhaps some felt it was too early to show such scenes.
"Ofcom has received 47 complaints regarding Emmerdale on ITV yesterday. We are assessing these before deciding whether to investigate or not," an Ofcom spokesman said.
Ofcom received 47 complaints after teen Lachian White assaulted Alicia
Ofcom has received 47 complaints regarding Emmerdale on ITV yesterday. We are assessing these before deciding whether to investigate or not
However, an Emmerdale spokeswoman defended the storyline and explained: "Lachlan is a very troubled teenager and his assault upon Alicia is the beginning of a very dark storyline for his character.
"We thoroughly researched this aspect of the plot and the drama was intentionally implicit rather than explicit."
The news comes after Ofcom cleared the BBC of breaching broadcasting rules with a controversial rape storyline in EastEnders just last month.
More than 90 people wrote to Ofcom to voice concerns about the scene, shown back in October, in which Queen Vic landlady Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) was attacked by Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo).
Viewers saw the teenager gift Alicia with a designer handbag in Wednesday's episode