I watched last nights's showdown between "Paedophile" Tony - Bianca and Witney her teenage daughter.

The dialogue was written out of a health education leaflet. The situation was very unreal.

Bianca made a speech about Tony being a Paedophile instead of "kicking off" as would normally happened in a situation where a 16 year old had basically stolen her man. Tony just walked out and in Eastenders the Police arrive less than 10 mins after they are called and arrest anyone on sight on sexual allegations without any evidence or even speaking to the victim.

In real life if a third party rang up and reported child abuse they are told unless the victim wants to make a statement there is nothing they can do. I know this because I have done it.

But is Child Abuse the Number One problem facing kids in the East End or in CHAV towns accross the UK ?

No - not really.

Why wasnt TONY made a heroin dealer - who used the Youth Club to turn sweet little 12 year olds into drug addled 14 year olds - who then go on the game ( The main number of children in abusive situations are because of Child Sex Slavery in the working classes ) ?

But the BBC does not want to show the REALITY of child abuse or the DRUG problem which blights even our smallest towns and cities. The problem which the MPs and the MEDIA sweeps under the carpet - and the POLICE allow to continue unchecked.

The drug situation is propped up by powerful rich people who often blackmail the Police with large wads of cash. That is another reason why Child Abuse is so often in the realest sense in the UK not dealt with.

Once again we come back to the CELEB or the DIRTY VICAR or the LOCAL TEACHER : easy soft targets and easy to smear ( after all they may have dealings with kids ) : so EASTENDERS use the local YOUTH CLUB LEADER and an unbelievable story of how a thick 16 year old can be persuaded she has a future with someone who is lets say violent ( he would never have passed a CRB check to work with kids I might add )

What we are fed by the BBC is a progamming that does not resemble the truth about life. That is fine for comedy and entertainment programmes - but the drama dept surely should not paper over the cracks in UK life.

Karen Matthews life is far more representative of the AVERAGE person living in our cities. She is the person that these dramas should use as an example of these serious issues.

The middle class white boys and girls who write Eastenders probably went to a decent University and have possibly never lived in an area like Walford. It really does show.

So lets hope that in 2009 EASTENDERS does what it used to in the 1980s - shine a light into the dark corners of the underbelly of society and in particular stops whitewashing the New Labour fantasy which it is at the moment presenting to us all.

excellent review BR !

as so often happens..when they make programs intending to highlight a specific problem in society it does more harm then good and re-inforces sterotypes.

Sounds like the sriptwriters didn't bother talking to people involced in real life events and did all their research in the newspaper library.

I've never watched Eastenders, but I have heard that it's never been a true reflection of real life.

On ITV3 was an episode of Touch of Frost where a stereotypical paedophile abducted a young boy from outside his school. Apparently, no child in the UK has ever been abducted from outside school by a stranger. This is another misrepresentation. The reality of most children being abused by family members is hardly confronted. They probably think it's too unsettling.

Can't say i'm really surprised to hear these kind of views on this forum. What i am surprised about is that some people have conveniently forgotten that this show went out at 7.30pm. As i'm sure most would agree, this is a sensitive subject that has to be dealt with appropriately with some consideration to younger viewers. BR this could not be more realistic within the realms of sensitive broadcasting laws. It certainly doesn't deserve the chareteristic sniping remarks that you are becoming accustomed to. In my opinion it was a superbly put together with the viewer inn mind. Not bad for a SOAP OPERA.

I agree that it is a sensative subject, in which case it should be dealt with accurately. Children, including my own, are fed a diet of paedophile scare stories and, if this subject must be covered at all, it is important they are given the truth rather than distortion. I'm amazed that anyone can think different.

Denise is right.

If an abused child was watching they will think that all they have to do is ring the Police and they will come within 10 mins and arrest the person - then they are seriously mistaken.

Just look at the facts from the Baby P and Child C and countless other examples where even when children have been abused they are RETURNED by the Police and Social Services into the CARE of the abuser. This happens in most cases that I have ever personally read about.

That is not a watershed problem - basically we need to see what would really happen. First the Police would have not stormed round the Square. They would have said - we dont have any resources tonight because we have loads of cars out dealing with Christmas disorder and parties. Can you call in the station tomorrow to report the crime and it will need the victim to come in themselves. The next step would be to interview the victim which would be fixed up. That would take another week or even month. Then the Police would decide whether to interview the alleged abuser.

Of course in Eastenders world this whole process took approx 90 seconds. The Police ran after the so called abuser.

This is the problem that GENUINELY ABUSED children face. They think they will get justice - when in fact justice is denied to them as much as it is to victims of false allegations. The whole system in a total mess. Just read the hundreds of "true" stories filling the shelves of the paperback sellers.

Until the BBC stops colluding with the Police and Government to hide the facts there will be no progress on such issues. Trust issues with adults are also challenged by such programmes. Kids are now frightened by anyone who may show them kindness - as Tony did to Lauren.....because that was not fully explained.

For instance does a Paedophile attack every child he/she comes into contact with ? If that was the case then I am sure we would see evidence for that.

The more I think about this episode the more I realise that it will have undermined good practice in schools and youth work who deal with these issues often on a weekly basis.

What struck me after watching was the potential for a storyline were someone is wrongly accused. It seems that Eastenders writers cover many issues through their storylines but, how about addressing a balance and have a character falsely accused? I cant think of this being done before although not being a massive fan of soaps, i could be wrong.

Angel wrote:
What struck me after watching was the potential for a storyline were someone is wrongly accused. It seems that Eastenders writers cover many issues through their storylines but, how about addressing a balance and have a character falsely accused? I cant think of this being done before although not being a massive fan of soaps, i could be wrong.

Well about ten years ago there was the storyline in Coronation Street that had Deidre jailed which resulted in a massive outcry with people displaying "FREE DEIDRE" posters and it was even mentioned in Parliament.

That really saddened and sickened me because here was everybody getting up in arms over a FICTIONAL CHARACTER. If the public showed the same concerns and support for those wrongly imprisoned and falsely accused maybe things would be a little different. The Deidre episode proves though that people can and do stand up in such a case BUT sadly that was all fictional and the real people who get that treatment generally get short shrift.

If East Enders want to be more "realistic" why not have a storyline where one of the characters gets chased by the Police for no reason climaxing in the police pumping several bullets into their brain at point blank range?

A few years ago The Bill had a story about a man wrongly accused of historic child abuse, where the accuser had been urged on by an over zealous psychologist who inspired false memories. I was beginning to believe the writers of The Bill were tackling this important issue well, but then they let themselves down by making the accused man reveal that he had committed abuse on another child in the past, so even though falsely accused on this occasion, he was an abuser anyway.

TV just doesn't seem to be able to confont the issue of false accusations. Even when a real case was headline news, and one BBC reporter said it was only the tip of the iceburg, the entire subject was dropped by the following day - never (it seems) to be mentioned again.

"There is no such thing as a false allegation or wrongful conviction!"

Repeat until believed. Any deviation from this view may result in dire consequences. (By order of J Smith?)

actually The Bill does often carry good story lines that reflect real life and they don't always show the cops in the best light or as always being right.

The entire programme is completely unrealistic JK. I used to work in the East End of London (Tower Hamlets area). 75% of my clients were Asian or black, every market stall was run by Asian people and any pub was not the kind of place you would want to go in.

Albert Square doesn't even have a mosque.

I liked the bit where Bianca took 3 long syllables to say "pee-dough-file" and Tiffany's face curled back in horror. My colleague's wife is a school teacher locally (south Yorkshire) and she says a third of the 12/13 year old girls are already sexually active with older boys or men. That's the reality of it

This is the problem everywhere.

Schools are handing out contraception from 11 years old.

According to most surveys 60% of 16 year olds have had sex - and very few have no sexual experiences by the "age of consent"

The question as asked on here before is what to do about this ?

In addition in poor neighbourhoods ( as mentioned in my original post ) maybe as many as 20% of teenage girls are in sex slavery to drugdealer boyfriends etc. who are inevitably in their late teens or 20s.

The TONY storyline was wrong - because it is very very very rare for a Youth Worker to be involved in sexual relationships with under age kids. When they break paedo rings it usually is lawyers - care workers - police who are involved. Teachers - Vicars and Youth Workers always get a bad press but rarely do people who "CARE" about kids actually do them harm - that is another manipulation by New Labour's media to actually make children feel more isolated.

I feel the Government and Police and media actually are encouraging child abuse through their policies. I would take a much harder line about the drug issues and schools should not be handing out contraception like sweeties.

I also feel very sorry for any child having to face a bombardment of sexual images via TV - films - games from the age of around 7 years old ( remember the pole dancing kits - the playboy undies etc ) and for them to try and make sense of it - especially if they live in sink estates and go to poor schools and are financially poor. Their only way to a flat/home of their own is to have a child as young as possible and the income that comes with it.

Eastenders is so unrealistic it has become almost a pantomime in the way it is treating issues. It has lost any grit it used to have. Real shame.

I don't think it fair to say that the storyline was WRONG. Even if it is " very, very, very rare" it happens and surely that is all that matters? An interesting point made in a TV review was that Tony was a shifty, creepy type. It would have been more believable if his character was the complete opposite. Good point.

There may have been children who are in abusive situations watching Eastenders.

What they saw was that the Police arrive in 10 mins and they arrest immediately and charge within 3 days.

Is this the reality ?

If it is not - and I would suggest that in most cases it can take months and even years for a case to be decided upon and evidence gathered that actually proves a crime - then how upset will a child be if they report a crime then find out that unlike Eastenders they may not even be believed and without any proof none of the things that happened in Eastenders take place.

It is a fairy story - which has a phone number at the end. In addition how many children who will misunderstand what actually was taking place - and misconstrue innocent things as abuse ? we never saw abuse taking place - it was just hinted at - and some kids really are naive about such things. Now they could be worried that their step dad or youth worker is nice to them !!!

I personally do not think a soap opera should try and cover something which it cant do - because of the watershed and because the real truth is too shocking.

The story did not work - and it showed up the limitations of a 7.30p.m soap opera.

Soap operas are for entertainment ? not to try and be part education. Leave the education to the experts. The reality of child abuse was only captured in one second in the whole thing - when Bianca threw up after realising what she had been told. In fact that is the first reaction - the second is to be almost physically be pinned down onto a bed by the shock and feel as if your head is being ripped off......they managed the first - but failed the second and by doing that and turning it into a "speech" totally missed the horror.

REAL child abuse is horrible and nasty and has no place on prime time TV in the name of entertainment. it has been turned into a spectator sport by our government and media - like a PANTO.

While we have people at the top of our Police and Judiciary who are involved in such things and in Social Services - we have no hope of stopping such things in society. Real abuse often goes unpunished and you can read about countless examples of Social Services failing abused kids if you look at news sites this week.

Sorry - it is too important a subject to take lightly. Lives are ruined both by real abuse AND BY false allegations. People's careers and reputations are ruined because the seriousness of such things has been undermined - now kids think it fun to make a false allegation or a financial incentive to someone who has failed in their career or life. There are even some who feign it now in order to get attention because they are suffering low self esteem and want to be a victim.

By making entertainment TV from such issues you encourage such things in my view and make the likelhood of real abuse easier for those real abusers out there.