Emmerdale fans ‘complain to Ofcom’ as iconic character is ‘killed off’ in brutal scenes
Emmerdale fans have been left swearing they’ll never watch the ITV soap again after a truly graphic scene involving abuser Tom King – they say it went ‘too far’
Emmerdale fans have sworn they’ll complain to Ofcom over brutal scenes in last night’s episode, which saw one iconic character ‘killed off’.
On Monday, May 27, abuser Tom King was seen approaching the pet dog he shares with wife Belle with a needle, after Belle was admitted to a mental health unit. He spoke to Piper at home, asking her if she was missing her mum and asking: “You want her back just as much as I do?”
He proceeded to tell Piper: “This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you,” before chuckling and admitting: “Well, maybe not.”
Though it hasn’t been confirmed yet whether the shot put Piper to sleep, fans were baulking at the mere idea of showing harm towards an animal on screen. Despite soap bosses promising no harm had come to the animal actor, fans weren’t having any of it.
But that didn’t help viewers, one of whom fumed: “You shouldn’t show such disturbing scenes, the human abuse is bad enough, needs to be over ASAP.” Somebody else said: “First time ever I had to turn off Emmerdale, it’s hard to watch.”
Somebody else went as far as to write: “Whoever wrote this scene should be sacked immediately. There is no need to be showing animal cruelty in an early evening soap opera. You should be ashamed of yourself ITV. You can await many complaints to Ofcom.”
A fourth viewer appealed to the broadcasting watchdog directly, tweeting: “Unfortunately @emmerdale gone too far with this storyline now, not acceptable screening at such time in the evening without any on screen warning at all. Utter shocked this was accepted as part of the script and story! @Ofcom please investigate I’m sure many will complain.”
It comes after fans spotted a huge blunder when Belle finally escaped her abusive husband, making a call to her mental health crisis team – who turned up immediately. Fans were quick to point out that in reality, it would take a lot longer.
One X user said: “You’ll be lucky to get a mental health assessment in 6 months time. Belle is packed off to a crisis centre within 6 minutes.” Another agreed: “Ain’t no f***ing way crisis team turned up that quick, keep it real and give Belle a 2-minute phone call.”