BBC responds to disgusted EastEnders fans’ complaints over ‘sick’ rape storyline

The BBC has responded to the EastEnders fans who recently expressed their opinion on Dean Wicks (Matt Di Angelo) blackmailing Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) over her rape, which occurred back in 2014.

Shortly after Dean returned to Walford, he was sent to hospital when George Knight (Colin Salmon) pushed him down the stairs.

After confronting Dean at hospital, Linda gave into his demand that she tell everyone she lied about being raped, after he threatened to tell the police about George attacking him.

Following the scenes – that aired at the end of November – a number of viewers took to social media to reveal that they were ‘disgusted’ by the development that saw Dean record Linda as she lied that she had wanted to have sex with him that night, and had said she was raped because she was scared of husband Mick’s reaction.

While some revealed that they couldn’t bear to watch the scenes, others expressed their concerns for how this storyline would affect real life survivors of rape and sexual assault, pointing out that it sets the wrong impression.

Last week (December 6), the BBC shared a statement in response to this part of Linda and Dean’s plot and the reaction from fans.

The summary read: ‘We received complaints from viewers who had concerns that Linda was blackmailed into falsely retracting a rape allegation.’

The response from the broadcaster stated: ‘EastEnders is a fictional drama that has a rich history of tackling sensitive issues and Linda’s story is one of these. Since Linda’s rape storyline aired in September 2014, viewers have been aware that Dean has never admitted his guilt.

‘Whilst dramas often portray situations that may not be the same as real life, we believe our audience know to expect such storylines and, we are also confident that regular EastEnders viewers will be aware that these scenes will form part of a bigger storyline where the issue will be tackled again.’

Linda will play a huge part in this year’s Christmas Day episode, with the beloved character being a member of The Six – the group of women who will be in the pub when a dead body is discovered.

The other members of the six are Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal), Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth), Stacey Slater (Lacey Turner), Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) and Denise Fox (Diane Parish), with the list of male victims potentially being confirmed as: Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), Keanu Taylor (Danny Walters), Dean, Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden), Ravi Gulati (Aaron Thiara), Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) and Rocky (Brian Conley).