It’s not exactly unusual for Coronation Street battleaxe Evelyn Plummer (Maureen Lipman) to be seen dishing out scathing and poisonous remarks – such is the nature of her character – but some viewers of the soap reckon a recent line overstepped the mark.
Ofcom is ‘assessing whether it will investigate’ after it received 50 complaints over a remark Evelyn made in a scene which went unchallenged by other characters. She was discussing the recent birth of Gemma Winter’s (Dolly Rose Campbell) quadruplets and appeared to turn her nose up at IVF while doing so.
She said: ‘I’m quite surprised it made the paper ‘cos you can’t move for twins and triplets these days. At least she did it the old-fashioned way and not through, what’s it, IVF.’
A number of complainants on Twitter pointed out that the line lacked sensitivity to couples struggling to conceive, particularly as the scene was aired during Fertility Awareness Week.
‘I’d have hoped the researchers would have taken the time to understand the emotional roller coaster couples are on when facing the fact the only way to start a family is through IVF.’
On the other hand, it could also be argued that Evelyn is well known for her cutting and non-PC remarks and, as one of Corrie’s more flawed characters, it is within her nature to say something uneducated like that; but it doesn’t make her right.
However, the fact that no-one in the scene pulled her up on her comment could well be a key issue.
Metro.co.uk has reached out to Coronation Street spokespersons for comment.
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