EastEnders bosses come under fire for ‘sick’ pregnancy storyline of schoolgirl aged just 12
Ronnie bosses come under fire for ‘sick’ pregnancy storyline of schoolgirl aged just 12 – as campaign groups defend soap for showing ‘real-life drama’
- Teens captivated by storyline where Lily Slater discovers she’s pregnant
- Her mother encourages Lily to keep the baby, but father’s parents want an abortion
The BBC has been criticized for screening a ‘sick’ EastEnders plot about a girl who becomes pregnant at the age of 12.
Teens have been gripped by the storyline where Lily Slater discovers she’s pregnant and decides to have the baby — with millions of clips on the social media app TikTok.
In the soap, Lily’s mother Stacey, played by Lacey Turner, encourages the schoolgirl to keep her baby, while the parents of the father – who is also 12 – try to get her to have an abortion.
Lily, played by Lillia Turner, agrees to be fired, but changes her mind just before being admitted to hospital.
Sources close to EastEnders say the dramatic scenes will continue with the youngster having the baby.
EastEnders schoolgirl Lily Slater, 12, with her mother Stacey
Lily with Ricky Mitchell, the 12-year-old father of her baby
However, one TikTok user said, “Twelve is just too young, it’s sick. Although teenage pregnancies are well known, the number of pre-teen pregnancies in the UK each year can probably be counted on one hand.’
Another critic posted: ‘Children having children’, while a third added: ‘Lily Slater is 12 – why isn’t EastEnders forcing her to have an abortion?’
More than 1.4 million people watched a scene on TikTok of Lily’s baby scan, with some viewers even watching from New Zealand.
Young fans were also fascinated to find out who the father was, with over a million views of Lily revealing that it was Ricky Mitchell, who is played by teen actor Frankie Day.
The BBC has put the episodes on the iPlayer service at 9am on the day they are shown instead of waiting for their terrestrial TV slots in the evening.
A parent told The Mail on Sunday how her son and a group of his friends skipped classes to watch episodes of the drama in the school toilets.
While many viewers criticized the idea of Lily keeping her baby, Andrea Williams, CEO of campaign group Christian Concern, supported the BBC’s anti-termination stance.
She said, ‘EastEnders does real-life drama.
Lily’s choice isn’t just about her body, but the body of the baby she’s carrying — and it gets the nation thinking about that. Brilliant, profound, culture-shattering stuff.’
In 2000, Coronation Street, the soap’s ITV rival, came under scrutiny for scenes in which Sarah-Louise Platt, played by Tina O’Brien, became a mother at the age of 13.
The show’s bosses were forced to defend the plot and deny exploitation allegations.
They said: ‘It is a fact that Britain has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, and Coronation Street reflects that and tells the story of a young girl.’
In 2021, it was reported that an 11-year-old girl in Britain gave birth after becoming pregnant when she was ten. Britain’s youngest mother was previously Tressa Middleton, from Scotland, who had her baby in 2006 at the age of 12. But it was taken into her care after she admitted that it was conceived when she was raped by her brother, who was then in prison.