Emmerdale delighted fans last night by picking up the Best Soap and Continuing drama gong at this year’s BAFTAs.
But show boss, Iain MacLeod, threw a dark cloud over their victory by making a throwaway comment that offended viewers.
As the cast and crew took to the stage to collect the award, which the soap beat Hollyoaks, EastEnders and Casualty to win, Iain walked to the podium to do the thank yous.
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He was joined on stage by cast including Lucy Pargeter (Chas Dingle), Danny Miller (Aaron Dingle), Natalie J Wood (Moira Dingle) and John Middleton (Ashley Thomas).
Iain began his acceptance speech with a joke about his wife. He quipped:
“Hi, I’m sorry it’s not one of the attractive, famous people doing this, but my wife told me if I didn’t do it, then she’d slap me about a bit, so, she’s more my boss than anyone else.”
Although he went on to thank ITV, BAFTA, and fans of the soap for the recognition, viewers at home were less than impressed with the ill-taste joke.
Lashing out on Twitter one said: “Have to say rather unfunny and inappropriate start to the speech by the Emmerdale bloke #BAFTA2017 do not make light of domestic violence.”
While another added: “Get in! Well done Emmerdale. Could have done without the bloke joking about domestic abuse.”
And a third said: “Yes Emmerdale. Domestic violence joke. Hilarious.”
It continued as another user wrote: “Did he seriously just make a domestic abuse joke?”
With others suggesting he was “belittling domestic abuse” and saying the joke was “disgusting”.
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Emmerdale have a strong history of tackling issues like violence and their most recent storyline has seen Rhona Goskirk raped by her husband Pierce Harris, who has been subjecting her to controlling and manipulative behaviour for months.
While some viewers suggested the scenes were too much for a 7pm slot, Iain insisted it was a careful and accurate portrayal of a story that needed to be told.
The soap has been praised recently for it’s brilliant storylines. As well as the Rhona plot, the recent passing away of Ashley Thomas after his battle with dementia had fans in tears.
We think the award was very well deserved.