Emmerdale flooded with over 200 Ofcom complaints over 'uncomfortable' scenes

Ofcom has revealed that it received over 200 complaints from Emmerdale viewers last week over an episode which saw Vinny horrifically attacked.

The TV regulator revealed that the ITV soap was complained about 279 times during last Tuesday's broadcast. The episode saw Vinny face a homophobic attack from a man named Mike after connecting with online.

A spokesperson from Ofcom said: "Complaints objected to violent and sexual content before the watershed."

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After confiding in Mike about feeling confused about his sexuality, Mike assaulted Vinny and tried to blackmail him for £10,000 over his doubts.

Vinny, already tortured after developing feelings for his friend Kammy Hadiq (Shebz Miah) whilst being engaged to Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham), invited the man over after he thought they had connected over the issues that they had in common.

It all came as a confrontation saw Mike accuse Vinny of inviting him over just to sleep with him. But as it turned out, Mike was only after money and savagely beat Vinny before walking off with his and Gabby's wedding rings.

As Vinny lay on the floor, he realised that he had disclosed a whole host of sensitive information to this man about his inner turmoil. But some viewers were so shocked by what they had seen, they immediately flooded social media with their complaints.

One fan said: "I’ve fired off a complaint to Ofcom- disgusted with how what used to be a family show has morphed into something that seems to be trying to to show as much violence and depravity as it can squeeze into each programme. 7.30 is far too early to show this sort of muck."

Another ranted: "This storyline is disgusting, Vinny reaches out to a support group and gets a homophobe and blackmailer, what sort of message is that sending to anyone questioning their own sexuality and wanting to seek out help.", whilst a third slammed the storyline as a whole.

They said: "This storyline is disgusting, Vinny reaches out to a support group and gets a homophobe and blackmailer, what sort of message is that sending to anyone questioning their own sexuality and wanting to seek out help."

One viewer suggested that the bosses of the soap to call in a Hollywood director to take charge of action that takes place in the fictional Yorkshire village. They said: "Appalling, disgusting storyline. Why don't you just get Tarrantinoor Guy Ritchie to Direct. Vinny was a lovely character."

One viewer also agreed the scenes were 'shocking', and one suggested: "The 9pm watershed is just a gimmick. Before then, nothing with strong language is allowed to be broadcast. But seriously violent and disturbing scenes such as this are perfectly fine. I can only assume that violence is socially more acceptable than swearing. Disgraceful."

But other soap fans were quick to play down all the controversy, and reminded them that that tuning in was a completely free choice in the first place. They said: "You know that if people don't like what they're watching, then turn your tv over, miss the episode, these things happen in real life, pity it was Vinny getting pulverised, it should have been John, just saying. Great camaraderie with Manpreet and Ruby."

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter , Facebook, and Threads.

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