Emmerdale accused of losing plot!

Emmerdale was under fire today after showing a tetraplegic character take his own life in an assisted suicide before the watershed. An estimated 7.2 million viewers watched as gay Character Jackson Walsh consumed a cocktail of drugs given to him by his gay lover, Aaron Livesy. TV Regulator Ofcom have confirmed they were investigating after a number of viewers said they were offended by the storyline.

The show was blasted by charities and a tetraplegic man who rebuilt his life following a swimming pool accident.

The dramatic scenes were shown on ITV1 at around 7.30pm, well before the 9pm watershed and were seen by an estimated 7.2million viewers. Ofcom have said they will assess whether the scenes may have breached any harm and offence rules. No decisions will be made until the storyline reaches its conclusion.

Viewers have seen Jackson struggling to come to terms with his paralysis following an accident and choosing to die.

Actor Marc Silcock, who played the character, said that programme-makers had ensured the death was not glorified.

He said of the scenes: 'We ensured it wasn't beautiful - it is horrific, because it's a horrific thing.

'Some people might have liked to have seen soft music in the background and for Jackson to slowly drift off to sleep. But that's not reality and not what happens. We didn't want to glorify it for one second.'

A spokesman for Emmerdale said: 'We have always made clear that our motivation with this story is to drive constructive debate over this sensitive subject. 'We welcome feedback and 99 per cent of the response we have had from viewers following last night's episode has been overwhelmingly positive.'