The latest instalment of ‘Coronation Street’ sparked more than 80 complaints to Ofcom, from viewers who were unhappy with Billy Mayhew’s descent into heroin addiction.
The episode, which aired on Monday (26 February), saw Billy take the drug for the first time, with his brother Lee, after weeks of abusing methadone.
And while the pair were not shown taking the heroin, one scene saw them slumped against the pews in church after doing so:
The scenes were shown during the latter half of the night’s second episode, which aired on ITV from 8.30pm to 9pm.
Ofcom has now confirmed that 84 people have made official complaints and, as is standard procedure, they’ll be assessing the complaints before deciding whether to investigate.
Many fans also took to Twitter, with mixed views on the storyline:
In response, a ‘Coronation Street’ spokesperson told The Sun: “‘Coronation Street’ has a strong tradition of tackling serious contemporary issues in a responsible way.
“In upcoming episodes we will be showing the very negative side of drug taking as Billy’s life starts to fall apart.”
In the past two years, ‘Corrie’ has tackled a number of dark storylines and the fallout from Bethany Platt’s grooming storyline is still ongoing.
Pat Phelan’s murderous ways have also seen the soap take plenty of grisly twists and turns, with one episode - that featured a double murder - dividing fans and sparking complaints.