Coronation Street fans have expressed their disgust over a comment made by character Evelyn Plummer,who is played by Maureen Lipman.
Reports were made to Ofcom after Evelyn made a disrespectful remark about couples who conceive with the help of IVF.
The character remarked, “I’m quite surprised it made the paper ‘cos you can’t move for twins and triplets these days. At least she did it the old-fashioned way and not through, what’s it, IVF.’”
@ivffairness did anyone see Corrie last night - the character Evelyn said about a recent birth “at least they did it the old fashioned way and not IVF “- complained to director of Corrie , ITV and ofcom - IVF ain’t a choice / disgusted and will not watch Corrie again
— Justin Leigh (@justinleigh74) November 1, 2019
Over 50 complaints were made to Ofcom who are considering whether they’ll investigate the comment or not.
Numerous viewers took to Twitter to express their shock, especially as last week marked Fertility Awareness Week.
One wrote, “Shout out to all my #infertility warriors who are pissed off with the insensitive scripting on #coronationstreet tonight. #ITV shame on you, it's infertility awareness week NOT mock the infertiles!”
“Complained to director of Corrie , ITV and ofcom - IVF ain’t a choice / disgusted and will not watch Corrie again,” another stressed.
One added, “Bit of unnecessary IVF shaming on #Corrie tonight... folk don't turn to IVF because it's modern... it's because they want a family. Poor show.”
One woman said, “I don’t watch Corrie but can’t believe ITV and Coronation Street allowed such a ridiculous comment to be written and aired. As someone who has been through IVF, it certainly wasn’t my first option and I can only dream of being so lucky as to conceive naturally. Totally insensitive.”
We couldn’t agree more. There are so many people struggling to conceive and IVF may be the only way they can start a family. Insensitive comments about infertility are never okay.