Corrie kidnap axed

[alan1254]

Coronation Street bosses ditched a storyline about a snatched baby over similarities with the real-life hunt for Madeleine McCann, it has emerged.


Producers on the top-rated show axed their main summer plot over fears it too closely echoed the kidnap of toddler Madeleine in Portugal.

The Corrie plot had featured the kidnap of baby Freddie Peacock following a fire on the famous cobbled street
Freddie was snatched from his bedroom in circumstances that bear chilling similarities with the actual kidnapping of Kate and Gerry McCann`s three-year-old daughter in Portugal.

Scenes from the forthcoming episodes featured the character`s mother, Claire, at press conferences clutching her baby`s teddy.

Later she handed out photos of the missing child to other Street residents and appealed for their help in tracing Freddie.

The story had been due to run for four months and actors had already been filming for two weeks.

Producers took the decision to axe the entire plotline after photos of Madeleine`s mother holding her daughter`s favourite cuddly toy were "disturbingly" close to the sequences already filmed.

Scriptwriters were now frantically working to change the story, which had been due to hit the screens from May 21.

A Coronation Street spokeswoman said: "We are aware that there are some similarities in a future Coronation Street storyline to the events surrounding the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.

"We would not wish to add to the family`s anguish at this terrible time and we are currently reviewing our storyline including episodes which have already been filmed.

"There were some quite disturbing similarities to the situation in Portugal and we didn`t want to add to the torment of Madeleine`s parents.

"There were differences, too, but we took the view that it was just too close to the situation in Portugal."

Producers contacted television listings magazines yesterday to warn them that photos of the forthcoming scenes should not be used as the plotline had been dropped.

In the soap, baby Freddie is the son of butcher Ashley Peacock (Steven Arnold) and wife Claire, played by Julia Haworth.

[pirtybirdy]

Thank God. That would have been a boring storyline.

[alan1254]

that was what struck me and it was going to 'run for four months' someimes they dont know when to end something and move on.