EastEnders violence makes one viewer 'physically sick' as dozens complain about gory episode

Thursday's episode, aired before the watershed at 7.30pm, featured the death of Jase Dyer at the hands of a criminal gang.

It showed the character, played by Stephen Lord, being attacked before depicting his body lying dead in a hospital.

Brutal: EastEnders character Jase Dyer was shown dead on a hospital bed in the episode

The BBC admitted viewers had complained that the broadcast featured too much violence.

One viewer, writing on the Points Of View message board on the BBC website, said:
'My wife was physically sick and my son of 13 was brought to tears.'

Around 130 people are reported to have complained.

But the corporation defended the soap opera, saying the violence was 'implied rather than explicit'.

Violent: The episode aired on Thursday was said to contain 'too much violence'

It said in a statement: 'Whilst we acknowledge that this was a particularly dramatic episode, we were very careful to make sure that any actual violence was implied rather than explicit, and it was made clear from the outset that Jase's life was in serious jeopardy.

'This was the climax of a long-running story involving Jase and his former 'firm', and we believe this was the outcome that many viewers would have been anticipating in the context of this storyline.

'Whilst issues of violence and knife-crime may be in the news currently, they were not glamorised or glorified in any way within this episode, rather we saw the devastating consequences of such actions and the clear message was that crime does not pay.

'We do appreciate that some viewers found the images of Jase's dead body uncomfortable; however, in trying to fully convey Jay's loss and depth of emotion, we felt it was necessary for viewers to see what he was seeing.

Graphic: The BBC defended the episode and insisted knife-crime and violence were not glamorised in it

'We understand that some viewers were upset, but we signalled the nature of the content of the episode through the pre-programme continuity announcement and billings.'

It is not the first time this year that viewers have reacted angrily to storylines in the popular soap.

In June, media watchdog Ofcom upheld complaints that scenes featuring character Max Branning being drugged and buried alive were unsuitable for the time they were aired.

The two episodes, shown in March, attracted more than 600 complaints from viewers and 116 people took the matter to the regulator.

Ofcom said the scenes had a 'seriously disturbing' element to them.

It had already ruled the show had breached TV rules in February, upholding complaints about scenes showing a gang attack in the Queen Vic pub which caused a woman to go into premature labour.

Controversial: The character 'Jase' was stabbed to death