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"Ronnie swaps her baby for Kat's", also called "Baby swap", is a storyline from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, that began in December 2010. The storyline saw characters Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) and Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) both give birth in the same episode, but in the following episode, Ronnie's son, James, dies of sudden infant death syndrome and she secretly swaps him with Kat's son, Tommy.

Plot

James Branning, the son of Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) and Jack Branning (Scott Maslen), and Tommy Moon, the son of Kat Moon (Jessie Wallace) and Michael Moon (Steve John Shepherd), are born on screen on 30 December 2010. In the following episode, Kat is taken to hospital and leaves her father Charlie Slater (Derek Martin) to look after him. However, Charlie joins a party downstairs in The Queen Victoria public house. Meanwhile, Ronnie discovers that James has died of sudden infant death syndrome and desperately tries to get help. When she hears Tommy crying, she sneaks into The Queen Victoria and swaps the children. Ronnie soon regrets her actions but by the time she decides to swap them back, James has been found by his step father Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) and Jack has returned to the country and meets Tommy, thinking he is James. When Kat sees the baby in hospital, she refuses to believe it is Tommy as he looks different, but Alfie convinces her it is because he has died. Alfie comforts Kat by saying he was with Tommy when he died. When a midwife visits Ronnie, she is surprised at how quickly James's club foot appears to have gone. Ronnie is denied access to the funeral by Kat but goes anyway, hiding behind a tree. She later realises she has to put an end to the situation and takes Tommy back to Kat during the wake. Ronnie's attempts to explain that the baby is Tommy are all misunderstood and Kat demands that the baby be taken away from her.

Ronnie finds out that Michael is Tommy's real father and tries to keep him away from the baby, especially when he and Jack go into business together. She asks her cousin Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) to get rid of Michael but it is not permanent. Michael demands to know why Ronnie dislikes him, and she says he will never understand why, but then lies that it is because he did not support Kat and Alfie. Ronnie tries to tell her sister Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) that James is actually Tommy, and then, unable to cope, leaves Walford. When Jack and Roxy track her down, she says that it is wrong that the baby does not cry. Jack brings her back to Walford, where she continues to care for Tommy but starts behaving erratically. She later returns to the hospital where she gave birth, meets her midwife, Diane McLean (Hannah Kew), and sees the bed where James lay, and realises she has to give Tommy back to Kat immediately. She tells Jack that the baby is not his son, and then explains to Kat what happened on the night James died. Kat refuses to believe it but takes Tommy, while Ronnie hands herself into the police. Jack says an emotion goodbye the next day as he hands Tommy over to social services. Alfie is interviewed by a social worker, but Kat leaves the hospital unable to cope. However, Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) tells Kat that it is a miracle that Tommy is alive, so Kat returns to the hospital to be interviewed, and they are reunited with Tommy.

Background

In September 2010, Richie teased an upcoming storyline involving Alfie and Kat. Although he gave no details of the plot, he said that when he was offered the chance to return to the show to reprise his role as Alfie, he was informed of the storyline, which would be ongoing for "the best part of a year or maybe two years." He said it would be "the biggest soap story in probably the history of soaps," and that he and Wallace were excited to be involved. On 11 November 2010, details of the upcoming storyline were revealed by the BBC.

Executive producer Bryan Kirkwood said of the baby swap storyline: "This story built on the rich history both characters have built up over the years and the story team have worked hard to make this convincing and powerful. Although EastEnders is a fictional drama we have, of course, taken great care to thoroughly research this storyline, which will reflect a issue close to the hearts of some of our audience. We're fortunate to have two wonderful actresses, Jessie Wallace and Samantha Womack, who understand the need to portray such an emotive subject sensitively. Viewers will know that Ronnie has had a difficult past, losing both her daughter and father in the last couple of years. When she loses the one thing she's always wanted, she acts on impulse in a moment of sheer grief and desperation." Kirkwood later said the scenes would be believeable and the storyline bold and gritty. He confirmed that a maternity nurse had been consulted on what would happen in real life, saying the crew made sure the two babies were born in different circumstances. The baby swap scenes are balanced with scenes of celebration elsewhere, in order to show "a community with a lot of love" in the hope it would "counter the inevitable darkness of this story."

Filming

It was reported by The Sun that during filming, the cast and crew were so overcome with emotion that filming had to be stopped for an hour. Womack said she could not stop crying and could not switch off after returning home at the end of filming. She explained that the scenes were difficult to play as she is a mother herself and said she "genuinely didn't enjoy doing it."

An expensive silicone doll was used for the baby but it was so lifelike that it upset many people on set. Womack said that when When Ronnie finds the child dead, she is "rambling" so a lot of the scene was unscripted. Ronnie goes to her mother's house and screams "Mummy!", another scene that affected many cast and crew members. Derek Martin, who plays Charlie Slater, said that filming the scenes was "exceptionally heavy going", adding "It was traumatic for everyone involved because we are all parents. [...] It felt like emotion was pouring out of my mouth."

It was reported on 24 December that several scenes had been edited prior to the broadcast. Shots of Ronnie touching James's cold hand were reportedly edited out and the sound of Tommy crying was toned down. A scene showing Kat in blood-soaked pyjamas after haemorrhaging was also edited.

The baby's funeral was filmed on 20 November 2010, at a graveyard in north London. Some scenes from the funeral were cut, including Kat throwing a toy into the grave and her clutching the coffin, images of which were already issued by the BBC as publicity shots, and a monologue from Ronnie. The scenes were replaced by scenes featuring the character Jodie Gold (Kylie Babbington) and her previously unseen friend Poppy Meadow (Rachel Bright). A spokeswoman for EastEnders confirmed that the scenes had been edited following viewers' strong response to the story, but said that no complete scenes were removed, and explained: "Given the audience response to this storyline, we felt on this occasion that it was appropriate to respond and make some changes. The vast majority of material remains intact and we don't believe that those trims we have made will weaken or detract from the overall storyline for viewers."

Womack filmed scenes for another part of the storyline at St James' Church in Bushey in January 2011.

The conclusion to the storyline, where Ronnie returns Tommy to Kat, was filmed during the week begining 28 February 2011, and Wallace and Richie were seen filming inside a hospital.

Reception

Ratings

The births of Tommy and James on 30 December 2010 drew 10.61 million viewers, a 38.6 percent audience share. Viewership for the New Year's Eve episode, in which James died, declined to 9.37 million and a 34.3 percent audience share. The swap itself aired outside the series' usual timeslot, on 1 January 2011. It was seen by 9.94 million viewers and attained a 31.5 share. In the week following the swap, ratings averaged 10.7 million, 300,000 above the series average. Viewership peaked at 11.42 million—EastEnders' highest rating since its first live episode in February 2010. The reveal episode, in which Ronnie gave Tommy back, attained 10.21 million viewers and a 42.8 percent share, the programme's best rating in three months.

Charities and advocacy groups

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) praised the storyline, and its director Joyce Epstein explained, "We are very grateful to EastEnders for their accurate depiction of the devastating effect that the sudden death of an infant can have on a family. We hope that this story will help raise the public's awareness of cot death, which claims 300 babies' lives each year."

Critical response

Prior to its broadcast, the scene where Ronnie swaps the children was called "powerful", while a reporter for the Daily Mail said it would be "harrowing". Roz Laws from the Sunday Mercury called the plot "shocking and ridiculous" and asked "are we really supposed to believe that Kat won’t recognise that the baby looks different?"

In December 2015, Carl Greenwood from the Daily Mirror said "James Branning dying and then being swapped for Tommy Moon was one of the most controversial soap death storylines ever to air on British television. When Ronnie Mitchell's son James died, it was heartbreaking but when the character swapped her son's clothes with Kat and Alfie's son Tommy's clothes and pretended Tommy had died, it took a disturbing twist."

Viewer response

The Daily Mail reported on 22 December that programme bosses at the BBC were preparing for a large number of complaints over the swap. By 4 January 2011, around 3,400 complaints had been received, with viewers branding the storyline "insensitive", "irresponsible" and "desperate". By 6 January, the number of complaints reached 6,000, including 374 complaints made to Ofcom. By 16 January, complaints reached a record 10,500.

Readers of Heat magazine's website, heatworld.com, branded the storyline "sad", "vile", "inappropriate", "daft" and "tasteless".

Viewers also complained after scenes were cut from Tommy's funeral, who felt the episode was "clunky and half-finished, and insulting to those who'd already endured the storyline to date."

Response to complaints

It was reported on 6 January 2011 that Ofcom were unlikely to launch an official investigation, with a spokesperson saying: "We assess whether programmes have gone against the Broadcasting Code. At the moment, we don't think that's the case. The clause it might go against would be 'general harm and offence'."

Bryan Kirkwood defended the storyline, explaining that viewers had been made aware of the storyline in advance, and that action line numbers were included after the episodes.

Award nominations

In February 2011, the storyline was nominated in the Soap Bubble Awards under the name of 'baby swap', in the category 'Best Baby Drama'. In May, it was nominated for 'Best Storyine' at the 2011 British Soap Awards, under the title "Ronnie swaps her baby for Kat's".

References

Category:EastEnders storylines Category:2010 in British television Category:2011 in British television Category:2011 controversies