Viewers complain over Emmerdale suicide plot

The watchdog said it had received a handful of complaints about the soap’s plot, which saw tetraplegic character Jackson Walsh take his own life after being given a cocktail of drugs by his lover.

The dramatic scenes were shown on ITV1 at around 7.30pm, well before the 9pm watershed.

Ofcom will assess whether the scenes may potentially have breached any harm and offence rules. No decisions will be made until the storyline concludes.

Scenes of a real assisted suicide have previously been cleared by the regulator when screened in a Sky documentary in 2008.

Viewers have seen Emmerdale character Jackson struggling to come to terms with his paralysis following an accident and choosing to die.

Actor Marc Silcock, who played the character, said that programme-makers had ensured the death was not glorified.

He said of the scenes: “We ensured it wasn’t beautiful - it is horrific, because it’s a horrific thing.

“Some people might have liked to have seen soft music in the background and for Jackson to slowly drift off to sleep. But that’s not reality and not what happens. We didn’t want to glorify it for one second.”