Soap warned again over violence

TV watchdogs have criticised EastEnders for the second time in a year over the level of violence in the programme.

The Broadcasting Standards Commission upheld complaints from 31 viewers over an episode in which hardman Phil Mitchell attacked his nephew.

The BSC said that the "level of menace and violence shown in this episode and its repeat had exceeded that acceptable for a soap attracting a wide range of viewers and broadcast pre-watershed".

The watchdog attacked the soap last year for showing "intense, disturbing and protracted" domestic violence.

The long-running plot involving Little Mo Slater and her husband Trevor, which culminated in his death, has attracted the criticism of TV watchdogs in the past.

The Christmas Day episode of EastEnders in 2001 featured scenes showing Little Mo being forced to eat her dinner from the floor like a dog.

This was the culmination of a number of scenes which had shown Trevor humiliating and bullying his wife.