Woman bombarded with calls and text messages after mobile number was shown on EastEnders
26th April 2010[/align]
A woman was plagued with almost 3,000 text messages and hundreds of calls after her mobile phone number was displayed on EastEnders. Yesterday the media regulator said Lisa Edwards had her privacy infringed by the BBC when it showed her details on the screen of a prop phone. The beautician complained after she was besieged with calls from strangers, including 'quite a few' obscene messages.
The incident happened on an episode last September when a message sent by Sam Mitchell, played by Danniella Westbrook, was shown close-up on screen for four seconds. Above the message were two further texts which had apparently been sent from Mrs Edwards's phone, showing her business mobile number. The 39-year-old mother of two from Alvechurch near Birmingham was then deluged with calls and texts, with several asking: 'Is that Sam from EastEnders?'
Mrs Edwards said: 'The calls just keep coming and I can't use my phone for my business. Most have been friendly but quite a few were obscene.' One of the texts said: 'Hi babe phoning for huge' while another read: 'Hi babe got your facial b'.
Ofcom said: 'We found that Mrs Edwards would not have expected her business mobile telephone number to appear on screen during an episode of a soap opera.' It added that it had led to a 'series of unwanted and abusive telephone calls and texts being received by Mrs Edwards, further added to after the repeat broadcast of the programme later that evening on BBC3'.
The BBC claimed the phone number had been shown by accident but had not been able to establish 'with any certainty' why it had happened. It suggested a network fault or a misdialled number may have been to blame. The corporation added it had since overhauled its procedures in relation to the use of mobile phones and phone numbers on screen. But it also said the number of calls and messages to Mrs Edwards's phone may have been inflated after she complained to the Sun newspaper about the incident and the number was clearly displayed in a screen grab published by the paper.
The BBC says it has apologised for the error.
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The disappointed look on her face is priceless - I wonder how many shots it took!
