Actress Sally Phillips, 51, best-known for starring in the Bridget Jones films as well as the shows Miranda and I’m Alan Partridge, has slammed an upcoming Emmerdale storyline in which a baby is aborted because it has Down’s Syndrome.

Describing the plot as “at best poorly informed and thoughtless, and at worst irresponsible”, Sally Phillips said that the ITV soap was inflicting “unnecessary hurt to a group of individuals”, including her son.

The actress, who has a 16-year-old son with Down’s Syndrome, said: “The use of a Down syndrome diagnosis brings unnecessary hurt to a group of individuals, many of whom watch and enjoy the show precisely because there is a character with Down syndrome.”

Her comments follow a broader outcry about the Emmerdale storyline, with tens of thousands of people signing a petition to “bin” it, as reported by SPUC. So far, over 26,000 have signed the petition online.

Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, has also written to the chief executive of ITV, Carolynn McCall, on behalf of his constituents and the Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association, calling on the channel to drop the storyline.

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “It is important that such prominent figures as Sally Phillips lend their voice to the gathering outcry regarding Emmerdale’s troubling storyline. Phillips, whose son Olly has Down’s Syndrome, has first-hand experience of the disability and knows that such children as her son deserve better than to have their condition demonised.”

Similar stories

Over 20,000 people sign petition to “bin” Emmerdale Down’s Syndrome storyline

Emmerdale promotes eugenic abortion in new episodes as unborn baby is killed for having Down’s syndrome

Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan urges ITV to drop “damaging” Down Syndrome storyline