TV soaps need more trigger warnings, not less

Soaps are here to make us feel things – a warning won’t change that (Picture: Lime Pictures/ITV/Metro.co.uk)

This article contains discussion on difficult subject matters including medical traumas, violence and suicide that some may wish to avoid

There has been a lot of discourse around trigger warnings on TV of late, with many pearl-clutchers decrying them entirely, exclaiming that they effectively ruin the shows.

It’s a discussion that is becoming more and more tiresome, not least of all because applying simple warnings will do nothing to dilute enjoyment, and this is true especially of soaps like Coronation Street and EastEnders.

Viewers tune in to feel things, and a minor heads up won’t change that.

Fact is, soaps should take care to include trigger warnings for the huge array of sensitive content they bravely tackle, like medical scenes, violence, and suicide. These warnings are crucial for viewers with a too-close, emotional, staring-you-right-in-the-face experience of these issues.

I have a phobia of people touching my head. I instinctively recoil, push away, pull back. Because I had a stroke I don’t remember having.

That kind of trauma stays with you, so, given how it would impact me to see this type or ordeal explicitly shown on screen, I know full well that trigger warnings are essential  — they are also often hidden, unobtrusive and easily ignored, simply meant to protect those who have personal experience skin in the game.

However, those who support trigger warnings are often criticised as being ‘woke’ or ‘snowflakey.’ It’s a perspective frequently held by individuals who haven’t experienced the gut-wrenching realities they invalidate, who’ve never had to get too close.

A Hollyoaks scene saw Zain suffer a stroke, and was both difficult and uneasy (Picture: Lime Picture)

But it doesn’t have to be about big responses and divisive ideas; it should be about the small truths.

I was a baby when I had my stroke. I don’t recall the agonising seconds of it, the moments when my brain fell and had to be rebuilt up, up and up, never quite the same again.

It’s a process that has and will continue for the rest of my life, having been left with forgotten and un-sayable words and three much weaker limbs.

I ache for the baby who endured that, all alone, unnoticed by anyone. The thought still causes bile to rise in my throat, and the pain remains.

There’s a vulnerability and fragility in not remembering, a distant sense of grief. I had a stroke in the earliest moments of my life. In one sense, the experience doesn’t entirely feel like it belongs to me; yet, in another, it feels overwhelmingly and achingly my own.

It doesn’t get more personal, more fraught, muddier than that. As I witnessed the Hollyoaks character Zain Rizwaan’s (Jonas Khan) poignant, panicked stroke scene unravel unexpectedly, I felt that profound ache, that pang. It caught the breath in my lungs; my muscles tensed.

Trigger warnings aren’t solely about significant reactions or triggering profound traumas, though that is the most essential part.

They’re also about those moments that make you go, ‘Oh,’ when you look at the screen and see something that slightly unsettles you or hits the rawest nerve.

Adding a warning to avoid that bitter moment wouldn’t change the content—it wouldn’t stop people from feeling things.

Nothing has changed in a show if a simple note of caution is stapled on. After all, these issues are never pretty, and we must get close to them and be comfortable with them.

But as people impacted by these storylines, we also deserve to be thoughtful about how we consume the media, which confronts us with the truths and untruths of our experiences—we deserve to be able to pull back.

A trigger warning may not shield us from feelings of surprise, sadness, or any other emotion, and sometimes avoiding such reactions is unnecessary. Soaps can serve as a release for the complex emotions we experience in life.

I witnessed Emmerdale’s Marlon Dingle (played by Mark Charnock) have a stroke, and it was cathartic, safe played out on the face of a character I have known my whole life.

Marlon’s story was pre-announced and carried trigger warnings and is one of the most poignant representations of a stroke portrayed on TV (Picture: ITV)

I was in control of it, able to pause, watch through my fingers, hide behind a cushion if I chose—to have that moment, exist in it, think in it and ponder my own blank experience.

Had I not had the fore-warning from trigger warnings and ITV press releasing the storyline in advance, my reaction may have been a lot different.

It’s also not about undercutting the value or purpose of soap — to entertain, educate, tell us about, and show us hard, ordinary truths. I am thrilled that Hollyoaks is tackling the issue. After all, this intensely personal experience of mine is not so personal. Around 100,000 people have a stroke each year.

Moreover, these are often the most impactful storylines that linger in the public consciousness, refusing to be shrugged off.

Scenes of violence and abuse will inevitably be hard to watch for many – and there should be the chance to prepare or avoid (Picture: BBC)

While fictionalised versions of these events may feature characters in different stages of life and circumstances, the underlying feeling of their closeness to reality remains: what could’ve been, what might’ve been, and what ought to have been.

There is something that pulls you in, nags at you, burrows under your skin.

Throughout the history of soaps, there have been compelling narratives that have captivated audiences. From the heart-wrenching aftermath of Aidan Connor’s (Shayne Ward) suicide to Seb Franklin’s (Harry Visinoni)  tragic and brutal murder driven by hate and the unrestrained exploration of Hayley Cropper’s (Julie Hesmondhalgh) assisted death, these Coronation Street stories have left a lasting impression on viewers and should also have trigger warnings.

With 1 in 2 people affected by cancer, Hayley’s story will have been very triggering for so many (Picture: ITV)

Aidan’s story in Corrie changed lives – and was thankfully sign-posted in advance (Picture: ITV)

They should also be present when addressing other sensitive topics like domestic violence, as seen in Maureen “Little Mo” Slater’s (Kacey Ainsworth) storyline in EastEnders, and the impactful portrayal of Luke Morgan’s (Gary Lucy) male rape by Hollyoaks, which was explored over decades, these narratives are about real-world issues. That fleshed-out reality helps bring the storylines to life and makes them relatable.

Prompting viewers to reflect on their reactions if confronted with similar circumstances, educating them, and raising awareness are designed to elicit a strong emotional response.

But we should also acknowledge that these fictionalised, dramatic things can do damage when they look just enough like a traumatic event a viewer has experienced around the edges when it can mimic the sounds, sensations, or tastes of their memories.

It’s difficult for the unaffected to keep in mind and understand that brutal reality, but that doesn’t mean it can be dismissed.  We know the power these plots have always had on changing and affecting minds—trigger warnings are just a natural response.

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