Altman: 'EastEnders row was extreme'

Former EastEnders star John Altman has admitted that he was surprised by the "extreme" reaction to the soap's baby swap storyline.

The BBC show sparked a record number of complaints last month after screening scenes which saw Ronnie Branning (Samantha Womack) switch her dead son James with Kat Moon's newborn child Tommy.

Reflecting on the controversy, Altman - who played Walford bad boy Nick Cotton - told PA: "I felt it was all a bit odd; maybe it was something that was blown out of all proportion.

"It gathered momentum in the media - a thousand people complain, a few other people decide to join in, and before you know it, you've got 10,000."

He continued: "It seems a bit over the top to me for the public to be dictating what kind of storyline you're going to do - I think [the producers] probably should have ridden over it a bit. But it's up to the boys at the top, it's not up to me. I thought it was an extreme reaction."

The plotline will come to an end on screen in April.