Emmerdale has been hit with a wave of Ofcom complaints from viewers over a harrowing child kidnapping scene which saw April, 15, dangled over a ledge.

On last Thursday’s episode, April Windsor (Amelia Falangan) was abducted by notorious crime lady and boxing promoter Jade (Twinnie-Lee Moore) and her henchmen.

Bad boy Ross Barton (Mike Parr), who recently returned to the village, had been taking part in illegal boxing matches organised by Jade.

But when money from one of the latest fights went missing, Jade accused Ross of stealing it and kidnapped April in revenge.

Ross cares about April because she is the daughter of his former lover and corrupt policewoman Donna Windsor, who jumped to her death in a burglary gone wrong in 2014.

In a truly spiteful move, Jade took April to the roof of the same multistorey car park where her mother died and sent Ross a picture of her tied up in the boot of her Range Rover to lure him in.

Emmerdale has been hit with a wave of Ofcom complaints from viewers over a harrowing child kidnapping scene which saw April, 15, dangled over a ledge

Bad boy Ross Barton (Mike Parr) has been taking part in illegal boxing matches organised by Jade but when money from one of the latest fights went missing, Jade accused Ross of stealing it and kidnapped April in revenge

Ross Barton cares about April because she is the daughter of his former lover and corrupt police woman Donna Windsor who jumped to her death in a burglary gone wrong. Pictured: Donna (Verity Rushworth) and Ross in a scene together in 2014

When Ross arrived he had flashbacks of Donna’s suicide, before Jade had one of her henchmen drag April out of the car and dangle her over the edge as she demanded her money back.

The man laughed in April’s face as she screamed and begged for her life, while Ross desperately tried to explain to Jade that he didn’t have her money.

Ofcom received 61 complaints from Emmerdale fans who were extremely disturbed by the scene.

A spokesperson for the regulator said: ‘Complainants objected to a storyline involving child abduction and violence.’

Outraged viewers also took to social media site, X, to share their thoughts on the controversial scene. 

One said: ‘Emmerdale tonight was a dark episode a bit much dangling a young girl where her mam fell to her death Jade and her heavies need to go as do the writers’

When Ross (right) arrived he had flashbacks of Donna’s suicide before Jade had one of her henchmen drag April (left) out of the car and dangle her over the edge as she demanded her money back

The man laughed in April’s face as she screamed and begged for her life whilst Ross desperately tried to explain to Jade that he didn’t have her money

Another said that the scriptwriters ‘have stooped to a new low’ with this storyline and called the scene ‘shocking’.

‘The scenes with April were shocking. I think they went too far. The flashbacks saved it though,’ a third wrote.

While another insisted that Emmerdale ‘should be ashamed’ and said that the scene was depicting ‘child abuse’.

It comes after Emmerdale was named as the third most complained about show in 2024, receiving 1,471 Ofcom complaints in total.  

Some of which were the result of a domestic abuse storyline surrounding Belle Dingle and Tom King and later scenes which saw animal cruelty towards their dog Piper. 

Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.