Daughter of Clutha crash victim hits out at TV soap’s storyline
THE daughter of a victim of the Clutha tragedy has hit out at producers of a TV soap opera for running a storyline about a helicopter crashing through the roof of a village hall.
Kerry McGhee, whose father Samuel McGhee, 56, was among 10 people killed after a police helicopter crashed through the roof of the Glasgow pub in November 2013, is calling for this week’s Emmerdale storyline to be axed.
Producers of the long-running ITV soap opera said they had considered the Clutha accident when formulating the plot, but decided their events were different.
The plotline involves characters Pete Barton and Debbie Dingle’s wedding day.
A helicopter the groom has booked to surprise his bride crashes into the roof of the village hall, injuring many of the guests and killing off at least one major cast member.
But the move has provoked outrage from Glasgow residents, who claim it is a “disgrace”. Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling for producers to pull the storyline.
Ms McGhee said: “I’m signing because my father was killed in this accident and I find it disgusting that people want to use it as a storyline.”
Organisers of the Clutha Trust, which was set up to support young people in music projects, started the petition.
Billy Coyle from the charity said relatives of victims had contacted him due to anxiety about the storyline.
He said: “I’ve had survivors and family members say they are dreading it. The producers didn’t even speak to anyone in the Clutha to let them know it was happening.”
Mr Coyle said it was “very insensitive”.
He added: “It was just a week ago we re-opened the Clutha and it’s still raw. A lot of the family members and survivors were sitting there together and that was very brave of them to come back to the Clutha. Now this has come along and the families are contacting me to say they don’t know how they’ll cope.”
Manager of the bar Andy Crossan, brother of owner Alan, added: “This is very bad taste. It’s just going to open old wounds.”
An ITV spokeswoman said: “ITV always considers carefully the content of its programming. The helicopter crash circumstances are very different to any real life cases that we are aware of.”
Producer of the soap Kate Oates said the Clutha was considered, adding it “would never be our intention to mimic something like that”.