criticised along with other soap operas for the amount of alcohol consumption featured on-screen. The Food Commission monitored that 18 percent of scenes feature consumption and warned that it was conditioning teenagers into thinking it is normal to consume so much alcohol. A similar incident occurred in 1997 when the Independent Television Commission criticised the series for using an existing brand of alcohol, Caffrey's Irish Ale in the soap claiming that it breached broadcasting rules and promoted the product. In October 2009, Channel 4 was criticised for broadcasting character Barry Newton's (Nico Mirallegro) attempted suicide, which showed similarities to an incident which happened the same week in Glasgow, in which two teenagers committed suicide by jumping into the River Clyde. In its defence, a Channel 4 spokesperson stated that any similarities in the storyline were "entirely coincidents". Hollyoaks producers felt that it was best to continue with the transmission of the episodes. They explained that due to being a continuing series, the viewers would be familiar with Barry and that it would be helpful to address a "sensitive issue" followed by a programme support announcement directing viewers to a 24-hour helpline. In late November 2009, it was announced that character Loretta Jones (Melissa Walton) would be revealed to have killed a child when she was twelve years old. A Hollyoaks spokesperson said, "The drama is about how Loretta reacts to Chrissy's arrival back in her life and how she copes with all the memories coming back." The storyline was criticised due to its similarities to real events, such as the murder of James Bulger. The mother of Bulger, Denise Fergus, stated her outrage of the storyline while speaking to Click Liverpool. She expressed her disgust as she had not been consulted, and felt that the producers were making a "horrific murder" into a topic for entertainment to gain viewers. She demanded a meeting with producers since she felt that the storyline was a "horrible insult to the memory of [her] beautiful son." A spokesperson for Channel 4 stated that the storyline was not based on a real-life event and that producers did not intend to "seek to recreate real events". Despite the storyline not being based on Fergus' situation, producers pulled the storyline from transmission since they felt that they had a duty to "deal with sensitive issues in an appropriate way". Hollyoaks has been praised by viewers, critics and