I have been an avid Coronation Street viewer most of my life but over recent months I’ve found it difficult to watch.

It was hard enough seeing lovely Hayley Cropper diagnosed with terminal cancer, then when it emerged that she intended to take her own life, the storyline took an even bleaker tone.

Hayley finally ended her life in a controversial episode that has prompted much debate – not just on the right-to-die issue, but on the role of television drama in portraying such issues.

Mainstream shows like Corrie reach millions of living-rooms and are thus hugely influential. Taking on a controversial issue means it becomes a talking point in households up and down the country. Television soaps are primarily entertainment, but if they’re going to take on social issues they have a responsibility to cover them sensitively and accurately.

That doesn’t just apply to high-profile issues. I’ve lost count of soap scenes I’ve watched showing children caught up in adults’ slanging matches. In Coronation Street, poor Max often looks bemused while his obnoxious mother, Kylie, kicks off in a drunken rage, and Emmerdale’s Charity regularly hurls insults at lovers and enemies in front of her young son, Noah. Disturbingly, such scenes suggest it’s okay for adults to lose it in front of children.

From a more selfish perspective, what I most object to is the consistently inaccurate way soaps portray journalism. In Emmerdale, last week’s Hotten Courier splashed Sam Dingle’s arson charge across its front page, in ridiculously over-the-top detail. In reality, since he’d pleaded not guilty, the press wouldn’t be allowed to report anything until the case went to crown court.

And there were daft scenes in Corrie when a sneering Weatherfield Gazette reporter covered a student night at Nick’s Bistro (unlikely) and turned a bogus drugs raid into an eye-wateringly libellous story.

Soap producers often boast of the research that goes into storylines, but when it comes to journalism they take a lazy, dated approach.

Frustrated at how our profession was coming across, a colleague and I once started a campaign called SOAP (Stop Our Awful Portrayal). Yes, a rubbish name, but we took it half-seriously, contacting producers about inaccuracies (the worst offender was Brook-side). We didn’t get a single response.

When it comes to lazy writing, children and journalists come off worst in soaps. Children are portrayed as passive bystanders, oblivious to chaos that would cause lasting damage in the real world, and reporters are simply cartoon characters.

There’s probably a niche for a credible TV drama set in a newsroom. Well, they do say write about what you know...