Patsy Palmer has defended the EastEnders paedophile storyline.

Patsy told MSN that the story may have been controversial but it did a good job of raising awareness of the issue.

“I know that we had a few cases of girls going to the police and stuff, so if one girl or boy goes to the police because of sexual abuse then we have done a really, really good job as far as I am concerned,” she said.

She continued: “I think that soaps can really deal with this kind of stuff really well and I just think when they do it reaches a much wider audience and I think these issues need to be raised.

“I think it’s always nice to be able to watch somebody’s journey – I think drama just reaches a different audience really.”