Hollyoaks bosses have agreed to scrap a series of scenes in the teen soap after a meeting with the mother of murdered toddler James Bulger.
Denise Fergus objected when she learned that the Channel 4 drama was to contain a storyline that bore hallmarks linking it to the aftermath of her son's murder.
The series was due to feature scenes this week in which two characters were shown to be living under false names after being convicted of a child-on-child murder.
In chilling echoes of the James Bulger case two characters, Loretta and Chrissy, would confess that they had killed a girl, acting as "bullies" when they were aged 12.
Despite differing ages and sexes the script was seen as a thinly-veiled reference to the aftermath of the 1993 abduction and murder of James Bulger, aged 2, by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, then aged 10.
Played-out by actresses Melissa Walton and Amber Hodgkiss, the story was to start unfolding in episodes that were due to be aired from Tuesday (15th December) onwards.
When word of the storyline was leaked, last month, James' mother complained to the show's production company, Lime Pictures Ltd.
She then agreed to attend a private screening of four episodes of the show with her husband Stuart Fergus at the TV company's studios in Liverpool.
After the screening the couple met Hollyoaks Executive Producer Tony Wood and Lime Pictures Managing Director Sean Marley and Denise told them the storyline would cause her real upset, if it were to be broadcast.
Denise said she felt that scenes involving two characters, named Chrissy and Loretta, carried distinctive similarities to events following the murder of her son.
Informed of her feelings Mr Wood and Mr Marley said that, in the circumstances, the story line would not be broadcast.
Denise Fergus said: "It was constructive meeting and I accept what they told me - that there was never any intention on the part of Hollyoaks to copy or mirror events surrounding James' death.
"Having said that, there was no doubt in my mind that the plot carried some of the hallmarks of what happened to that evil pair after they were convicted of murdering James.
"The part that I found most disturbing was that there were scenes in which two child killers were seen to be giving each other sympathy.
"The producers said that in the long-run the story would not have been favourable to the killers and in the future they would be shown to suffer the consequences from their crime.
"But I was shocked to see two people on screen, who were immediately identified as 'Thompson and Venables' in my mind, talking about how they had murdered another child.
"Played by glamorous young actresses they were the centre of attention and looking to each other for support.
"It was turning the killers into celebrities and to me that was completely unacceptable. I made it clear that I did not want those scenes broadcast and I'm pleased to say
they clearly understood my feelings and agreed to scrap them.
"I'm very relieved and grateful that they are respecting my wishes.
"I also appreciate it will involve an amount of work to re-edit these future episodes and would like to thank them publicly for doing this.
"It is clear that they never intended to cause upset to me and decided to act immediately when I told them how strongly I felt."
A Lime Pictures spokesman said: "Hollyoaks has a very good track record of tackling difficult subject matter for a younger audience and the producers take seriously their duty to deal with sensitive issues in an appropriate way.
"This particular storyline was not based on any real-life case and was not intended to recreate actual events. However after conversations with Denise Fergus we have agreed to amend certain aspects of the storyline."
Mother-of-three Denise added that she has accepted an invitation to work with the makers of Hollyoaks to develop a future storyline about issues affecting young people.
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