An actor who posted a TikTok video depicting a child 'drowning' in a paddling pool has responded to backlash.

Lewis Saunderson (@lewissaunderson38), from Hitchin, creates 'awareness' videos, with topics previously including a missing child, death and a cheating partner.

His most recent video is of a child left unattended in a paddling pool in a garden, who 'drowns'. 

It sees Lewis run out of a house, grab a small boy who is in a paddling pool and craddle his 'lifeless' body while letting out harrowing, loud screams. 

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The TikTok video went viral, attracting more than 30 million views, but many thought the situation might actually be genuine, despite the video being captioned "awareness video for all parents," and Lewis using hashtags to clarify that it is not real.

With 830,000 followers on TikTok, many were disturbed by the video, prompting Lewis to address the comments. 

@lewissaunderson38 It only takes 30 seconds for a child to drown. Don't leave your children unattended in the paddling pools this Summer ☀️💔 Awareness video for all parents 🙏 #actor #acting #fiction #fictionalcharacters #awareness #awarenessvideo #awarenessmatters #fatherson #father #son #daddysboy #safety #water #summer #love #heartbroken #drama #dramatiktok #fy #fypシ #fypシ゚viral #foryou #fyfyfyfy #xcyzba #viral #viralvideo #viraltiktok #trending #explore ♬ Chasing Cars

"I've made it very clear on numerous ocassions that I am a trained actor and that my channel is about awareness videos," he said.

"If I was actually wanting to convince people that my content was real, I wouldn't then put out explanation videos. I wouldn't include in the hashtags 'acting'.

"It's nothing different to what you see in a TV drama.

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"If you feel that it's convincing, and you believe it is real without reading into the video, there is nothing I can do about that. If it's not for you, I completely respect that.

"There are a lot of people who reach out to me every single day on my TikTok and tell me how inspired they are by my content, that they know that I'm an actor."

Lewis explained that the boy in the video is his nephew and, "from his point of view, it was play".

He said: "I'm holding him in my arms and I let out a scream - that was a silent scream. In the edit, post production, I put in the vocalised scream. So, for my nephew, he was just cuddling me. He didn't know what I was acting out.

"If that video helps save one life, then I've done my job."