The Lesbian Kiss (UK Screening Last Night)

[Red Ranger 1]

I think if it happened in this country a few people would complain because there's always going to be people that complain about that.But I don't think it would get much media attention and most of the public just wouldn't know.It's possibly a good few years ago now that The Bill had two men kissing and there was a bit of a storm in a teacup about it.Coronation Street's first gay storyline(which was what, 2003?)provoked a fair amount of controversy and I've a feeling ITV ended up cutting most of the kisses out as a result, there was at least one episode that ended incredibly abruptly with them standing in a doorway with one of them threatening to leave and the other one asking if it was what he really wanted, then next episode it's obvious he stayed the night and I thought "There should have been a kiss there."Maybe it's changed as recently as this last decade because I don't recall hearing of any controversies in a while.Was there a bit of a backlash when Emmerdale featured a same sex marriage or am I imagining that?

I'd say that there's a potential ten year age difference between Charlie and Joey with Joey being about 19 and Charlie being about 29.Wouldn't think there's much difference either way.

[river4ever]

The most recent backlash I can think of was last year when 2 men kissed on EastEnders. It got quite a few complaints but the BBC defended what was shown, and rightly so.

[oscartg]

I've been watching the Mandy/Shannon clips on youtube and the different in how their relationship is portrayed compared to the Charlie/Joey is like night and day. It was a much more subtle story with indicious homophobia. It reminded me of the days of Xena and when everything gay was subtextual and under the radar. While one might appreciate the "romantic friendship" approach with Mandy/Shannon (and Xena) I'm glad its moved on to where we can actually acknowledge our gay characters as such.

[claire_louise]

Was there a bit of a backlash when Emmerdale featured a same sex marriage or am I imagining that?

I don't recall there being a backlash, and that storyline was only about a year ago. The same characters also went on to be involved in a love triangle with another man (who was married - to a woman - at the time) and I don't think anyone was particularly fazed by it.

The most recent backlash I can think of was last year when 2 men kissed on EastEnders. It got quite a few complaints but the BBC defended what was shown, and rightly so.

Which one was that? The only one I can remember which had a strong public reaction was Tony and Simon, and that must have been ten years ago at least. Just goes to show how much we've progressed as a society in our attitudes towards homosexuality since then. I must admit I find it quite shocking and disappointing that Australia seems to be so conservative about these things (no offensive to Australian viewers). It was the same with Martha's abortion storyline - things like that are commonplace in uk soaps, yet still it caused a reaction in Oz. Funny how societies can be so similar and yet so different at the same time.

[Miranda]

The first gay storyline I remember in a soap was about 1985 with Colin and Barry in Eastenders. Can't remember if there was a big fuss over it. And then there was the notorious lesbian kiss in Brookside with the girl who was raped by her father and some other woman. There was a big fuss about that

[oscartg]

There was a bit of a reaction over the Naomi/Sonia relationship/kiss but I think was mostly because it was gross and ridiclous. The last gay storyline that made a big fuss was some late night drama about a young gay Tory but that featured gay male inter-racial sex in key gardens and it was explicit. A simple kiss wouln't raise a eyebrow here.

I don't think there was any complaints in Emmerdale as the show had a good history with their gay characters and Paul was a very well liked long term character on the show. Oh and interesting fact, the guy that Paul married was played by Richard Grieve who played Shannon's boyfriend Lachy who she dumped to run off to Paris with Mandy.

[river4ever]

The most recent backlash I can think of was last year when 2 men kissed on EastEnders. It got quite a few complaints but the BBC defended what was shown, and rightly so.

Which one was that? The only one I can remember which had a strong public reaction was Tony and Simon, and that must have been ten years ago at least. Just goes to show how much we've progressed as a society in our attitudes towards homosexuality since then. I must admit I find it quite shocking and disappointing that Australia seems to be so conservative about these things (no offensive to Australian viewers). It was the same with Martha's abortion storyline - things like that are commonplace in uk soaps, yet still it caused a reaction in Oz. Funny how societies can be so similar and yet so different at the same time.

I don't watch EastEnders anymore but I remember reading about it sometime last year. I think one of the characters was called Christian and if I remember correctly there was a scene of him kissing another man on a bench in the square. There are a few articles about it online.

[Red Ranger 1]

Like I said before, I think you do still get complaints in this country but possibly not many and they don't get much publicity(probably because it's old news).I seem to remember hearing that there were complaints about the recent Debbie/Jasmine story in Emmerdale with the show accused of sensationalism.Not enough to be newsworthy perhaps but enough to be commented on.

[oscartg]

If you don't get your complaints in the newspapers then they are worth nothing because the nobody apart from yourself and the stations here about them and lets face it the stations don't care about 5 old biddies from Little England and the advertisers don't hear about it so no effect on them there.

[Red Ranger 1]

Well, if I heard about it, I expect someone else did too.Mind you, complaints like that are probably more likely to get people tuning in than switching off.