Monday, October 31, 2005

UK's "East Enders" to Feature Lesbian Kiss

(Link) Ratings flagging? Let's introduce a lesbian subplot! Because audiences love lesbians -- except when they start gettin' all political and whining about civil rights.

1 comment:

LNewsEditor said...

JIC Post:
From Gay.com UK

EastEnders will screen a lesbian kiss next month, following on from the rise of gay characters in its soap rivals.

The BBC1 show will feature a kiss between the characters Sonia Fowler (Natalie Cassidy) and Naomi Julien (Petra Letang), who are currently both in the show as friends.

According to the tabloids, the kiss will take place after Sonia admits her marriage may be in trouble and Naomi admits her love for her friend.

"Sonia is feeling low over how badly things are going with Martin,” a source told the Daily Mirror.

“When Sonia starts to blame herself for the problems, Naomi gives assurance that it's not her fault and heaps praise on her,” he went on.

"Sonia thanks her for the kind words and Naomi admits they weren't just to cheer her up - she's fallen in love with her. To prove the point, she leans in for a hug and then kisses Sonia."

The kiss will be the first time in recent years that the once agenda setting soap has featured two gay characters.

Although it showed one of the first gay characters in a prime time programme – played by Michael Cashman – it had faced criticism for its failure to represent the true diversity of London in recent years.

The kiss is set to be a central storyline to the show, which has faced dwindling audience figures in recent years.

It follows the high profile gay kiss on Coronation Street – the first in its 43 year history – which was quickly followed by the introduction of the first gay character on the street.

Antony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully, won awards for the role at last week’s National Television awards.

The lesbian kiss is set to feature on EastEnders at some point next month.