The Best Gay TV is in Europe

I'm sorry for nitpicking, but the actor that Bruno Langley is kissing is Adam Rickitt, who played Nick, not Chris Finch. I wouldn't have mentioned it but before the picture loaded I was looking forward to that picture - Chris Finch is a hottie.

I realize the focus of this article is on European tv shows but don't forget about Degrassi: The Next Generation and Paradise Falls which both come from Canada.

Todd Grimshaw left Corrie in 2004. His 2007 return was a visit of several weeks. As for Sean, the problem isn't stereotypes so much as that Anthony Cotton can't act. I mean it does bother me that the show never even had Sean kiss his partner on the mouth, but every time they try to give Sean a story, he's awful. Marcus is much better. I wish he were staying. Ted is OK, but is a supporting part. Right now his ex-love of many years ago, Audrey, is becoming close to him again, I don't know what will happen there. He also had a story where he befriended Ken Barlow (the only cast member remaining from the first episode) and this caused Ken's coarse mother in law to think Ken was going gay. The problem with the Steven/Christian story on Eastenders wasn't necessarily that Steven was mentally ill, but that the story had NO point. His feelings for Christian were never resolved. He just went crazy and then left town. Christian soon forgot about him, and went back to being the lazy stereotype who wears tight t-shirts and is supposed to be promiscuous even though we never actually see him with any men. The one kiss they had between the characters was shockingly passionless. And while Eastenders has had some commendable stories with gay characters, that was over 10 years ago. Nothing about Christian is very commendable, or memorable, aside from his biceps. Hollyoaks told the JP/Kieron story so poorly, making JP a plot device and ruining Kieron when Kieron would have been much better on his own. Now he is being written out because like with Spike, the show apparently does not want to have a gay man who is not a prop for John Paul. I'm not too sad to see JP go, I'm just sad that a better written character can't take his place.

dont forget max iago in el cor de la ciutat iago is so much better that enric

u forget tinsel town and sinchronicity-Jase and Mani and TORCHWOOD

I know one of the main characters in Shameless is gay, and while I've only seen a little of season 1 he was hooking up with his boss at the time so shouldn't that go on this list too?

JP and Hollyoakes get top marks. But are they really this good? ;)

Romance: 19/10 Hitting 19 out of 10 is quite a feat ;p

 I do think that El Cor should also get props for Max's second relationship with Iago. It might not have been as hot at the one with Max, but what makes it interesting is that whie Max and Enric were still a coming out drama, Max and Iago's storyline was an action/drama storyline that would have worked just as well with a young straight couple, focusing mostly on Iago's criminal leanings, the death of his mother, his enjailment and Max standing by him and defending him to his family. It's nice to see such original writing for a gay storyline.

Craig isn't a prop. Kieron and Spike were more like plot devices purely for the JP/Craig relationship to develop. And we are getting a happy ending at the end of it all so it was all worth it ;).

Catalonian television has a long story with gay characters (a lot better than any spanish national television), in fact their character are a lot less stereotypical than in any other spanish television. Max broke with Enric in december, and i think he began to date with Iago (who is a really handsome guy) in january. The relationship is very trouble, because Iago was a delincuent

You are forgetting Mischa and Sülo from Marienhof (that soap airing just after Verbotene Liebe). It's all with LolaRuns now, who's already posted some pictures.

BTW, that picture with Thore and Jo, absolutely fabulous! They are gorgeous outside their VL-characters!

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Another show worth mentioning is Spains Physics or Chemistry (Física o Química). Its a weekly teen show centered in a school where there is a gay teen coming to terms with his sexuality.

The relevant things to mention are the general accepting way people take this process, not without problems of course, but done fairly natural.

But more notable is the relationship that has developed with another character. Let me give you some back story: Fer, the gay teen, and Rubén are best friends. Rubén commits suicide. In dealing with this tragedy Fer befriends Rubéns straight older brother Julio. He is one of the popular guys is school.

The interesting thing about this is the way popular Julio is so accepting and supportive of Fer. He even helps him come out to his parents, who dont bat an eyelash about it BTW. And when, because a misunderstanding, Julio learns Fer has some feelings for him, involving an almost naked hug, he doesnt freak out and takes it in stride.

Its been really refreshing to see this kind of friendship. The show is set for a second season in the fall.

I'm following Hollyoaks, Verbotene Liebe and El cor de la ciutat, but I don't know others. I wanna see French cop's one. Do you have any idea to get that show? I don't understand French at all though.

Joshua Norton
San Francisco

I'm assuming the list is only looking at European soap operas, as there is plenty more gay representation on UK TV (Torchwood, Shameless and Skins being some of the most prolific).

The thing with Emmerdale is, despite the problems with gay relationships, they have a reasonably impressive track record with lesbian characters. Also, Paul's first relationship with bisexual Ivan was much better presented, the villain being Paul's scheming sister and not any of the gay characters. And with Hollyoaks, the once great John Paul has now become a plot device, just so the John Paul/Craig fans can get their sunset ending. It's quite disappointing that this has sullied Kieron, as he's quite a good character when interacting with Ste and other characters.

Neither of these shows are on air anymore, but Brookside had a pretty good gay storyline in the late 80s, and children's soap Byker Grove, which was the first British drama to have a coming out story. Both were well acted, critically acclaimed shows in their peak.

Max dealt with his own coming out, then dated Enric and his coming out, and now is involved with Iago. The great thing about his current story with Iago (aside from how cute they are together) is that their story isn't about them being gay. All their drama, all the conflict is because Max is a good boy and Iago is a bad boy. It's a classic romance/soap trope, just being played out between 2 guys.

Thank you Wolfi, snicks and Michael for a well written and fair article.

Indeed, Europe is way ahead of their US counterparts when it comes to gay inclusions and depth in gay storylines. I love the 'matter of fact' attitude that many of these European shows have when they include a gay couple. The 'no need' to stand on a hilltop and wave a flag 'look at me, we have a gay storyline' is so very refreshing to see.  The contrast over here in the US is that pull for publicity...a rolling out of the red carpet so to speak with the lust to grab magazine and entertainment show headlines. We need look no further than ATWT, a huge disappointment of a storyline that could not or would not let their so in love characters kiss for almost eight months.  It was like watching something from 30 years past. ATWT milked and is still milking this chaste storyline until the cow is desert dry. 'Gossip Girl' is another recent example of a show that got a ton of unearned publicity because of a main character about to come out. And when that 'coming out' episode aired they didn't even show a liplock.

Also well stated in this write-up  is the 'token gay' character phenomenon...the one who pops up every now and then, hovers in the background or makes a one shot deal for that 'very special episode,' which of course garners publicity.

Yes, the US has had some wonderfully written gay characters but these are on Cable TV. The only decent gay storyline right now on network TV is 'Brothers and Sisters' Even Cable at the moment is sadly lacking.

And thanks for the great picture chosen of Jo and Thore, who both look very handsome in what is one of my favorite shots of them outside of VL.

is that not a little exaturated a score for hollyoaks.offcourse different people like different thing but show me one romantic scene in HO and i'll show you ten in VL, ether some1 has e crush on James Sutton or that is a type-o. Also how do you rate the originality of a couple would you say that a plumber and a baker is more or less original then a politician and a farmer( just to name a couple of professions). And originality is not the beginning and end off all things i mean i'm sure a story about a iraqi woman marrying a gay guy to get a greencard and then getting kidnapped by that guys father is very original but dos that make it a good story :)

Most of these shows I have heard of, but have never seen (except the occasional glance at Coronation Street). What struck me was the number of shows that were soap operas. It would be nice to see more night-time dramas, cop or medical shows that had gay characters. I don't think things will change soon on network TV in the USA. The Christian right still wields too much influence. Organized religion is less influential in Western Europe and Canada. Cheers JBE

I hadn't heard about this...do we have any information, such as who is handling the development of the show? I hope they do a good job, and remain true to the gay character(s) and don't shy away from showing his sexuality.

Just a comments on the 2 French TVserie mention here. "Les Bleus" et "Clara Sheller" They are actually one shot mini-serie whose there were no intend to make other season I don't know if "Les Bleus" did score well but i know for sure that Clara Sheller did very well and was the surprise. The sucess of Clara Sheller was so intense that "France 2" Tv chanel order other season but the actors are actually to busy on movie making that they have declined to reprise their role. I don't know if the new cast can be as good as the original but i will watch it for sure.

I'm from Argentina, and gay characters are often introduced on TV and some have a very intense sexual content (most important shows air after 10 pm here) for example you can see this clip from “El tiempo no para” (time doesn’t stop) for a gay sex scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGTzCcARnvA (very explicit)

And in this other clip you can see a series of  sex scenes from different shows between straight, gay and lesbian couples (very explicit too) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBIBN59oh_U

And here a clip from “Florencia de la v” (a very famous transgender comedian and vedette) in “bailando por un sueño” (our version of dancing with the stars) who won the competition by the public vote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRvffoFfHH4

As you can see we are a very gay friendly country (Buenos Aires was the first city in latin america with a civil union law). And by the way, the first clip is from one of the most conservative networks in Argentina ;)

Israeli TV is following the footsteps of the European TV dealing with gay couples, transgenders and coming out stories.