Gays of our Lives (April 06, 2009)

EastEnders Goes in the Wrong Direction

EastEnders has a long-standing tradition of gay characters with interesting stories, complete with actual romances. And with the 2008 addition of Christian Clarke, played by out actor John Partridge, it looked as if that would continue.

When Christian joined the show, producers promised the character would be charming and debonair. And while Christian may be all those things, he hasn’t made much of an impact since arriving in town, instead mostly catering to the women in his life.

What the show did best: Umm … I can’t really think of anything. Well, Christian did share an on-screen kiss with another man resulting in headlines all over the U.K., but the relationship went no further than a one-night stand.

What the show did worst: No contest here. It was the thankfully brief storyline where Christian was accused of taking advantage of his sister’s sexually confused stepson. It was a bit creepy, in part because Christian was toying with a teenager half his age, including kissing him. To be fair, Christian did so only in an attempt to get him to admit he was gay.

Naturally, that ended badly with the boy accusing Christian of taking advantage of him and Christian being banished from the family. In the end, the kid came out, cleared Christian of any wrongdoing and left town.

Then after months of playing sidekick to the show’s bad girl, Christian was reunited with his estranged mother who never approved of his sexuality and still doesn’t. Instead of telling the story of a woman and her son making peace over his being gay, viewers watched as she treated him with utter disdain. Worse, he took took her abuse, all the while helping her with her problems. Where is this out and proud gay man we were promised?

Sadly, Christian proved to be just another mama’s boy

Random Thoughts: Christian is an interesting character and the actor is certainly engaging, appealing and incredibly good looking. It’s a mystery why the show has done so little with him given that they’ve done such a good job telling gay stories in the past. Fortunately, according to actor John Partridge, Christian will soon have an exciting new storyline. It’s about time. Let’s just hope they can live up to what this show has done in the past.

Overall Grade: One Nuke.