News, Reviews & Commentary on Gay and Bisexual Men in Entertainment and the Media

Gay British Soap Update: November 7

Here’s a run down of British soap goings on that have pinged our gaydar in the UK for the week ending November 4….


Coronation Street, ITV1

Todd didn't have much to do this week, apart from look cute in his suit. Yes, it was that wedding in Weatherfield. The moment when Sarah Platt finally got her claws into Todd's brother, Jason.

All in all, it was a bad, bad week in the Platt household. After learning that his dear old daddy (the long lost Martin) wouldn’t be attending Sarah and Jason’s wedding, David the Devil lost it. Big time. And by big time, we mean writing a suicide note and driving his car into the canal!

Of course, selfish Sarah refused to let David spoil her big day. In fact, she wouldn’t let World War III or an alien invasion stop her from marrying Jason. Her brother’s suicide note might as well have been a shopping list, for all she seemed to care.

With said note binned, Sarah remained tight lipped and Weatherfield’s wedding of the year went ahead as planned. Todd, Sean and Marcus proved once again that gay men really do have the best fashion sense. Yes, they all looked gorgeous and dapper in their wedding suits.

Unfortunately for Sarah, David still managed to get his wicked way and ruin her big day. She may have tied the knot with her beau, but the day was a total disaster. Well, no bride wants the police to unexpectedly turn up at the church when they are about to say “I do”!

The police informed Gail that David’s car had been found at the bottom of a canal. But surprise, surprise; he was missing. Although the Devil child reappeared later, looking like a drowned rat. Everyone bar Sarah was pleased to see him. OK, so Sarah may be selfish and childish but she totally sees her brother for the devious and evil brat that he is. Although how he managed to get out of that car, we’ll never know. Maybe he’s been taking lessons from illusionist David Blaine?

Elsewhere, Jamie was uncomfortable knowing the sex of Violet’s baby and clashed with Sean; illicit lovers Rosie and John almost got caught in the act by her parents, Sally and Kevin; and Liam bonded with his new puppy, which he called Ozzy. How cute!

Eastenders, BBC1

The absence of any gay characters in Eastenders is still rather worrying. But still, at least we’ve now got a hunky new bloke to drool over. And he’s a Branning, no less. Although thankfully he doesn’t look a thing like his big brother, Max.

Yes folks, The Bill’s Scott Maslen aka Phil Hunter has finally made his East End debut as copper Jack Branning. OK, so he’s basically playing Phil Hunter. But who cares! With his charming patter, dapper suits and sexy voice, he could be playing a boring traffic warden and we’d still find him interesting! Although quite what he sees in Ronnie Mitchell, we don’t know. Particularly since she managed to fleece him at poker. And we’re not talking peanuts here either. Maybe he’s a bloke that likes a challenge.

Elsewhere, it was Bradley and Stacey’s wedding day. But alas, it didn’t go off without a hitch. When do they ever? Sexy but unstable Sean finally discovered the truth about Stacey’s married lover and to say he went bonkers would be an understatement.

On the morning of the wedding, he stormed over to confront Max about the affair. But Stacey told him that the affair was over and she pleaded with her brother not to ruin her wedding. But as we all know, Sean Slater is a law unto himself.

Clearly though, Stacey was in a bit of a pickle, what with her brother knowing she had been having it away with her soon-to-be hubby’s dad. In a panic, the poor girl stalled over her vows and ran out of the church, leaving all but Sean perplexed at her bizarre actions. But thanks to some wise words from Tanya, Sean had a change of heart and decided to encourage Stacey to marry Bradley after all.

But with Lauren having video evidence of her dad and Stacey’s affair on her camcorder – which Bradley and Stacey took away with them on their honeymoon – it surely won’t be too long before Bradders discovers his new wife’s nasty little secret. We’re thinking it’s going to be Christmas day.

Emmerdale, ITV1

It’s been pretty quiet on the Paul and Jonny front in Emmerdale. No change there then! But that’s because the scriptwriters are trying to lure us all into a false sense of security about their impending nuptials. Let’s just say, all is not well in the Gay Dales and things start to kick off big time later this month. Ooh we can’t wait! On second thoughts, considering the direction the Paul/Jonny/Gray storyline is about to go in, maybe we can.

Hollyoaks, C4

There was plenty of McQueen action this week. But sadly it wasn’t of the John Paul kind. We had to make do with his sisters, instead.

It was Tony’s 30th birthday this week, and his surprise birthday party was invaded by several of his ex girlfriends. As if that wasn’t a big enough shock, one of them revealed that he had fathered her eight year old son! Talk about a real kick in the teeth for poor old Tony. Let’s face it, turning 30 is bad enough!

Although the revelation was an even bigger blow for his current girlfriend, Jacqui, what with her not being able to have children. The news went down like a lead balloon. So much so, Jacqui decided to give Tony an ultimatum. It was her or his son, Harry. Hmm an eight-year-old child or a mouthy, loud, brash McQueen? Talk about a tough choice!

Elsewhere, Jacqui's sister Tina got a new job as a careers assistant; Emo Goth Newt continued to make his presence felt in Chester; and cross-dresser Kris had his eye on new girl Summer. But she thought Kris was gay! Hmm we wonder where she got that idea from?!

And so, that concludes this little recap of all things gay-ish related in British soaps. Tune in next time, to find out how Paul and Jonny’s marriage plans are going; whether Tony chose Harry over Jacqui; and what happened when Violet and Sean came to blows over his boyfriend...

geordieboy56's picture

Apparantly there will be a

Apparantly there will be a new gay character on Eastenders in the new year (he'll be Jane Beale's brother)

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a79408/new-gay-character-to-join-eastenders.html

BSGnut's picture

On the Hollyoaks front, John

On the Hollyoaks front, John Paul is supposed to have a new love interest come January and the rumor is it could be a priest!

Also, there's talk of a long-lost McQueen brother named Niall coming on the scene and causing trouble for John Paul and the rest of the McQueen clan.

Should be interesting!

Fallen Angel's picture

New gay character for Eastenders?

Thanks for the heads up, Jakob. I've actually just read that this morning.

I hope it's true. There's speculation over who the actor is going to be - as there always is with these things. Talk was about it being an actor from Dream Team (a football drama series in the UK) but apparently he's just signed up for one of our medical dramas. So, I guess we'll see.

And yes BSGnut, John Paul is going to be getting a new love interest and it's going to be someone rather unlikely. I've not heard the priest suggestion. I was actually watching Hollyoaks here in the UK yesterday, and John Paul was bonding (over Star Wars!) with a character called Elliot. Well, considering the show's producer has stated that the guy JP gets involved with is going to be someone we wouldn't expect, could it be Elliot, I thought? Nah, no way lol.

There's a new character in the show called Niall Rafferty. He's set to appear on UK screens in December. And you're right, he is actually Myra McQueen's long lost son! She left him at a church when she was just fourteen.

jex_piperUK's picture

Nah, it won't be Elliott. He

Nah, it won't be Elliott. He isn't John Paul's type. A priest seems likely in my opinion...the scandal it would cause would be hilarious considering Myra being a practising Catholic and all. I'm hoping that it won't be though...I just think they're just going down the sensationalist route to be honest.

What's interesting about this Niall character is that I think Bryan Kirkwood was teasing us about his sexuality and how he might even get it on with John Paul! Obviously I don't think it would get very far, but that would be interesting if they had some kind of sexual attraction towards each other.

geordieboy56's picture

I don't think they'll go

I don't think they'll go down the route of Niall and John Paul, simply because they've just done the same sort of story last month with Rhys starting a relationship with Beth, then them both finding out they're half brother and sister.

RJ's picture

On Coronation Street...

...I gather Jason (or anyone else) still is not aware that David was responsible for his fall off that scaffolding. I wonder how the writers will work that revelation into the plot.

EDIT: Ok, I just read a plot summary of an episode I overlooked in which it was revealed that Jason and everyone else found out David caused Jason's accident. Knowing this, it's amazing everybody (except Sarah) still gives David latitude for his behaviour.

Anthony D. Langford's picture

Did They.....

Did they prove that David caused the accident? They suspected it, but couldn't prove it, I thought. BTW, am I the only one who cannot stand Sarah? I know that David is supposed to be the villain in this, but Sarah's so obnoxious and unpleasant that I find myself rooting for David.
Maxine's picture

I'm not feeling this Priest relationship

I really was hoping it wasn't going to be a priest that John Paul has a fling with,  but it looks like it maybe true. Someone on Digital Spy said they overheard some guy talking to another person about a friend of his who auditioned for HollyOaks to play the part of a priest who has a relationship, and would have to kiss another bloke called John Paul. Plus, the fact that James Sutton has already stated his next relationship is with an unlikely member of the community makes this seem like a done deal. Personally, i'm not feeling this storyline since it does smack of sensationalism, and seems like a fall back to the beauty  and authenticity of the John Paul/Craig story. Plus, wouldn't a priest be hiding his sexuality, which means John Paul would be in another secret relationship which goes against what he just walked away from in Craig, and is therefore a complete contradiction. The only excuse I can think of for John Paul to get into a relationship with a priest is if he doens't know he is one. Hell, John Paul isn't even religious, his mom maybe, but he certainly hasn't shown any interest in the church or any type of religion at all.   
geordieboy56's picture

John Paul's mother (and one

John Paul's mother (and one of his sisters) are very religious, one of the scenes after he came out was of the local catholic priest visiting the family and Myra talking to him about JP.

If he were to embark upon a relationship with a priest, it would certainly cause some fireworks involving his mother.

BSGnut's picture

Hopefully John Paul won't

Hopefully John Paul won't get himself into another secret relationship.  Craig was his first love, so I could believe him making all those compromises, but now that he's so far out of the closet, it's seems strange that he would go back in to be with a priest.  That's one thing I liked about the Spike storyline:  John Paul got to be part of a very public couple. 

Still, the writers have surprised me so far with the depth of his development as a character so I'm betting this will be good.

Anthony D. Langford's picture

Can Someone Explain To Me....

The appeal of Grey because I'm not seeing it. Both men and women are agog over him and I don't get it. I just watched the latest Emmerdale in which Paul threw away a relationship with a sweet guy like Johnny (not to mention incredibly good looking) over the self-hating Grey when after their one night stand, Grey wasn't ready to declare his love and leave his wife. Wasn't Paul paying attention when Grey gave that disgusting, homophobic speech awhile back about the glories of marriage and how disgusting and horrible the gay lifestyle was? I didn't get why Paul didn't end his friendship with Grey then and there. But instead he waited until he had his chance to sleep with Grey and did it right in the same bed he shares (or shared) with his boyfriend. I admit I'm somewhat new to the show so I didn't see how and why Paul fell for Grey nor did I see Paul and Johnny's courtship. So maybe I'm missing something. But it seems to me that Paul ruined everything that was good in his life for absolutely no reason at all. Unless he was looking for a way to get out of the marriage. If that was the case, he sure did a bang up job. However, the acting on everyone's side was really good. Too bad the story is godawful and makes no sense.
soapboyz's picture

yakky

wasn't it just yakky to watch unfold. paul and an old man, who hates gays. it's a really terrible storyline and i dont like paul much now for what he has done to johnny.

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