Rodrigo Santoro and his Leonera co-star Martina Gusman

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Rodrigo Santoro (300) will be playing not one, but two queer roles this year. In addition to his part in I Love You, Phillip Morris, he also plays a bisexual in the Argentine women-with-babies-in-prison film Leonera, which screened at Cannes last week.

• The scamps at 23/6 created a handy guide to planning your gay wedding. Favorite line: "Find a venue for the ceremony. Churches are probably out."

• At the Drama League Awards, actor Daniel Evans (Sunday in the Park with George) jokingly proposed to actor Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu), who jokingly accepted. I jokingly smell a cross-over episode ... Seurat on skates!!

• There's nothing really new in this brief article about same-sex coupling in the animal kingdom, but they do make an interesting point ... though gay relationships are common in dozens of more socially developed species, you know what's not? Homophobia. We've cornered the market on that, baby!

• Gay Coronation Street star Antony Cotton has been signed for two more years on the soap as gay barman Sean Tully, as well as another as-yet-undetermined solo project on British TV.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

Well, all we can say is, it’s about time! Let’s face it; there hasn’t been a decent gay male character in the British soap for what seems like an eternity. Which is a total injustice, considering it was Eastenders that gave us the groundbreaking first ever gay kiss in a UK soap. Yes, we're talking about that infamous "kiss" between Colin Russell (Michael Cashman) and Barry Clark (Gary Hailes) back in 1987.

Whilst other popular British soaps like Coronation Street, Emmerdale and teen soap-come-drama Hollyoaks currently features gay characters, Eastenders has been somewhat lacking on that front.

The soap is certainly no stranger when it comes to portraying gay characters. Aside from Colin and Barry, who can forget Simon Raymond (Andrew Lynford) and Tony Hills (Mark Homer)? Although characters like Dr Fred Fonseca (Jimi Mistry) and, more recently, Derek Harkinson (Ian Lavender) have been considerably less memorable.

Hopefully though, all that will soon be about to change. Rumour has it that a new gay character, in the shape of Jane Beale's gay brother (yes, we didn't know she had one, either!), will stir up some trouble with Walford's residents when the character debuts in the soap in the New Year.

As reported in the British newspaper, The Mirror, the big bosses at Eastenders have seen how popular Anthony Cotton’s Sean Tully character is on rival soap Coronation Street, and they have decided it’s about time they had a gay character of their own. Apparently though, he’s not going to be another Sean. Phew! In fact, he’s going to be both charming and suave. Something Sean Tully is most definitely not!

Producers are currently casting for the part. In the meantime, here are a few suggestions of hunky actors who could do the role justice…

Jeremy Sheffield. He made our hearts swoon as a hunky doc on Holby City and bonus, he's gay too...

Stonewall’s second annual awards ceremony takes place at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum on November 1, 2007.

The awards, to be hosted by television presenter Anthony Crank (pictured at left), are designed to celebrate the positive contributions being made by individuals and organisations to the lives of gay people in Britain.

Nominees include actor and TV presenter Antony Cotton, Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright and lesbian rapper Mz Fontaine for Entertainer of the Year; Hollyoaks and Doctor Who for Broadcast/Broadcaster of the Year; and Russell T Davies and Scottish author Val McDermid for Writer of the Year. Former premiership footballer Graeme Le Saux, an activist for gay rights in football, is nominated in the Sportsperson of the Year category.

Winners from six categories will be chosen by a panel of judges, which includes Matt Lucas, Clare Balding, Nicky Campbell and Paul Gambaccini.

Former professional NBA basketball star John Amaechi and Beth Ditto, lead singer of rock band The Gossip and an advocate of gay equality, are both up for the accolade of Hero of the Year. While Top Gear presenter and journalist, Jeremy Clarkson, who refused to apologize after being reprimanded by BBC bosses for his derogatory gay jibes on prime time television, is one of several nominees up for Bigot of the Year. Both of these accolades are chosen by a vote cast by Stonewall supporters from across Britain.

Stonewall, which was founded in 1989, is renowned for its campaigning and lobbying. Last year’s awards ceremony was hosted by one of the organization's most high-profile founders, stage and screen actor Sir Ian McKellen.

Television award ceremonies can be two a penny. And, quite frankly, rather boring! But that’s rarely the case when it comes to ITV1’s National TV Awards. Hosted by Sir Trevor McDonald, this star-studded ceremony, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, pays tribute to the best of the best of British television.

Throughout the summer months, over 1.5 million votes were cast from a long list, which was eventually whittled down to a short list of just four contenders in eleven different categories.

Whilst Hollyoaks and Eastenders face off against Emmerdale and Coronation Street for the title of Most Popular Serial Drama, it gets much more personal in the Most Popular Actor category, which sees the likes of James Sutton (John Paul McQueen in Hollyoaks) and Antony Cotton (Sean Tully in Coronation Street) vying for the crown. And both Graham Norton and Paul O’Grady have been shortlisted in the Most Popular Entertainment Presenter category.

Other TV shows hoping to scoop an award include Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands and Big Brother for Most Popular Reality Programme; Ugly Betty for Most Popular Comedy and Doctor Who for Most Popular Drama.

Speaking of Ugly Betty, the adorable Mark Indelicato (aka Justin) has just been confirmed as a special guest. He will be flying in to present the award for the Most Popular Actress. Now, if that doesn’t make the NTA must-see viewing, we don’t know what else will!

To find out who the lucky winners are, tune in to ITV1 tomorrow night, Wednesday 31st October, between 8:30pm and 10:30pm.

In the meantime, there’s still a little bit of time left to vote for your favorite – although all votes must be in by midday tomorrow. Just visit the link below to register your votes.

So, come on all you James Sutton and Hollyoaks fans. What are you waiting for? Get voting!

It seems there’s no stopping that Antony Cotton. What’s next, world domination? Yes, Cotton, otherwise known as Coronation Street’s knicker stitcher and barman, Sean Tully, is celebrating after landing a second series of his ITV1 chat show, That Antony Cotton Show.

Despite being slammed by the critics, the show has proved popular with audiences and pulled in good ratings, often beating daytime royalty that is Richard and Judy over on Channel 4.

But wait, there’s more! As if recommissioning another series of his chat show isn't enough, ITV bosses are also in the stages of developing a quiz show to be fronted by Cotton.

"Antony's proved a big hit with viewers outside of Corrie, so it makes sense to give him a game show,” an ITV insider told the Sun newspaper.

"He's got a great rapport with audiences and has always wanted to front a game show. We've not decided what show it will be yet - it could well be an old favourite like Mr And Mrs."

Well, it certainly looks like 2008 is going to be a very busy year for Anthony Cotton.

Actor and chat show host Antony Cotton was named Best Actor at last night’s Inside Soap Awards in London. The openly gay actor scooped the gong for his role in Coronation Street, as lovable gay barman Sean Tully.

"I've won the big one this year, and I'm very very pleased that they chose me. I don't act because of it but it's nice that someone thinks I'm doing well,” said Cotton.

It was a great night for the soap in general, which walked away with five out of fourteen trophies, most notable being the gong for Best Soap. Usually reserved for rival soap Eastenders, it was the first time in over a decade that Coronation Street had won the award.

Alas, our favourite Hollyoaks couple Guy Burnett and James Sutton (Craig and John-Paul) failed to win the award for best couple, losing out to Lacey Turner and Charlie Clements (Stacey and Bradley) from Eastenders.

The Inside Soap Awards are voted for by readers of Inside Soap magazine. The below pic is of Cotton with Charlie Condou, who plays his onscreen boyfriend Marcus, at the event.