Coming out storyline on Eastenders

[marshlander]

Bearing in mind that a soap opera has to have a pretty unlikely sequence of tragedies in order to pull an audience I wondered if anyone else had been following Eastenders on BBC1 recently.

It has been a while since we have had any gay characters and now, like London buses, two (or possibly three) arrive together. Whilst being groundbreaking in introducing Colin and Barry, both of whom departed many years ago, we had the pretty ineffectual Derek (what a dreadful name to give a gay man ) for a while who really didn't do anything for the cause. Then we had a love affair with lesbian nurses, Sonia and Naomi (heaven help us!) which ended when Sonia decided she wasn't really a lesbian after all. There may be others, but I'm relieved that these are all I can remember

Now we have the rather yummy Christian, confused, closeted, moody Stephen and now maybe even Phil Mitchell's son, Ben, could also end up batting for our team in a few years time. Almost three generations showing different stages of emerging (or rampaging) sexuality. Has anyone else been following the programme and, if so, do you identify with the experience of any of these characters? Have the scriptwriters relied on stereotypes too strongly?

I can't say I feel much in common with any of them except I was born pretty close to where the action is supposed to be happening. Ben has recently discovered a keen interest in tap dancing, which I also did as a very young child and have continued to enjoy dancing throughout my life ... but apart from that ...

So which of you are randy men chasers? Are there are psychotic closet cases among you? Where are the Gene Kellys of Gayspeak Land?

[princealbertofb]

Bearing in mind that a soap opera has to have a pretty unlikely sequence of tragedies in order to pull an audience I wondered if anyone else had been following Eastenders on BBC1 recently.

It has been a while since we have had any gay characters and now, like London buses, two (or possibly three) arrive together. Whilst being groundbreaking in introducing Colin and Barry, both of whom departed many years ago, we had the pretty ineffectual Derek (what a dreadful name to give a gay man ) for a while who really didn't do anything for the cause. Then we had a love affair with lesbian nurses, Sonia and Naomi (heaven help us!) which ended when Sonia decided she wasn't really a lesbian after all. There may be others, but I'm relieved that these are all I can remember

Now we have the rather yummy Christian, confused, closeted, moody Stephen and now maybe even Phil Mitchell's son, Ben, could also end up batting for our team in a few years time. Almost three generations showing different stages of emerging (or rampaging) sexuality. Has anyone else been following the programme and, if so, do you identify with the experience of any of these characters? Have the scriptwriters relied on stereotypes too strongly?

I can't say I feel much in common with any of them except I was born pretty close to where the action is supposed to be happening. Ben has recently discovered a keen interest in tap dancing, which I also did as a very young child and have continued to enjoy dancing throughout my life ... but apart from that ...

So which of you are randy men chasers? Are there are psychotic closet cases among you? Where are the Gene Kellys of Gayspeak Land?

Well, I'm a Gene Kelly cum Fred Astaire but certainly not a Jean Harlow (harlot???).... hehehe. I too love dancing, as you well know. Psychotic closet case, MOI??? Non, MOnsieur. Hehehe. mile:
By the way, I've not even seen an episode of Eastenders, so I certainly can't relate to any of them... but they sound pretty unreal.