Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson has said that the Granada soap can help to promote gay rights and hailed the romance between Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) and Sian Powers (Sacha Parkinson) as helping to create positive role models. The openly gay producer said the ITV soap really could change the way people thought and their opinions.

Openly gay Coronation Street producer Phil Collinson has told The Sun newspaper that he believes the soap opera could be a strong platform for gay rights by creating strong, positive role models.

Referring to the current storyline that sees Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent) and Sian Powers (Sacha Parkinson) involved in a lesbian relationship, Collinson told The Sun that:

“Coronation Street is an amazing platform. What’s transmitted on Monday night people talk about in pubs, clubs and at work the next day. You can really make a difference to the way people think – and this show has always had a gay sensibility”

Going full circle for it’s 50th anniversary, Collinson also commented on how it was fitting for a gay man to be running the soap when it was a gay man, Tony Warren, who created it all those years ago.
The ITV soap celebrated its 50th anniversary last week with a tram-crash and live episode which saw ratings top 14 million viewers. While Coronation Street may now be seen as promoting gay rights for the majority of its history gay/lesbian characters were notably absent from Weatherfield. It wasn’t until the Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) coming out story in 2003/2004 that the soap featured a regular gay character.

Quickly becoming the most lesbian friendly channel on the television (which lets admit isn’t hard..) the BBC have announced they will be making a 90 minute movie length adaption of Sarah Waters’ best-selling novel, The Night Watch. Starring Maxwell Martin (South Riding), Claire Foy (Little Dorrit), Jodie Whittaker (Accused), and Harry Treadaway (Fish Tank), the piece will be adapted for the small screen by award-winning British writer, Paula Milne (Small Island, Endgame, The Virgin Queen and The Politician’s Wife) and made by BBC Drama Production.

Talking about the story, Paula Milne said:

“One of the themes which attracted me to Sarah Waters’ delicate and haunting novel The Night Watch is its theme of invisibility – how in the Second World War, under the deathly mantle of darkness as the air raid sirens wailed, her characters found an invisible arena to explore their sexuality. In that sense it is truly a noir novel. Add to that its wayward structure, jettisoning the story from the present back into the past, it was simply a challenge I couldn’t resist.”

Set in London in the 1940s The Night Watch follows four young Londoners inextricably linked by their wartime experiences in a time when the barriers of sexual morality and social convention have been broken down, and they are able to enjoy a freedom they’ve never experienced before (i.e. lots of secret liaisons and passionate trysts.)

Starting in 1947 as the country tries to rebuild itself after the war, the drama opens with Kay mysteriously roaming the streets, haunted by a traumatic personal loss whilst Helen and Viv are running un a marriage bureau, helping people rebuild their shattered lives by finding love. Obsessively clings to her tumultuous and volatile relationship with Julia Helen has far from a simple love life herself, and frankly Viv is doing little better continuing an affair with a married man whom she seems unable to break free from.

Moving backwards from this point, the story allows us to see how and why they’ve got to to the point they are today and is seen by Hilary Salmon, Executive Producer, as not only an ambitious project, but one that assembles some of the strongest young talent in the country:

“We are very proud to be making this ambitious film for BBC Two, bringing to our audience the untold stories of ordinary people as they struggle to find love and tenderness during the uncertain nights of the London Blitz. Paula’s beautiful script has vividly brought to life Sarah Waters’ astonishing and revelatory novel. We are delighted with the outstanding cast we’ve assembled who represent some of the best young talent in the UK today.”

The supporting cast includes: Julia Standing played by Anna Wilson-Jones (Hotel Babylon), Reggie played by Liam Garrigan (Holby City), Nancy played by Claudie Blakley (Lark Rise To Candleford) and Mr Mundy played by Kenneth Cranham (Tess Of The D’Urbervilles.)

Filming begins this week.

Now nearly halfway through it’s run the new lesbian BBC3 lesbian drama “Lip Service” has been gaining a strong fanbase and unsurprisingly some rather harsh criticism too with a number of viewers feeling that a sex scene inside a morgue was inappropriate and one going as far as to say “It made me gag” with another viewer telling The Sun:

‘I was shocked and horrified. It was so off-putting I switched off.’

And it’s not just the non-gays who haven’t been too happy with the series, with one lesbian viewer writing on an online forum that:

‘Me and my lesbian friends all gathered excitedly round the telly for what was lauded as a groundbreaking realistic portrayal of lesbian lifestyle in the UK.

‘Instead what we got was more unbelievable, unrealistic, stereotypical pap. The characters were unconvincing.’

Despite this criticism though, the show has maintained strong viewing figures with 600,000 watching the first episode and 579,000 watching the second on it’s first broadcast and another 122,000 watching the repeat.

Via The Metro

Whilst no mainstream channel thought it worth buying up the rights to the L Word even after Channel 4 had so successfully begun the Queer As Folk franchise it seems that they are beginning to realise now we are in 2010 that it might just be worth giving it a go… but not quite on a mainstream channel with the BBC’s attempt Lip Service finding it’s home on BBC 3.

Working hard to whip up a frenzy by releasing a series of videos to let you get acquainted with the girls, slick, stylish L Word this isn’t, but if you’re after something more realistic then this Glasgow based series by Harriet Braun and starting Ruta Gedmintas as Frankie, Laura Fraser as Cat and Fiona Button as Tess could be just up your gay television street.

Tess – Lip Service

Tess – Lip Service

Cat – Lip Service

Frankie – Lip Service

The BBC have announced they will be airing a pilot for a new series, The Inn Mates, featuring former Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey as a gay parent.

Written by stand up comedian John Warburton and featuring Joe Tracini, the son of comedian Joe Pasquale, as the son the story sees Morrissey as a former sperm donor Brian who is tracked down by one of his offspring who then tries to blackmail Brian into being his full time father.

Also featuring ex-Coronation street actors Johnny Dixon and Poppy Jhakra and This Is England actor Andrew Ellis, the sitcome is set in a pub and will see Morrissey’s first return to comedy in five years with Warburton telling the Manchester Evening News:

“Getting Neil was a brilliant coup. He’s a fantastic comedy actor and it was a pleasure to work with him.”

Acting to have the potential to improve the BBC’s reputation concerning LGBT issues which was heavily criticised by Stonewall in a report last month, it will be interesting to see how well they manage to blend humour and the gay element without going down the stereotypical gay route.

(Via Manchester Evening News)

Photo credit: phrenzee

New Stonewall research, Unseen on Screen, published today has discovered that ordinary gay people are almost invisible from the top 20 television programmes watched by Britain’s youth. Amounting up to to only 46 minutes out of 126 hours of television that represented the gay community in a positive and realistic way, the biggest percentage of representation of gays was shared between four ITV1 and C4 programmes -  I’m a Celebrity… , Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and How to Look Good Naked. BBC1 that is funded by the television license fee we all pay transmitted only 44 seconds of positive and realistic portrayal of gay people in more than 39 hours of output.

Also interviewing young people in Britain on how they felt gay people were represented in television, the overwhelming response was they felt they were largely stereotyped, leading unhappy lives, bullied and rejected by their families.

Speaking about the findings, Ben Summerskill, Stonewall Chief Executive, said:

‘Of course it’s welcome that some of the most obnoxiousness unpleasantness of people such as Jeremy Clarkson is now being edited out before transmission. However, it’s hardly surprising that there’s still almost endemic homophobic bullying in Britain’s secondary schools when, even if gay people do appear on TV shows watched by young people, they’re depicted in a derogatory or demeaning way. It’s tragic that in 2010 broadcasters are still underserving young people in this way, particularly when young people themselves say they want to see real gay people’s lives on TV.’

Disappointing  in terms of equality, the lack of positive representation of gays has serious consequences concering attitudes with 71% of secondary school teachers polled by YouGov (Teacher’s Report, 2009) saying that anti-gay language in the broadcast media affects the levels of homophobic bullying in schools.

On top of finding that half of all portrayals of the LGB community was stereotypical and often saw gay people depicted as figures of fun, predatory or promiscuous, Unseen on Screen also highlighted that three fifths of homophobia went unchallenged, with one 16 year old interviewed saying:

‘TV gives the wrong view of gay people because every storyline is about them being beaten up and discriminated against. They are never accepted by their family. In real life they just want to fit in.’

Recommendations included in the report range from developing guidelines to ensure more positive portrayals of gay characters, that programme makers should share good practice on how to develop authentic lesbian, gay and bisexual characters in continuing dramas and broadcasters should also monitor their output to ensure lesbian, gay and bisexual representation, with Summerskill expanding on this saying:

‘Rather than review output which broadcasters claim to be targeted at young people, we wanted to review the programmes they actually watch,’

‘Tomorrow’s generation of TV viewers clearly want programmes which portray modern Britain the way it actually is. Broadcasters who fail to recognise this risk commercial failure and will certainly not be able to justify a universal licence fee in the decades ahead.’

You can download Unseen on Screen from the Stonewall website

Gabriel Thompson who plays Michael Harper in the series My Family will reportedly reveal that his character is gay at the beginning of the tenth series of the hugely popular comedy sitcom.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, a insider from the show said that the decision had been made by a new team of writers who wanted to give the sitcom a more “edgy and relevant feel”. Saying that this move had been in response to a brief to make the show more appealing to a younger audience, the insider also went onto say that “it’s handled very sensitively”.

Stonewall, the gay rights organisation has responded favourable to the news saying that:

“It’s refreshing that My Family will be reflecting modern Britain in their next series.’

The BBC has not yet found a definitely spot for the tenth series, but has said that it will be seen later this year with an eleventh series already commissioned and being filmed alongside the tenth series to save costs.

Seen as one of the tough lads in the community, coming to terms with being gay is something that Aaron feels unable to cope with, filled with panic about what others will think of him. However whilst it is eating away at him Aaron also begins to secretly embrace it going to gay nightclubs, an action that leads his guardian Paddy, who mistakenly believes Aaron’s strange behaviour is down to drugs, to discover Aaron is gay.

Running the coming out over two episodes on one evening, Emmerdale treated the issue with sensitivity, but also truth, showing that it is not always the person who is being told that is going to react negatively, but that for many realising it yourself can be a very scary, and for sadly for us a self-loathing experience due to those you have been surrounded by.

Hat tip to Qrtube.com

There’s been lots of rumours that we are soon going to see the first Coronation Street lesbian kiss with The Sun now claiming it will been seen on British screens in April.

The two actresses who will share the kiss are Brooke Vincent and Sacha Parkinson, who play Sophie Webster and Sian Powers, with the scene seeing a comforting hug turning into something a whole lot more passionate. The events leading up to the kiss between the pair who have taken a vow of chastity will see another character in the series, Ryan, attempt to kiss Sophie, something that leaves Sian distraught and running into the arms of her friend.

Rumours about the kiss have been floating around for a while with Brooke and Sian apparently having had long discussions on how to play the scene, with Brooke saying in an interview that:

“I’ve just told her as long as she sticks to her own side when it comes to the kissing scenes things will be fine. But no tongues!”

Whether the storyline will end up being nothing more than a token one off lesbian kiss or develop into anything more we’ll have to wait and see, but just in case it is make sure you’re watching Corrie  on Friday, April 9 otherwise you might just miss it!

Natalie Cassidy, who recently appeared in Strictly Come Dancing, has told Reveal magazine that one of the reasons that she left Eastenders was because she was uncomfortable with the lesbian affair storyline that developed between her and fellow nurse Naomi.

Believing that it didn’t fit with the character of Sonia Jackson, Natalie said “One of the reasons I left was because of the lesbian storyline I had – I felt that is wasn’t right for Sonia … Sometimes in soaps, people are so keen to get a shocking story that the character gets forgotten.”

However in something of a contradiction, Cassidy then went on to say that she would only return to the soap for good, – she is returning to Albert Square in February to attend Bianca’s wedding – if theres a big enough storyline, saying “I’d only do it if I had an exciting storyline. I’d hate to go back and dwindle in the background – I’d like Sonia to cause a stir!”

Via Press Association