Why Neighbours should be proud of gay storyline

Neighbours is celebrating its 25^th year on air with some big storylines, one of which is the introduction of a gay character to the soap.

The story, which is due to come to a head on Channel 5 next week highlights the struggles of a gay teenager and coming out at school. Includes spoilers for UK viewers. 

Due the conservative nature of Australian television, Neighbours is restrained by what it can do in terms of grabbing the viewers’ attention, so the idea of a shocking full on ‘pash’ is out of the question. 

Over the past few months we have seen Chris Pappas, played by James Mason, become friends with Andrew Robinson (Jordan Patrick Smith) and began dating Summer Hoyland (Jordy Lucas). It’s imperative that if someone is going to come out as gay on a soap, they usually have a girlfriend. The reason for that is obvious although this time, it’s different as you will see.

We get the odd look from Chris, looking at Andrew and it’s down to the viewers to join each look until it spells out the word GAY. Next week, head teacher Michael Williams (Sandy Winton) launches a school project about honesty. This prompts Chris to try and reveal the truth to Summer, so takes her iPod and records the revelation on it.

The revelation is later heard by Michael, but his gossip obsessed daughter Tasha finds out that there is someone at school who is gay and begins a witch hunt for that person. Now if this was in the UK, I would be expecting Tasha’s witch hunt to be demanding and nasty. Although it later transpires that she just wants a gay best friend.

Suspicion falls on Chris’ girlfriend Summer, but with the pressure getting too much he announces in class that it’s him everyone should be ‘bagging’. His close mate Andrew also stands up, stating that “if anyone has a problem with that then they have me to deal with”. Andrew fully supports Chris until he finds out that the object of Chris’ desires is in fact him. 

The coming out storyline on Neighbours should be praised for the way it has been handled. The decision to play it out at school will resonate with some viewers who may be experiencing a similar problem. There does not appear to be any outright homophobia from any of the main characters. Andrew’s problem arises due to the fact he thinks Chris has just pretended to be his friend to get close. Surprisingly his girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend fully supports his decision and launches a crusade to make sure that he is not treated any differently.

The real test will be if Neighbours explore the character of Chris in more detail, or whether he will be sidelined due to fears of offending some fans of the show – hard to believe in this day of age.

 Neighbours airs weeknights on Channel 5 at 5.30pm.