Neighbours producer talks about gay romance plot

{jcomments on}Neighbours producer Susan Bower has discussed the Australian’s forthcoming gay romance storyline.

The storyline involves the soap’s first regular gay character Chris Pappas (James Mason) and new character nurse Aidan (Bob Morley). The storyline will be the soap’s first male-gay relationship in its 26 year history. The character of Chris Pappas was introduced in February 2010 to some critical acclaim here in the UK although doubts were raised over how committed the soap would be to having a fully fledged regular gay character because of the restrictions Neighbours faces in its current time-slot – regarding the kind of storylines it can cover and in what depth. In an interview with Digital Spy producer Susan Bower has discussed the forthcoming plot and how Neighbours will cover a gay relationship given its “family friendly” status.

We will treat any romance homosexual or heterosexual in a sensitive G-rated way. It is obvious that at 6.30pm a gay romance is a sensitive issue and for some reason on television it is alright for girls to kiss and experiment with their sexuality but it’s not alright for boys. That is something we are aware of, as annoying or disappointing as it is. We will treat the romance within the character. Chris is a naturally shy person – he is not a person who either flaunts his sexuality or his heart. So it will be done according to that character. And it may not be a full-on relationship. The character that Bob is playing is older and further down the track with his relationship testing, so it will be a relationship story rather than a gay male romance.” – Susan Bower speaking to Digital Spy

In the interview with the website Susan Bower also addressed the possibility of a backlash from some over the storyline and revealed there had been some already.

We are batting down the hatches because already we have seen in the media letters from viewers and even non-viewers who are less than thrilled. It was incredible that one of the letters said that Bob’s character was a nurse and how cliché was that, however it is counterbalanced that the Chris character is a mechanic so some of them are knee-jerk. We’re not going to please everyone, that is impossible.” – Susan Bower speaking to Digital Spy

Australia is more conservative – ala America – when it comes to gay characters than the UK. In the UK its almost a “code and convention” of the genre here for soaps to feature a regular gay or lesbian character in its cast. In fact at the moment all four major UK soaps have gay/lesbian couples within their cast – Coronation Street has two such couples although it has come under somewhat unfair criticism lately for that. In recent years Home and Away and Neighbours have both featured lesbian kisses which met with some controversy amongst more conservative elements. Daytime soaps in America have also met with similar controversy when they have screened same-sex kisses with One Life to Live and As The World Turns both coming under fire from “family groups” over such scenes. Despite this “backlash” from some quarters NBC soap Days of our Lives recently revealed it was embarking on a same-sex storyline – the soaps first in its 45 year history.