Daily Express Article Brands Gay Affairs ‘Sordid’

An article in the Daily Express on the baby-swap plot in EastEnders has branded gay affairs in soaps ‘sordid’.

An article in the Daily Express on the baby-swap plot in EastEnders has branded gay affairs in soaps ‘sordid’ and ranked them alongside incest, rape and paedophilia. The article is critical of the controversial EastEnders baby-swap plot which has seen complaints to the BBC top 9,000. The BBC has now announced the plot will be cut short with a new ending filmed to wrap up the storyline ahead of schedule. It was also announced this week that actress Samantha Womack, who plays Ronnie Branning in the soap, will leave EastEnders in May. According to tabloid reports the actress quit the soap because of the baby-swap storyline.

 

An article in the Daily Express while criticising the storyline and other ‘sensational’ storylines within EastEnders has labelled gay affairs ‘sordid’ in an attack on storylines such as rape, incest and paedophilia which have also featured in the BBC soap. Below is part of the article from the Daily Express in which the writer, Chris Roycroft Davis, attacks a wide range of storylines including gay affairs/relationships.

 

But how often does your everyday life involve murder, prostitution, incest, rape, paedophilia, homosexual affairs, torture, gang fights, drug addiction, alcoholism or armed robbery? All of these sordid topics have been screened by the BBC whenever the ratings war with ITV demands a few even more shocking episodes. – Chris Roycroft Davis in the Daily Express

 

Later in the article the writer blames EastEnders for storylines he dislikes within Coronation Street and Emmerdale! Davis singles out the lesbian romance in Corrie between Sian (Sacha Parkinson) and Sophie (Brooke Vincent) which has proved hugely popular with some fans of the soap.

 

EastEnders’ excesses have forced Corrie and Emmerdale to sink to its level so that parents squirm with embarrassment as the Street’s teenage lesbians Sophie and Sian make love in prime time and Emmerdale’s Ryan and Maisie have an incestuous relationship.  – Chris Roycroft Davis in the Daily Express

 

A lesbian kiss between Sophie and Sian on New Year’s Day was the subject of a few complaints to ITV who felt the kiss “glamorised” lesbianism to teenagers. However, while the storyline is Coronation Street‘s first lesbian plot the other soaps such as Emmerdale, Brookside, Hollyoaks, Family Affairs, EastEnders and Neighbours have all featured lesbian romances. Brookside was the first UK soap to include a lesbian kiss, in the 1990s, on prime-time television.

 

You can read the full Daily Express article by Chris Roycroft Davis by clicking here >>.