Colin (Michael Cashman) and Barry (Gary Hailes) — Photo: BBC
Long-running British soap opera EastEnders cut a planned romance between two gay characters in the 1980s due to the introduction of anti-gay legislation.
The show, which has been airing since 1985, caused public outrage in 1987 when it aired a relationship between characters Barry Clark and Colin Russell. The couple shared the first ever same-sex kiss in a British soap opera — a simple kiss on the forehead — but that was enough for the show to be branded “filth” and “EastBenders” by angry viewers.
Actor Gary Hailes, who played Barry, has now revealed that their relationship was expected to progress much further, including Barry coming out to his family and receiving homophobic backlash, but the storyline was axed after the government passed “Section 28.”
Section 28 was an amendment to existing legislation which prohibited local governments from “[promoting] homosexuality or [publishing] material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” and banned schools from teaching the “acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”
As then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said in 1987, “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay.”
Speaking on the Distinct Nostalgia podcast, Hailes said EastEnders abandoned the gay plotline in December 1987 “because of Section 28.”
The legislation came into effect in May 1988, but the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which aired EastEnders, opted to axe the storyline ahead of the amendment’s introduction.
“The BBC found themselves in a difficult position. They had to be seen to be doing right by the law,” he said of the broadcaster. “There was stuff we shot of Barry coming out to his dad and the backlash. They changed it and that helped put the brakes on what they could do with the characters.”
He added: “Like Romeo and Juliet they were not allowed to be together.””
Section 28 wasn’t repealed in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland until 2003. In Scotland, the amendment was repealed in 2000.
Though Hailes’ character was cut from the soap opera, the character of Colin Russell — portrayed by Michael Cashman — persisted, and the BBC ultimately decided to pursue a new same-sex romance storyline in 1988, after the legislation had come into effect.
Terry Sweeney, the first openly gay cast member of Saturday Night Live, had some harsh words for actor Chevy Chase, a member of the show’s original cast who has returned to host multiple times.
"Chevy is one of those turds you flush down the toilet but it comes back up again and again," the 75-year-old Sweeney, best remembered for his exaggerated impression of First Lady Nancy Reagan, told the New York Post.
Sweeney’s comments come as a new CNN documentary, I'm Chevy Chase, and You're Not, directed by Marina Zenovich, is set to premiere on January 1 at 8 p.m.
Same-sex pairs will be permitted to compete in British ice dance events, British Ice Skating -- the national governing body of figure skating, synchronized skating, and speed skating -- announced last week.
However, same-sex pairs will only be allowed to compete at the national level, as International Skating Union rules require pair and dance teams to be made up of one man and one woman, reports The Guardian.
The rule change was announced as part of British Ice Skating's updated championship requirements for the 2026-2027 season. The move follows similar changes adopted by Canada and Finland, with Canada becoming the first country to allow skaters of any gender to form a competitive pair or ice dance team in 2022.
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