Colin Russell is a fictional character from the BBCsoap operaEastEnders, played by Michael Cashman. The character appears between 5 August 1986 and 23 February 1989 and on 8 and 9 September 2016.[1][2] Colin is originally portrayed as a middle-class yuppie with a kind heart. The character is Walford's first on-screen gay resident and he featured in the UK's first homosexual kiss on a soap opera, which caused controversy in the British press. Cashman reprised the role of Colin for the funeral of Dot Cotton (June Brown) for two episodes broadcast on 12 and 13 December 2022.
Colin and Guido were responsible for the first mouth-to-mouth gay kiss on a British television soap opera (24 January 1989). The Sun newspaper writer Piers Morgan branded it a "love scene between yuppie poofs".
Colin, a graphic designer, moves to Albert Square in August 1986. Colin is gay but he initially keeps this secret from the other residents of Walford. Debbie Wilkins (Shirley Cheriton) befriends Colin and they have dinner together. He comforts her when she cries for her dead fiancé, but stops her when she attempts to kiss him. In November, Colin acquires a younger boyfriend named Barry Clark (Gary Hailes). They move in together and when Dot Cotton (June Brown) discovers they are sharing a bed, she is mortified and spreads rumours that Colin has AIDS. Some of the community shun Colin, refusing to speak to him as a result. Despite this altercation, Colin and Dot forge a close friendship when Colin supports Dot following her husband Charlie Cotton's (Christopher Hancock) bigamy.
Colin and Barry. Their gay relationship was one of the more controversial storylines in 1987. Colin's kiss on Barry's forehead (17 November 1987) caused numerous complaints.
Barry causes Colin problems by interfering with his work, deliberately making him jealous, and engaging in criminal antics with villainous Nick Cotton (John Altman) leaving Colin to pay for the damages. Further problems arise when Colin is called for jury service in 1987. The defendant is a member of the gangster organisation known as The Firm, and when Colin refuses to give a verdict of not guilty at the trial, Colin's flat is vandalised by Brad Williams (Jonathan Stratt). Colin calls the police, but they are more concerned about Colin's relationship with Barry than actually catching the vandals. They discover that Barry was under the age of legal sexual consent for homosexual sex when he and Colin began living together, and the police decide to inform Barry's parents (in 1987 the legal age of sexual consent for gay men was 21). Barry is petrified of his homophobic father and decides to end his relationship with Colin.
Colin grows depressed, which worsens when he is mugged in an alley and beaten up, and he suffers a spell of poor health in 1988 after his eyesight starts giving him trouble, he gets unexplained dizzy spells and occasionally cannot move his legs. Colin fears he has AIDS, however tests confirm that he has multiple sclerosis. Colin's GP, Harold Legg (Leonard Fenton), decides that it is in Colin's best interests not to tell him the diagnosis, fearing the worry may bring on another attack prematurely. He tells Colin he is overworked and anaemic. Colin starts enjoying a social life again. At a party he meets a new business contact, Guido Smith (Nicholas Donovan), who becomes a romantic interest and moves in with Colin.
However, in January 1989, Colin's health deteriorates, and Legg finally reveals that he has MS. Colin is furious at Dr. Legg for lying and threatens to report him to the authorities. Colin spends weeks coming to terms with the news, but Guido stands by him and Colin eventually accepts his condition. Problems arise in Colin and Guido's relationship in 1989; Colin begins to believe that Guido is only staying with him out of pity. Colin decides to move to his brother's house in Bristol. He opts not to tell Guido that he is going, but a surprise visit from Barry stalls his departure and Guido comes home to see Colin packed and ready to leave. Colin tells Guido that he needs some space and asks him to look after his flat whilst he sorts himself out. He then leaves Walford whilst his friends wave him goodbye.
2016-2022
Twenty-seven years later, in September 2016, Dot discovers that Colin is marrying a man called Eddie Tsang (Kevin Shen) and has invited her to his wedding, which she accepts, but then has doubts as she still believes that same-sex marriage is wrong, due to her religious beliefs; despite accepting gay relationships. Colin arrives at Dot's house, saying he had a feeling she would not go to the wedding. Colin visits The Queen Victoriapublic house and witnesses the funeral of Paul Coker (Jonny Labey), who was killed in a homophobic attack, and laments to another gay man, Johnny Carter (Ted Reilly), of the homophobia in the world, but is comforted by the majority of gay acceptance. After exchanging memories, Dot agrees to attend the wedding, much to Colin's delight. He attends Dot's funeral in December 2022 and reunites with Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean). He reveals that Eddie has died and has reunited with Barry.
Character creation and development
Colin was EastEnders' first homosexual character. Introduced in August 1986, Colin was one of the more popular characters in the early years of the programme.[4] At first the audience and the residents of Walford were kept in the dark about the fact that Colin was gay. This changed by the end of the year, at which time Colin acquired a young boyfriend named Barry Clark (Gary Hailes).
Colin was one of the most controversial characters of his time — mainly because gay-orientated content was still relatively rare on prime-time television during the mid-1980s. Gay characters that existed were usually farcical, campparodies, created purely for comic relief, such as Mr Humphries in the situation comedy, Are You Being Served?[5] Although EastEnders was not the first UK televised soap to include a gay character (Channel 4's Brookside had that accolade), the portrayal of an openly gay male, let alone a homosexual relationship, on a prime-time, pre-watershed BBC programme was unheard of before Colin and Barry's introduction.[6] The licence funded BBC held a far greater audience share than the commercially funded Channel 4, thus public reaction to EastEnders' gay characters was much stronger and more widely documented in the British press.[6]
Colin was a middle-class, well-meaning, slightly uptight yuppie, and his inclusion was an attempt to portray the gentrification of the East End of London. The openly gay actor and gay activist Michael Cashman, who had roots in the East End, was chosen to play the role. Cashman initially resisted playing Colin, but was persuaded by his boyfriend, Paul Cottingham, and after receiving his parents' backing, he accepted the part.[7]
The makers of EastEnders decided that Colin's partner needed to be in stark contrast in order to prevent Colin from becoming too rarefied (up until this point middle-classed characters had been relatively unsuccessful and had failed to fully integrate into EastEnders predominantly working-class community).[8] Barry was scripted to be much more down-to-earth in comparison: working-class instead of middle-class; openly gay instead of 'in the closet'; loud and brash instead of shy and retiring, and in addition the age difference between the two was substantial — Colin being roughly fifteen years Barry's senior.[8]
A relationship between Colin and Barry was quickly developed and the residents of Albert Square gossiped in hushed voices about the true nature of their friendship. In 1987 EastEnders was responsible for screening the first ever gay kiss in a UK soap opera, much to the outrage of the viewing public.[9] A small kiss on the forehead, given to Barry from Colin, received a record number of complaints from angry viewers. In addition, the right-wing British press reacted with fury. They began a smear campaign, branding the programme 'filth' and, for a while, dubbed the show EastBenders.[6] There were even questions in parliament about whether it was appropriate to have gay men in a family show when AIDS was sweeping the country.[10]
Despite the initial negativity, the storyline had a powerful impact on public attitudes and the show's handling of Colin and Barry's relationship was deemed by many gay activists as something of a breakthrough.[11] Not only did EastEnders brave the wrath of many moralistic viewers and bigoted journalists, but they also exposed that bigotry through the characters in the show — most notably via the inane naivety of local gossipDot Cotton (June Brown), who erupted into horror and ignorant self-righteousness upon discovering Colin and Barry's secret, and even spread rumours that Colin had AIDS. The episode featuring the kiss was watched by over 17 million viewers,[10] and Colin and Barry remained on-screen for several years, accessing millions of viewers each episode — the gay community were finally being represented on mass audience mainstream television.[6] Gradually, negative assumptions began to lessen, public opinion began to shift in Colin and Barry's favour and even Dot got used to the idea of having gay neighbours. Michael Cashman has commented: "This was a flagship BBC show, the most popular series in the country, and Colin and Barry were there day in, day out. The relationship wasn't sensationalised, and the public devoured it."[10] The importance of Colin was so great in the gay community at the time that Cashman was asked to lead a march against Section 28, which prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality or the acceptability of homosexuality.
Barry and Colin remained an on-screen couple until the end of 1987. Their characters were used to highlight many other gay issues, such as homophobia, gay bashing and gay legal inequality — i.e. the legal age of gay sexual consent (which at the time was 21 instead of 16 as it is today). Eventually, the differences between Colin and Barry became too great for them to overcome, they split and Barry left Walford for a job on a cruise ship.
Colin had a health scare during the autumn of 1988 and for a moment it looked like EastEnders might have been about to do an AIDS storyline. The press speculated that Colin was showing early signs of the disease and the possibility was even briefly indicated too on-screen when Colin himself began to fear that his symptoms were AIDS related. In fact giving Colin AIDS was never the programme's intention — it was felt that the most simplistic and unhelpful message that the programme could give out would be to have its only homosexual character become HIV positive — particularly as it happened at a time when misconceptions and fear about AIDS were rife.[4] Colin was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, although this fact was kept from him by his doctor for the remainder of the year and he lived out 1988 with the belief that he was in perfect health.
Cashman as Colin during his 2016 return.
Towards the end of 1988 Colin found new love, with a fellow yuppie — Guido Smith (Nicholas Donovan) — whom he met through his work. Colin's gay relationship was once again the cause of much controversy in January 1989 when EastEnders aired the first homosexual mouth-to-mouth kiss on a British television soap opera. The chaste peck on the lips between Colin and Guido resulted in a front page denunciation in The Sun newspaper, written by then Sun writer Piers Morgan, who described it as "a homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs... when millions of children were watching". The kiss was watched by twenty million people and came at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s government had set forward a moral agenda that urged a return to traditional family values. The Sun printed the assertion that "Furious MPs last night demanded a ban on EastEnders as the BBC soap showed two men kissing full on the lips".[3]
Cashman decided to quit the show in the early part of 1989. While still on the cast of EastEnders, Cashman had founded the influential gay campaign group Stonewall and has now given up acting to become a LabourMEP. He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 where he was the Labour spokesperson on human rights. He is also an active campaigner across a wide range of issues.[9] On screen, Colin finally learned he had multiple sclerosis and decided to leave Walford to live with his brother and face a rapid decline in health. In an interview featured in EastEnders Handbook by Hilary Kingsly, Michael Cashman looked back fondly on Albert Square and his character, commenting: "Quite a few gay activists thought Colin too nice, but I thought he was just right. There was a fuss about his kiss with Barry which was sad — people should be upset by demonstrations of hate, not love".[12]
On 25 August 2016, it was announced that Cashman had reprised the role for two episodes to air the following month.[13] Colin shared scenes with Dot Cotton (Brown), but full details of the storyline were initially held back.[13] Of his return to EastEnders, Cashman stated: "It was a real joy, indeed a privilege, to return to my old home of Albert Square. To be amongst so many friends again, and to be back in the place where 30 years ago I started an amazing journey. An amazing journey which incredibly helped to change the country, and certainly its attitude to lesbian, gay and bisexual people."[13]
Reception
In 2020, Sara Wallis and Ian Hyland from The Daily Mirror placed Colin 85th on their ranked list of the best EastEnders characters of all time, commenting on how he was the soap's first gay character and how his storylines highlighted homophobia, as well as his kiss with Barry being the first gay kiss on a British soap opera.[14]
Dr. Harold Legg is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Leonard Fenton. Dr. Legg is Walford's original GP. He is widely trusted within the community, and is always on hand to dish out advice. Dr Legg appears as a regular character between 1985 and 1989, but continued to appear in a recurring role until 1997. He was officially retired in 1999 by executive producer Matthew Robinson, but made brief returns in 2000, 2004 and 2007. He returned for a longer storyline from 18 October 2018 and departed on 15 February 2019 when he died of pancreatic cancer.
Dorothy "Dot" Branning is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by June Brown. In a special episode entitled EastEnders: Dot's Story (2003) a young Dot was played by Tallulah Pitt-Brown in flashbacks. A tragicomic character, Dot was known for her devout Christian faith, gossiping, chain smoking, hypochondria, and motherly attitude to those in need.
Mark Fowler is a fictional character in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Mark, an original regular character when the series started in February 1985, became a semi-regular after his original portrayer David Scarboro was written out of the role in April 1985. Scarboro made brief returns to the role in 1986 and 1987. Scarboro died by suicide in April 1988 and subsequently Mark was recast two years later on his return, with former Grange Hill regular Todd Carty taking on the role. From this point the character was a permanent fixture in the series and Carty remained in the role until the character was written out of the series in early 2003.
Sonia Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Natalie Cassidy. Her first appearance was on 2 December 1993 and she departed on 2 February 2007. She returned briefly in 2010 along with other members of the Jackson family, and re-appeared in the soap from 8 to 18 February 2010 and again in January 2011. Sonia returned as a permanent character on 14 January 2014, as part of a storyline that saw her mother Carol Jackson develop breast cancer. Cassidy took maternity leave in 2016 and Sonia left on 20 September 2016 for her dream job in Kettering. Cassidy made two guest stints during her maternity leave, on 25 December 2016 via webcam and for a three episode arc from 14 to 18 April 2017. She returned full-time on 27 June 2017. On 29 December 2020, it was announced that Cassidy would take an extended break from the show, with Sonia set to leave the Square to return in spring 2021. She departed on 8 January and returned on 16 April.
Nick Cotton is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders played by John Altman on a semi-regular basis from the soap's debut episode on 19 February 1985. Altman has stated that his initial exit was due to producer Julia Smith demanding he was written out after he opposed a decision to make his character gay. After Smith's departure, the character made numerous brief or more protracted stints until his onscreen death in February 2015, which was written to coincide with the 30th anniversary of EastEnders.
Nigel Bates is a fictional character from the British BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Paul Bradley from 1992 to 1998. Introduced in 1992 by Leonard Lewis, the character was incorporated gradually and brought back as a regular following a brief stint due to a popular reception. He is depicted as a lovable loser and a nerd. Bradley quit the role and Nigel was written out of the serial in April 1998 and was given a happy ending. The door was left open for a possible future return.
Simon Raymond is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Andrew Lynford. Simon is introduced in 1996 as the homosexual brother of Tiffany Mitchell. His relationship with the bisexual character Tony Hills featured a gay kiss that caused controversy in the UK; numerous complaints were made because of its broadcasting. Simon remained in the serial until 1999, at which time it was mutually agreed between Lynford and executive producer Matthew Robinson, that the character had run its course. The character was given a happy ending, reuniting with his former boyfriend Tony to travel Europe.
Mary Smith, also known as Mary the Punk, is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Linda Davidson, from 5 March 1985 to 26 May 1988. Punk Mary is Walford's original wild child. She often makes life difficult for herself due to her stubborn, defensive nature and she tends to feel that everyone around her is out to get her. In fact, Mary is her own worst enemy and most of her misfortune is down to her irresponsible behaviour and her inability to heed good advice. Davidson's return to the soap for a single episode was announced in December 2018. She returns for the funeral of Doctor Legg in episode 5871, originally broadcast on 19 February 2019. Davidson reprised the role of Mary again in 2022 for the funeral of Dot Cotton.
Dr. Fred Fonseca is a fictional character from the popular soap opera EastEnders, played by Jimi Mistry from 13 September 1998 to 10 February 2000.
Binnie Roberts is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Sophie Langham from 9 June 1994 until 16 May 1995. Binnie is an out and proud lesbian, which is in stark contrast to her shy and retiring girlfriend, Della Alexander.
Della Alexander is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders played by Michelle Joseph from 1 March 1994 until 16 May 1995. Della is the first lesbian character to be featured on the show.
Barry Clark is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Gary Hailes from 18 November 1986 to July 1988, returning for one episode on 23 February 1989. Hailes reprised the role in December 2022 for the funeral of Dot Cotton.
Gary Hailes is an English actor.
Christian Clarke is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, portrayed by John Partridge. He first appeared in the show's 3,509th episode, originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on 17 January 2008, and was introduced as the brother of established character Jane Beale. He was introduced as a new gay character for the show, following the popularity of Coronation Street's Sean Tully. Christian and Partridge's casting were announced on 20 November 2007.
Syed Masood is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Marc Elliott, and first appeared on screen on 21 April 2009. Syed is a British Pakistani and is the eldest son of Masood Ahmed and Zainab Masood, and older brother of Tamwar, Shabnam and Kamil Masood. Syed's storylines see him fall in love with a man, Christian Clarke, and his eventual acceptance that he is gay. Syed initially marries his girlfriend Amira Shah but later comes out, and enters a relationship with Christian, despite the pressures of his family and his Muslim faith.
Dr Al Jenkins is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Adam Croasdell. He first appeared on 1 May 2009. It was announced on 26 November 2009 that the character would leave the soap in early 2010. His final appearance was on 4 February 2010.
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