HOME AND AWAY - HOME AND AWAY SET FOR SECOND LESBIAN KISS

HOME AND AWAY SET FOR SECOND LESBIAN KISS

The Australian soap Home and Away is set to air a second lesbian kiss, despite criticism from a number of family groups after the first kiss was screened last week.

Policewoman Charlie Buckton, played by Esther Anderson, is set to kiss Joey Collins (Katie Bell) in an upcoming episode, according to the Australian newspaper, the Herald Sun.

The first kiss was screened last week and saw the Summer Bay soap attract 1.2 million viewers, almost 60,000 more than usual, but the show's producers have rejected suggestions the lesbian storyline was created simply to boost ratings.

Bevan Lee, head of creative drama and development at Channel Seven, told Australian gay and lesbian news site Samesame: "The thing that saddens me, as a gay writer, is that a beautiful six-week story has been reduced to a facile argument about six missing seconds of screen time.

"What is a beautiful lesbian storyline has now been hijacked by interest groups, and it will now make it harder for us to do this in the future."

In 1994 Anna Friel caused a major stir for her lesbian kiss in the British soap Brookside.