As my Brookside co-star Anna Friel and I prepared to film our on-screen kiss 30 years ago, I could never have anticipated the cultural significance this simple act would have.
It was 1994, when section 28 was in full force, prohibiting the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, when Channel 4 aired the now famous lesbian kiss between my character, Margaret Clemence, and Friel’s, Beth Jordache, on the popular soap opera; the first time a kiss between two women had aired pre-watershed. It would for ever change the British media landscape and society’s perception of LGBTQ+ relationships.
At the time of filming, LGBTQ+ representation on television was minimal and often portrayed negatively. But in my world, as a 22-year-old actor, surrounded by gay people at work and often dancing in Manchester’s gay clubs at the weekends, I lived in a totally free and accepting bubble.
Brookside’s producers, Mal Young and Phil Redmond, were no strangers to groundbreaking scripts and this opportunity was a gift. Everyone, including Anna and I, were aware that we wanted to do this storyline and the LGBTQ+ community justice. It was important to us that this story, of two young girls exploring their sexuality, would come across as relatable and moving rather than oversexualised or titillating. We knew we were doing something important, something that could change hearts and minds, but we couldn’t have predicted the profound impact it would continue to have many years later.
The letters poured in, many from young people who felt seen and validated for the first time. People identified with Beth and Margaret. It was overwhelming and extremely rewarding. People still regularly approach me to thank me for that moment. Recently, as I arrived at a theatre in the West End where I was performing, a woman was waiting to say hello at the stage door. She shared how she grew up in a tiny village, struggling to come to terms with being a lesbian, terrified of telling her parents, fearing that something was wrong with her and that she would become a social pariah if people knew. She said watching the storyline gave her the confidence to come out. “It changed my life,” she told me. Her story is one of many I have been privileged to hear over the years and I’m always incredibly humbled. We should never underestimate the power of art. Storytelling can shine a light on a truth that not everyone can see.
In 2012, the kiss was shown as part of Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony at the Olympic Games in London. Flying under the radar of censorship in 76 countries that criminalised LGBTQ+ relationships at the time, it was televised to an audience that would have never normally witnessed such an act of love. I remain blown away to this day by the impact this one short scene had.
Three decades on and there are many more groundbreaking TV shows to celebrate. From Queer As Folk to It’s a Sin and everything in between, the landscape has thankfully changed and continues to do so. As a mother to two teenage girls, I see how things have moved on in the past decades, and the vast generational differences. My girls have all the Heartstopper books, and we devoured the wonderful TV adaptation together, as I bored them with tales of old, when I was at school and a book about two boys falling in love would not have been available in the school library. Representation in popular culture is crucial. Gen Z inspire me and it makes me so happy to know that I am raising kids in a time and place that is kinder to LGBTQ+ communities than it was in the past.
This Pride, as I reflect on the years since the kiss, I am reminded also that there is still much work to be done. According to the Human Dignity Trust, a UK-based charity that uses strategic litigation to challenge laws that criminalise LGBTQ+ people, there remain 64 countries where same-sex intimacy is criminalised, with 12 jurisdictions imposing the death penalty. A large proportion of these laws are colonial remnants that were exported to countries during the British empire. Dishearteningly, we are also witnessing further regression in various parts of the world, from Florida’s “don’t say gay” law to the recent passing of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill.
Much progress has been made in the UK, but, on the eve of a general election, it is essential that the next government continues to protect the hard-won rights of LGBTQ+ people in this country, while doing more to address our colonial legacy worldwide and support activists and governments to reform discriminatory laws.
There is power in art. There is strength in unity. And there is much pride in recognising just how far we have come.