Is anyone else a little tired of BBC Exec's stringing out unlikely gay relationships? They don't do it to heterosexual ones.

Christian/Syed
Johnny Carter/Danny Pennant/The Foreigner (forgot his name but glad they cut that off pretty quickly and send them on their way!)

& now it's Ben and Paul Coker. I'm sorry but whenever I see them both, as a gay man from london, I find it a pretty unbelievable matching to be honest. Like the scene on friday in the funeral parlour, I mean come on..... it just looked silly.

I think a bit of research is needed from the Beeb as they keep getting it wrong, but they never to with the straight couples (although I think Stacey & Kush are a better match than Stacey & Martin)! Oh and Tamwar & Nancy look a bit unrealistic too.

I would love to see a realistic gay couple on the screens, something to identify with and cherish!

Why do you think your examples are unbelievable? Are you talking about chemistry?

Well I just think they are a really unlikely pairing, it's like EE just wanted Ben to have a gay relationship. Would've been more realistic and perhaps more interesting if Ben was matched with Jay, Martin or Liam (Branning) instead of throwing an unknown hot totty in the mix.

So whenever I see it on TV I can't take it seriously.

Maybe it's because I'm gay... But it's like putting Sonia and Kush together. It just doesn't work...

I don't really have an opinion on Paul and Ben. Although, I do think that it's happened, very quickly.

I don't see any chemistry between Stacey/Kush or Stacey/Martin.

With Nancy and Tamwar, it's a case of, 'opposite attracts'. I love the pairing. They just seem to work well, together, IMO.

OK, I understand what you mean.

Sorry, but the proportion of gay men compared with straight people is miniscule. You look at people in Emmerdale or the Scottish Highlands and they have to find each other or they live a lonely life...

Gays in London? Well, there is alot - but they have to find the right one in their immediate area. He must be known as an established character..

As for Christian/Syed. You may not find them memorable characters but there are plenty that do. Curse the name Lorraine Newman for dropping them

Do you realise Paul/Ben are the first gay couple on EE for years....

As a gay man Living in London this is the hardest place to meet a potential boyfriend, it's a hard hunting ground.

Isn't part of the issue with Ben and Paul though that originally it was supposed to be Ben and Jonny - with Jonny being sensitive and helping Ben come out and breaking up with Abby. But then Jonny left after they'd already ready started the story with Abby so they had to get someone else in - and because they don't really have time to go the 'sensitive' route (if its going to tie in with Kathy's return) they've gone for 'Paul is sexy and Ben immediately fancies him' approach instead to get to the big dramatic fall-out quicker rather than dragging it on for another 12 months.

Ben and Paul need to be given time fo develop.

I can see what your saying.

Would EE have shown a heterosexual couple getting it on in a funeral parlour while a dead body is laying in a coffin in there?

I very much doubt it... It's like if your gay on EE then it automatically means you've got to be extremely highly sexed at all times, to the point where you'd even get it on in a room with a dead body...

And of course, being gay has to be your main defining character trait... It can't just be one part of your character (amongst many other facet's)

Interestingly, they've been much more realistic with their depictions of lesbian relationship's/characters over the years... Sonia and the Carter woman being the latest example of two independent women with many different aspects to their characters who also happen to be lesbians...

First male gay couple maybe.

Sonia is bisexual not a lesbian.

Try living in Weston-super-Mare, it's Bristol or for me to busload a lot of Brummies down. The ones down here and the neighbouring towns just want sex or are creepy.

Well no - it was actually Johnny/Luca.
Then Sonia and Tina.

I've met people and got it on straight away.

I'm gay and young.

It's not a relationship though It's only been about sex so far and I think that is highly realistic. Surely we need to see how it develops before we start calling it unbelievable.

Don't forget Max who went through Tanya, Stacey, Vanessa and married Kirsty in a few months and each time it was love.

Not yet, but they've got it on nearly everywhere else over the last 30 years I'm sure it's coming.

Ian and Jane got it on on the floor of the Beales' front room after Lucy died, while Bobby and Cindy were upstairs and Jane knew it was where Lucy died.

Michelle Fowler conceived both Vicki and Mark Jr behind the bar of the Vic and Courtney Mitchell was conceived there too.

Yeah, that was a bit sick... Though at least Ian didn't know.

I think Ben and Paul's relationship is borderline pathetic. Within minutes, they had snogged. and by the end of the first or second episode, they had shagged. And this was just meeting in the square, not in a random nightclub. Especially coming from a scared shitless bloke like Ben. It's been poorly rushed and is being used a scapegoat to allow Ben to come out the closet...................again.

This isn't 1954, this is what happens. It's realistic. People shag on first meets all the time. Either EE is a reflection of how society is or it isn't. Two single young gay lads who meet up and are sexually attracted to each other, rogering each other within 5 minutes isn't exactly a deviation from normality.

What would you prefer, 8 weeks later and a 'meet the parents' at the Mitchells and Ben grabs Pauls hand and says "I'm ready" and leads him suggestively upstairs off camera?

Ben banged Lola for an experiment and he took Abi up the Arches even when he doesn't want to.

At least there is a genuine connection with Ben and Paul. It's probably the least pathetic relationship he's had.

Originally Posted by Stuey_James:
“Is anyone else a little tired of BBC Exec's stringing out unlikely gay relationships? They don't do it to heterosexual ones.


MY VIEW: The Eastenders exec is gay?

& now it's Ben and Paul Coker. I'm sorry but whenever I see them both, as a gay man from london, I find it a pretty unbelievable matching to be honest. Like the scene on friday in the funeral parlour, I mean come on..... it just looked silly.


My View: Every gay man is different and its even been proved that gay man are more promiscuous than heterosexual people.

I think a bit of research is needed from the Beeb as they keep getting it wrong, but they never to with the straight couples (although I think Stacey & Kush are a better match than Stacey & Martin)! Oh and Tamwar & Nancy look a bit unrealistic too.”

My view: I think it is quite realistic at the moment and is has gone very slow. What people don't realise is that many gay men meet on grindr and have sex the first night. GAY MEN HAVE NEEDS!!![/b]

We straight people have needs too but some of us prefer to have sex in a committed relationship rather than whoring around. (I say some of us as some straight people think nothing of having sex with someone the first night). We're all different.

Did she axe them? Pretty sure I read (at the time) that both Marc and John decided to call it a day. Usually axed characters get nondescript exits or killed off at worst. Syed and Christian got a happy departure.

They wern't used under her. No upcoming stories - of course they walked.