Rebecca Root's comedy is cancelled and Riley Carter Millington is gone from EastEnders so does this mean that the whole trans actor thing is over now? I thought it was the final good thing to come about with regard to LGBT equality but it seems the BBC aren't bothered any more. Seems like Hollyoaks are sticking with Annie Wallace though, which is a very good thing, as she's probably the best actress of them all but very underused. She did say in an interview recently that she had big stuff coming up next year though so that's good. Whats the point of trumpeting how diverse they're being if their hearts really aren't into it?

I always felt that the inclusion of Kyle was just a box ticking exercise on the part of Dominic Treadwell Collins. He was brought in and really given very little to do. It was just a headline generator so DTC could be praised for bringing a transgender actor onto one of the UK's biggest soaps. And people fell for it, the pinnacle of this was Riley being crowned "the most influential LGBTI person in the UK" in the 2015 Rainbow List despite having only been in EE for two weeks.

I don't watch Hollyoaks but it seems like there's been a lot more character development with Sally than there was with Kyle on EE yet they haven't received half the coverage that EE got.

I know this will come across as cynical but there was definitely a noticeable push by TV shows to introduce transgender characters or contestants after the success of Orange is the New Black and Transparent and in the wake of Caitlyn Jenner's transition. American Idol were actually called out on it when they initially rejected a transgender singer only to get back in contact with him after Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair cover. He turned down their offer to audition again.

It was a box ticking thing, Kyle had little or no development, it was stupid.

Has Kyle left??? Was that his exit

For once Hollyoaks got it right. It seems to me that it was a box-ticking exercise in EastEnders' case, but Hollyoaks actually took the trouble to cast a good actress, not just any old transgender actress, and they created a good solid character for her to play. I think Annie Wallace is by far the best addition to the HO cast in a very long time.

The recent exits are awful.

Agree The Exits have been awful.

DTC thought it was 'fashionable' to introduce a trans character/actor - but gave him naff all to do.

Won't be missed really. You forgot he was even there.

Kyle was veey underused

Should there be transexual characters just for the sake of it or because they actually add something to the show? Kyle was a glorified extra. A nothing character created just to tick a box. A far cry from Laverne Cox's character in Orange Is The New Black.

Kyle, transexual or not, was bland. The very definition of beige.

People talk about box ticking and creating a decent character as if the concepts are mutually exclusive. There is NOTHING wrong with striving to represent different types of minorities on TV. You can 100% be committed to doing that without compromising on integrity or quality. The problem with Kyle was not that he was a box tick, it was that he was ONLY a box tick. He summed up everything that was wrong with DTC's approach to storylines; the idea was there but the execution of that idea was severely lacking.

You're right, of course, and I think that's what most of us meant, whether or not we explicitly said that.

Just to clarify (as I appreciate it was probably unclear in my post), I wasn't disagreeing with anyone specifically on here but I have heard this phrase 'box ticking' for Kyle's character and I think it's worth articulating that there's nothing wrong with box ticking in and of itself, it's when no logical creative progression happens after, that the term becomes a negative.

Ironically, for all the good that DTC no doubt intended when he conceived of Kyle's character, he's probably made it a lot harder for there to be a transgender character introduced in the next five or so years who won't be treated with abject suspicion. That's the really sad thing about Kyle's 'legacy'.

I think it helps that her main storylines had little to do with her gender or coming out to anyone (apart from the obvious reason as to why Myra didn't spot her as an ex) whereas Kyle's only storyline after his introduction was being rejected by his mother. This is understandable in terms of the characters: Sally transitioned years ago whereas Kyle did so recently and is still very young. Also in terms of the fact that Hollyoaks has already had two past storylines focused on a young person's transition. But I wonder if that aspect being much more prominent in Kyle's case wasn't the main part of what made him come across as a "box tick"

I'm not suggesting that a good storyline or well written trans character CAN'T involve someone newly coming out or realising they are trans - just that if it is their main storyline, or the character lacks a strong personality and other interests, it is more likely to come across as tokenism

But let's be realistic to statistics. What Square in this world would have 3 gays 2 lesbians a transgender and 2 Bisexuals and a crossdresser in DTC's era we had all that at 1 time and realistically there wouldn't be this many.

As someone who is LGBT (a gay man), I think to be honest it just screamed of desperation and I don't mean the whole transgender thing - just part of DTCs ret-conning of established characters and their histories. He was a spare part and his exit was apt for a low-key character.

Yes he has left.

Traditional sitcoms have been struggling for a long time (with the exception of revivals of past hits like Absolutely Fabulous, Birds of a Feather, Still Open All Hours etc.) Rebecca Root did well to get two series, I don't think it's necessarily the kiss of death to trans actors making headway

Kyle didn't even get a proper exit- that is how much SOC thought of his character!!

I really liked Kyle.