I cant even recall the last time they went to Chester to film a single scene! Infact H might as well be filmed in Scotland wheir it would be cheaper and nobody would even notice!

Infact all soaps could be filmed in Scotland to cut costs as they all have their own little 'fake' outside sets anyway which could be rebuilt anywhier!

Well this is a first. You've started a thread without the word "stereotype"

PMSL well thats because hollyoaks dont have any, but they do have the great JP & Keiron. - if only other soaps what follow such a great example.

Yes, how dare soaps have a camp gay man as a character - because they don't exist, do they?

JP great I think not, I can't stand the gimp, HO have better characters and actors then him! All he does is moan, he is so dull. I liek Kieron though

There's not much need to film it on location in Chester anymore, it's expensive and probably also has to be agreed with the local council etc so it's more trouble than it's worth.

Not quite what I said. It is the way television in the UK almost allways has the "stereotype" when a gay male is on screen.

All I ask for is some fairness with gay men who dont act like woman! But I guess this is to much to ask for in 2008.

I remember they often used to film or have scenes on a bridge or by a river, I presume that would have been Chester! It can't recall the last time they filmed in Chester either though!

I live near Chester, i recognize the high street bits, but any others i dont recall..Maybe when i was in Chester i used to just stick to the main high street shops..Yes there was a bridge and river there..Not familiar with it, cos not there much..lol

Theres christian in ee. hes not really womany-acting, and remember tiffanys brother and his boyfriend? they werent either. neither is marcus in corrie, really. so, not just hollyoaks/ soaps dont have to follow it's example at all, as they have had before or CURRENTLY, non-womany acting gay characters. so what are you talking about other soaps have to follow hollyoak's lead? so youre saying other soaps should have sensationalist (albeit very well done) storylines wth gay charactrs instead of making it incidental to their character?

As I dont watch corrie anymore, I really dont care what that soap does, they can have 5 Ms Cottons if they want, I wont be watching.

As for ee, yes Christain is slightly more manly and I like that! But still has a strong element of campness which is sad.

Hollyoaks is best for gay males IMO as it shows blokes as blokes and not some 70s thing.

Do you really think that? I actually find it a shame that JP never just has an ordinary open relationship with an openly gay man. Instead, he sneaks around, either with his "straight" best friend or the local catholic priest, who are hiding their sexualities, and as a result their relationships are portrayed as some forbidden sordid secret.

but again with corrie, you cant judge that by saying it should follow hollyoaks lead., since u dotn watch it.

Most gat men do have a touch of campness about them. if you go on abtout gay characters in soap and complain about someone having even a touch of campiness, thats a bit stupid. and youre being a bit hypocritical regarding hollyoaks: JP is basically a slut: since coming out he has slept with four guys, so hollyoaks now basically has a slut who seems to sleep around a bit, and a wayward priest as its gay characters:

why should other soaps follow storylines that are always about the characters sexuality, when it should just be incidental to them.

some 70's thing? christ sake, stereotypes are there for a reason you know, i have a gay mate who is about as stereotypical as they come, they do exist, more so than "normal" acting gay guyss, so stop complainin about campness

His boyfriend Spike was openley gay, he ended up cheating on him with Craig and then dumping him but its fair to say Spike was out and proud and unapoligetic.

I agree HO is best for gay relationships, Im not gay but my best friend is and he found the JP/C storyline incredibly relatable.

Christain is EE is the best gay soap character in soap! Also Kris is HO is the best gay one in that, well he is bi

That is one relationship, where JP cheated. I actually think, despite it's other current problems, the best portrayed gay relationship in soaps at the moment is Paul and Johnny in Emmerdale. They are characters who just happen to be gay, as opposed to "gay characters." They fit into village life, and their sexuality is incidental to the plots, not the main drive of them.

Of course, everybody will have different perceptions, I just find the way JP is portrayed to be quite dire at present, and I think the priest storyline is stretching credibility too far. I quite enjoyed his relationship with Craig, but I don't see why he has to then have another secret, sneaky affair.

agree abiout johnny and paul actually, i like johnny, not a great character but not really camp either. hollyoaks gay characters seem to be actually stronger characters, but issues always seem to be made out them, slightly sensationalist ones. not sayin thats an alltogether bad thing, though, it often makes for decent viewing.

I dont watch Emmerdale but I entirely see your point about how it's good his sexuality is incidental. I know JP cheated on Spike but im just saying I think he'd rather have it open like that, I agree about father Kieron as well it's just a bit too much.

I actually applaud HO for having Craig, this well established character for 5 years, who was so into girls, to have this 'sexual confussion' I think that was much more of a brave and important move than to have JP (as much as I love him) come in HO and then shortly afterwards come out the closet, perhaps that means more to me because in that situation my friend really empathised with Craig's situation rather than JPs I dunno, but I thought that was pretty ground breaking to do that with a character that we already had on our screens for years and make it so believable (Of course it was nothing like the ridiculous Sonia/lesbian sl on EE a few years back) and to have Craig really struggle with it was close to life not everyone can accept that within themselves as quickly as others can. I mean I really dont watch corrie or emmerdale so for all I know they have done similliar things.

I agree, I quite liked the Craig storyline, it's just the Kieran one now that is stretching it for me. I just feel like the producers saw the popularity of JP and Craig, and have tried to replace it for a bit of sensationalism. For me it just doesn't work.

I agree that Craig was portrayed well as struggling with his sexuality. I also thought that Corrie did this well with Todd. The seeds were planted when he first came into it, and it was, IMO, a very well thought out slow burn storyline. I just wish they'd bring him back!

With regard to the location issue, this is a by-product of the show's success. Fans will inevitably want to watch location work being recorded, I would too if they were filming in my locality - but when you've got a show that goes out five nights a week it will slow things up if crowds keep getting in the way.

Grange Hill suffered the same problem in its early years - fans disrupted location filming so every couple of years a new school had to be found to double as "Grange Hill". Eventually, the problem was solved when the BBC bought ATV Elstree, primarily for its new soap (EastEnders), and such was the available capacity at these studios Grange Hill moved there also.

The ending of Grange Hill has meant Lime Pictures now has only one major series in continuous production and from that viewpoint it makes more sense to use facilities, internal and external, no longer required for Grange Hill. Sad as it may be to see Grange Hill "deleted" so soon after cancellation, we have already seen the school morphed into Hollyoaks' comprehensive and the rear of the building is now also being redeveloped.

John Paul and Craig had a scene on a bridge Craig's second to last episode. Was that Chester?

It makes sense for them not to film much in Chester. Everytime I've been there, there's loads of Japanese tourists constantly snapping photos. I'd imagine that it would be too much like hard work telling them to switch their flash off...

In all honesty though, up until recently I didn't realise that most of the locations are a set in Liverpool. They've managed to construct a set that does actually look like Chester - with the sandstone and arches etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollyoaks

I like Jonny too, but he's always been a supporting character and now that he's leaving, he only makes a few appearances a month.

I'm very frustrated about what could have been with Jonny and Paul. Jonny was usually written as the man Paul settled for. Paul was attracted to Grayson, his best friend's husband, and cheated with him, a terrible story since they had no chemistry and Paul's character was greatly damaged by his actions.

Then when Jonny took Paul back and they stayed together, Richard Grieve (Jonny) was let go soon after the wedding. I guess I should have known when Jonny and Paul didn't even kiss at their own wedding. And when Jonny's gone, what will Paul do? Probably what he does now. Pull pints, make faces at his mother, and slowly fade further into the background.

Hollyoaks relies on coming out/secret affair stories too often for gay characters, but at least they actually allow their gay characters to kiss. It may seem simple, but most other soaps don't bother. Now if only Hollyoaks could write better stories for their gays.

Most of my gay friends are not camp, so your wrong. I dont have a problem with camp men as I actually like Julian Clary & Alan Carr.

However, I prefer gay men in all soaps to behave like guys NOT girls! Thats just how I feel and most of my gay friends agree, you should hear what they said about stereotype in corrie and I agree with them.