Holby City viewers complain there are ‘too many’ gay characters
A Holby City boss has defended the TV show’s gay storylines.
The hospital-based soap has come under fire for featuring a number of gay characters.
The show has featured a number of gay romance storylines – and apparently the BBC has been besieged with complaints.
Speaking to the Daily Star, the BBC’s head of continuing drama, Oliver Kent defended the show.
He said: “I am involved in Holby City and we had complaints recently because it was deemed by some viewers that we had too many gay characters.
“And that’s because at the time we had two gay love stories. We had four characters out of 17. I don’t think that’s disproportionate.”
The show features David Ames as gay doctor Dominic Copeland, and Lee Mead as former Casualty character Lofty Chiltern.
It’s not the first time it has been controversial.
In 2011, the BBC defended a gay kiss on the soap after it attracted more than 100 complaints.
Viewers complained that a kiss between Dan Hamilton (Adam Astill) and Antoine Malick (Jimmy Akingbola) was “inappropriate”.
In a statement, the corporation said: “Holby City aims to reflect real life in the setting of a medical drama and this means telling stories about characters from many different backgrounds, faiths, religions and sexualities.
“We approach our portrayal of same-sex relationships in the same way as we do heterosexual relationships and aim to ensure depictions of affection or sexuality between couples are suitable for pre-watershed viewing.”
On the Holby City plot, it added: “This is a story we will continue to tell with sensitivity and integrity as we follow a character who struggles to come to terms with his sexuality.”
Holby City star David Ames, who is gay in real life, previously spoke about struggling with his weight.
He said: “When I finished university I was some 15 and a half stone. People looked at me differently when I was bigger.
“It’s a massive physical difference in your body, in your health, in fitness.
“And yeah of course, I’m the same as everyone else, we’re all vain to a certain degree.
“It wasn’t like ‘oh I can’t be a fat gay man’, it was ‘I want to feel comfortable in my own skin and at the moment, I don’t’.
“For whatever reason that was, I just didn’t feel comfortable, and so I thought, ‘right, do something about it, see if you feel any differently’.
