Colin Russell

Colin the middle-class yuppie was an amiable chap with a kind heart who often ended up being used by the less considerate locals. He was Walford's first on-screen gay resident and when his sexuality was eventually revealed it caused shockwaves around the Square.

1 Character creation and development
2 Background
3 Colin and Barry
4 Multiple sclerosis
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Character creation and development

Colin was Walford's first homosexual resident. Introduced in August 1986, Colin was one of the more popular characters in the early years of the programme.^[1] At first the audience and the residents of Walford were kept in the dark about the fact that Colin was gay. This changed by the end of the year, at which time Colin acquired a young boyfriend named Barry Clark (Gary Hailes).

Colin was one of the most controversial characters of his time — mainly because gay-orientated content was still relatively rare on prime-time television during the mid 1980s. Gay characters that existed were usually farcical, camp parodies, created purely for comic relief, such as Mr Humphries in the situation comedy, Are You Being Served?.^[2] Although EastEnders was not the first UK televised soap to include a gay character — Channel 4's Brookside had that accolade — the portrayal of an openly gay male — let alone a homosexual relationship — on a prime-time, pre-watershed BBC programme was unheard of before Colin and Barry's introduction.^[3] The licence funded BBC held a far greater audience share than the commercially funded Channel 4, thus public reaction to EastEnders' gay characters was much stronger and more widely documented in the British press.^[3]

Colin was a middle-classed, well-meaning, slightly uptight yuppie, and his inclusion was an attempt to portray the gentrification of the East End of London. The openly gay actor and gay activist Michael Cashman, who had roots in the East End, was chosen to play the role. Cashman initially resisted playing Colin, but was persuaded by his boyfriend, Paul Cottingham, and after receiving his parents' backing, he accepted the part.^[4]

The makers of EastEnders decided that Colin's partner needed to be in stark contrast in order to prevent Colin from becoming too rarefied (up until this point middle-classed characters had been relatively unsuccessful and had failed to fully integrate into EastEnders predominantly working-class community).^[5] Barry was scripted to be much more down-to-earth in comparison: working-class instead of middle-classed; openly gay instead of 'in the closet'; loud and brash instead of shy and retiring, and in addition the age difference between the two was substantial — Colin being roughly fifteen years Barry's senior.^[5]

A relationship between Colin and Barry was quickly developed and the residents of Albert Square gossiped in hushed voices about the true nature of their friendship. In 1987 EastEnders was responsible for screening the first ever gay kiss in a UK soap opera, much to the outrage of the viewing public.^[6] A small kiss on the forehead, given to Barry from Colin, received a record number of complaints from angry viewers. In addition, the right-wing British press reacted with fury. They began a smear campaign, branding the programme 'filth' and, for a while, dubbed the show EastBenders.^[3] There were even questions in parliament about whether it was appropriate to have gay men in a family show when AIDS was sweeping the country.^[7]

Despite the initial negativity, the storyline had a powerful impact on public attitudes and the show's handling of Colin and Barry's relationship was deemed by many gay activists as something of a breakthrough.^[8] Not only did EastEnders brave the wrath of many moralistic viewers and bigotted journalists, but they also exposed that bigotry through the characters in the show — most notably via the inane naivety of local gossip Dot Cotton, who erupted into horror and ignorant self-righteousness upon discovering Colin and Barry's secret, and even spread rumours that Colin had AIDS. The episode featuring the kiss was watched by over 17 million viewers,^[7] and Colin and Barry remained on-screen for several years, accessing millions of viewers each episode — the gay community were finally being represented on mass audience mainstream television.^[3] Gradually, negative assumptions began to lessen, public opinion began to shift in Colin and Barry's favour and even Dot got used to the idea of having gay neighbours. Michael Cashman has commented: "This was a flagship BBC show, the most popular series in the country, and Colin and Barry were there day in, day out. The relationship wasn't sensationalised, and the public devoured it."^[7] The importance of Colin was so great in the gay community at the time that Cashman was asked to lead a march against Section 28, which prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality or the acceptability of homosexuality.

Barry and Colin remained an on-screen couple until the end of 1987. Their characters were used to highlight many other gay issues, such as homophobia, gay bashing and gay legal inequality — i.e the legal age of gay sexual consent (which at the time was 21 instead of 16 as it is today). Eventually, the differences between Colin and Barry became too great for them to overcome, they split and Barry left Walford for a job on a cruise ship.

Colin had a health scare during the autumn of 1988 and for a moment it looked like EastEnders might have been about to do an AIDS storyline. The press speculated that Colin was showing early signs of the disease and the possibility was even briefly indicated to on-screen when Colin himself began to fear that his symptoms were AIDS related. In fact giving Colin AIDS was never the programme's intention — it was felt that the most simplistic and unhelpful message that the programme could give out would be to have its only homosexual character become HIV positive — particularly as it happened at a time when misconceptions and fear about AIDS were rife.^[1] Colin was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, although this fact was kept from him by his doctor for the remainder of the year and he lived out 1988 with the belief that he was in perfect health.

Towards the end of 1988 Colin found new love, with a fellow yuppie — Guido Smith — who he met through his work. Colin's gay relationship was once again the cause of much controversy in January 1989 when EastEnders aired the first homosexual mouth-to-mouth kiss on British television. The chaste peck on the lips between Colin and Guido resulted in a front page denunciation in The Sun newspaper, who described it as "a homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs... when millions of children were watching". The kiss was watched by twenty million people and came at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s government had set forward a moral agenda that urged a return to traditional family values. The Sun printed the assertion that "Furious MPs last night demanded a ban on EastEnders as the BBC soap showed two men kissing full on the lips".^[9]

Cashman decided to quit the show in the early part of 1989. While still on the cast of EastEnders, Cashman had founded the influential gay campaign group Stonewall and has now given up acting to become a Labour MEP. He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 where he is the Labour spokesperson on human rights. He is also an active campaigner across a wide range of issues.^[6] On screen, Colin finally learned he had multiple sclerosis and decided to leave Walford to live with his brother and face a rapid decline in health. In an interview featured in EastEnders Handbook by Hilary Kingsly, Michael Cashman looked backed fondly on Albert Square and his character, commenting: "Quite a few gay activists thought Colin too nice, but I thought he was just right. There was a fuss about his kiss with Barry which was sad — people should be upset by demonstrations of hate, not love".^[10]

Below is an outline of Colin Russell's storylines during his time in EastEnders.

[edit] Background

Colin was a graphic designer and he arrived in Albert Square in August 1986 when he purchased one of the flats that Tony Carpenter was selling. In the beginning Colin spent most of his time with the other yuppies in Walford, James Wilmott-Brown and Debbie Wilkins. He later had close friendship with Pat Butcher, Carmel Jackson and Cindy Williams. Colin and Dot Cotton had their differences, but they later became close friends, and even arranged a holiday together when Charlie Cotton abandoned Dot for her sister.

Colin managed to steer Dot past her homophobia, and they eventually became good friends.

Although Colin was a homosexual, he didn't reveal this to the other residents of Walford for fear that they would discriminate against him. In fact he pretended that he was straight and referred to past lovers as "she" rather than "he" to keep up the pretence. He fooled most people, but the astute landlady, Angie Watts, wasn't fooled for a second and after divulging that she knew he was gay she promised to keep his secret safe.

Debbie, who was still grieving over the loss of her boyfriend, Andy O'Brien, began to rely on Colin more and more for emotional support. Debbie confused Colin's compassion for sexual attraction and after he gave her a supportive hug she moved in to kiss him and was deeply hurt when he pulled away.

[edit] Colin and Barry

In November of that year Colin's boyfriend Barry Clark arrived on the Square and it wasn't long before he'd demanded to move in with him. Barry was a cockney barrowboy and was considerably younger than Colin. Initially Colin told people that he and Barry were just flatmates, but when Dot Cotton, who was working as Colin's cleaner, figured out that they were sharing a bed, she was mortified and proceeded to tell everyone about his sexual orientation. Dot's extreme homophobia came to the fore and she began to spread malicious rumours that Colin had AIDS. Many of the bigoted members of the community then began to shun Colin, refusing to speak to him or have anything to do with him.

Not only did Colin have to contend with having his personal life spread around the Square, he was also regularly troubled by the antics of his selfish boyfriend. Barry was an old friend of Nick Cotton and upon Nick's return to the Square the two started hanging about together and getting into trouble. They stole a car and then crashed it into Ali Osman's and Colin was forced to pay for the damage. Colin eventually managed to frighten Nick off when he divulged that he was sleeping with Barry. Over the coming months Barry managed to ruin Colin's attempts at getting work and continuously tried to make him jealous, even kissing a woman in front of him. His game worked to his detriment as Colin became so jealous that he wanted to know where Barry was at all times.

In November 1987 Colin was called up to do jury service. It turned out that the plaintiff was a member of the gangster organisation known as The Firm. Den Watts, who was working in league with The Firm, tried to persuade Colin to give the plaintiff a verdict of not guilty, by threatening to tell Barry's reprobate family that he was gay. This worried Colin, as he knew it would ruin their relationship, but he stood by his morals and refused to cede. Later that month Brad Williams, a dodgy member of The Firm, continued to put pressure on Colin by breaking into his flat and trashing it.

Colin and Barry. Their gay relationship was one of the more controversial storylines in 1987.

Colin then decided to bring in the police, but they were far more concerned about Colin's sexuality than catching the vandals. They started questioning him about how long he and Barry had been co-habiting and they eventually asked Barry's age, leading a nervous Colin to lie that Barry was 22. When the police went to question Barry they asked him to confirm his age. Unaware that Colin had lied Barry gave his true age, 21, and so the police deciphered that Barry was only 20 when he started living with Colin. This meant that Barry had been under the legal age of consent for a homosexual when they began cohabiting, and so the police felt it was their duty to inform his parents about his sexuality and also threatened to prosecute Colin (in 1987 the legal age of sexual consent for homosexuals was 21, not 16 as it is today). Barry was petrified of his homophobic father and after he was informed Barry decided to end his relationship with Colin.

Barry then decided that he was not gay after all and proceeded to date girls, which distressed Colin. To make matters worse Barry still regularly pestered Colin for money, which Colin always gave in a vain attempt to remain close to him. Realising that Barry was just using him, Colin began to get extremely depressed. After drinking heavily in The Queen Vic one night, Colin got chatting to two friendly men. After bidding them farewell at the end of the night Colin made his way home, happy that someone was willing to engage in conversation with him for once. However, before he could get home, the two men attacked him and after dragging him into an alley they beat him and then mugged him. After this a shaken Colin lay low for a while. More heartache was around the corner for Colin as Barry decided to leave Walford for a job on a cruise ship in July that year. Colin was deeply sorry to see him go.

[edit] Multiple sclerosis

Colin started to go through some poor health in 1988 when his eyesight started to give him trouble and he would often get unexplained dizzy spells. A subsequent trip to Dr. Legg left him none the wiser and he was forced to go for blood tests. Meanwhile Colin's ex-boyfriend, Richard, showed up on the Square to cheer his old friend up. He invited him to a party, but as Colin attempted to get up, he found that he couldn't move his legs. His mobility returned the next day, but Colin was petrified and feared that he had AIDS. To make matters worse he was told that the blood tests were inconclusive and he would have to undergo a neurological examination to see if they could pinpoint the problem.

After many weeks of worrying the results of the tests finally returned, but Dr. Legg seemed hesitant to tell Colin what the results were. Dr. Legg had received news that Colin was suffering with multiple sclerosis and he decided that telling Colin would be to his detriment, as the worry could bring on another attack prematurely. Dr. Legg knew that Colin may not have another attack for 20 years or so, so he decided to tell Colin that he was just overworked and anaemic, much to Colin's relief.

Thinking that he was in perfect health Colin started to enjoy a social life again. At a party he met a new business contact, Guido Smith, who also turned out to be a romantic interest. After several drinks discussing work together, Colin eventually plucked up the courage to make a pass at him, only to be told that he was already in a relationship. Colin understood, but was secretly heartbroken. Colin then changed tact and decided to play it cool with Guido in the hope that he would come running. The plan worked and in December that year Guido split up with his partner and announced that he wanted to move in with Colin. Colin accepted, but couldn't shake the feeling that he was being used by Guido, and his paranoia often evoked heated arguments. Eventually Colin admitted that his erratic, argumentative behaviour was due to the fact that his health was depleting again and he feared that something was seriously wrong.

Colin and Guido were responsible for the first mouth-to-mouth gay kiss on British television (January 1989). The Sun newspaper branded it a "love scene between yuppie poofs".

In January 1989 Colin's health showed no signs of improving, and after much coaxing from Guido, he decided to go back to see Dr. Legg, who finally revealed that he had MS. Colin was furious that he had kept this information from him and shunned all his feeble attempts to explain his reasons for doing so. He threatened to report Dr. Legg to the authorities and was mortified at how unethical he had been. Although Dr. Legg was sorry, he stood by his decision to lie, feeling that Colin benefited from not knowing - when in actual fact, the opposite was true. Colin spent many weeks coming to terms with this news. He feared that Guido would leave him, but Guido reassured him that he was there for the long haul and so Colin eventually began to accept his condition.

In February 1989 Colin began to get involved in the plight of the heroin addict, Donna Ludlow. Colin desperately tried to show Donna that if she continued down her path of destruction she would end up dead. His attempts to get her into rehab failed however and she repaid him by spreading a rumour that he had AIDS. He and Guido then began to start arguing over Colin's tendency to worry more for others than himself. His opinions brought to the fore how little they shared in common. Colin believed that Guido was only staying with him out of pity and so that same month he decided to leave Walford to stay with his brother in Bristol. He decided not to tell Guido he was going, but a surprise visit from Barry stalled his departure and Guido arrived home to see Colin packed and ready to leave. Colin said that he needed some space and he asked Guido to look after his flat while he sorted his head out. He then left Walford whilst his many friends waved him goodbye. Despite claiming that he would return, he never did, and Guido moved out soon after.