Friday 17 April 2015

Gay Vicar Watch: Coronation Street

Daniel Brocklebank plays a gay vicar Billy in Coronation Street and hopes that the latest development in his storyline will highlight issues.

Anthony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully on the soap, joined Daniel on the This Morning couch to talk about how the soaps' writers used real life as inspiration.

Eamonn caused everyone to burst out laughing when he started to introduce the pair before being cut off by wife Ruth: "What do you get when you cross a knicker-maker... Well you get a soap romance from heaven."

Daniel said about the storyline: "It's been quite interesting. I knew very little about the Church of England's stance on gay clergy or anything of that nature.

"That's what soap is for, to highlight issues. It's predominantly about entertainment but if we can educate and broaden people's horizons."

The storyline sees Daniel and Anthony's characters go to a B&B to stay but are refused.

Daniel said it something similar like that happened to him several years back when he and an ex-partner of his experienced the similar situation where he was refused a room to live in.


Daniel recently shared he has faced a backlash from the soap’s fans and churchgoers over his gay vicar role.

He revealed viewers have given him verbal abuse off screen while others have hit out at the Street’s producers.

But defiant Daniel, gay in real life, doesn’t care – and hopes his storyline will change attitudes.

He says: “We’re here to cause some sort of stir and you’re never going to please everyone. Some of the religious viewers so far have not been too happy.

“A woman came up to me in a supermarket three days ago telling me I was going to go to hell playing a gay vicar. The show itself has had a backlash.” ...



Fagburn presumes Jonathan Harvey is behind this storyline.

PS Can't embed the video, but it is here.

Update: Coronation Street should clear out the dead wood and Antony Cotton is one example, Mirror. Sean and Billy story 'poorly handled'. 'The whole storyline – borrowed lock, stock from a real-life news story, by the way – felt far too shoehorned in. As if Corrie was playing for maximum outrage at the expense of credibility...'

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