EastEnders: I Don't Believe I'm Hearing This!

Actor Harry Reid wants his EastEnders character to be "honest with his sexuality" in 2016.
The 23-year-old star plays sexually confused Ben Mitchell in the BBC One soap and he is hoping his alter ego will finally be honest with girlfriend Abi Branning (Lorna Fitzgerald) about his secret sex sessions with Albert Square resident Paul Coker (Jonny Labey).
He said: "Expect more feelings to emerge between Ben and Paul. I'd like Ben to finally be honest about his sexuality.
"And I'd love to see how Abi would react - I think she'd hit the roof."...

Mirror. 

Cause you can never have enough tortured coming out storylines in British soaps...

EastEnders: Funeral Games

An EastEnders sex scene involving secret gay couple Ben Mitchell and Paul Coker will not be investigated further by Ofcom, despite a huge uproar on social media.

The watchdog received 76 complaints after the episode was aired a few weeks ago.

In the scene, the characters, played by Harry Reid and Jonny Labey, kissed next to an open coffin and were later seen getting dressed.

Ofcom said it assessed the complaints but 'concluded they didn't raise issues warranting further investigation'.

Its decision continued: 'We found the scenes were justified in the context of a long-running plotline and sexual contact between the characters was implied rather than overt.

'Our rules don't discriminate between scenes involving opposite-sex and same-sex couples.' 

Twitter was awash with shocked comments from viewers criticising the storyline, branding it 'disgraceful and distasteful'.

'Having sex in a room with a dead body, oh #eastenders', one social media user wrote, while another posted, 'Well. Wasn't expecting to watch #Eastenders tonight and see a dead body in a coffin.. Thanks for that #horrible'.

A third fan raged, 'Catching up on #Eastenders - Did I really just see 2 blokes making out in a room with a dead woman laying in a coffin? #BBC do need saving!'

A BBC spokesman hit back at the claims at the time, saying: 'The millions of regular EastEnders fans who tune in each week know and expect dramatic storylines.

'We are always mindful of out time slot in which we are shown and the scenes in question were implied and not explicit.'

In the same episode Ben was arrested on suspicion of killing Lucy Beale in a dramatic police showdown.

Earlier in the evening, the sexually-confused teen, forgetting all about his girlfriend Abi Branning, was seen stripping off with hairdresser Paul in the heat of the moment in front of Mrs Birch's unwitting corpse.

Their romp was interrupted by Paul's grandparents listening at the door to see if he was still styling the body's hair.

'Best knock first. I wouldn't want to put him off his stroke,' Les Coker declared. 'I think he must be finishing off.' 

Daily Mail.

MEGALOLZ!

Mail readers were divided.

Said tinytum; 'soaps are supposed to reflect real life,,,who do you know who has done this,,,,i no longer watch any of them, its all drugs,,sex,,gay ness..etc,,,,sorry but most people do not live like that,,,,,,,,we have lost our way'

But adamb commented; 'Really? People got offended at this? What sad lives they must lead.'

PS All pictures as used by Mail Online.

EastEnders: What Would Ronnie Kray Say?

'It's upsetting to read the negative tweets about the gay kiss in last night's episode of @bbceastenders, I only want to ask one question. Would you of called Ronnie Kray disgusting? #whatwouldronniesay'

Harry Reid's Instagram.

Probably not, Ronnie Kray famously killed a man who called him a 'fat poof'.

My kinda guy.

Eastenders: Phil Not Like Gay!

Glummer still was the plight of tiny homosexual Ben Mitchell, whose response to being caught kissing hooded squeeze Duncan was to festoon the Square with swirling wreaths of misspelled accusations ("BIGGOT") and make Patrick's trilby spin with threats of the "watch it, mister!" genus.

Thank Christ, then, for Phil, whose calm in such situations has made him a beacon of reasonableness in a slough of idiocy. "This conversation never 'appened," he snarled at Ben, his tremulous son's disclosure reactivating Phil's hitherto dormant crack-Hulk klaxon. Phil not like gay. Phil fear gay. Phil terminate discussion about gay with extreme prejudice. Tearful Ben reached for his dad's hand but Mr Potato Head was having none of it, stomping towards the door before turning, roaring "GERRORRFF!" and hurling his only son across the kitchen like a bespectacled discus.

Grace Dent's World Of Lather, Guardian Guide.

Thank Christ for the wonderful Ms Dent and that she writes about such soapy stuff every Saturday - and with such wit and verve.
Means I can maintain the pretense I'm covering all mo-related media bases, but don't have to watch tedious old toss like this meself.
Thanks Grace.

NB An eagle-eyed viewer has pointed out this week's World of Lather was actually written by Sarah Dempster, not Grace Dent - thus making me look quite fantastically stupid.
I have left the above blogpost unrevised as penance and as a sign of my almost touching humility.
Good day!

EastEnders: I Don't Believe I'm 'Earing This!

Ben Mitchell's Gay Storyline Shocks Hardman Dad Phil

"TROUBLED EastEnders teenager Ben Mitchell will become the soap's third gay character — devastating his macho dad Phil.
The lad, played by Joshua Pascoe, will come out and shock his hardnut family months after kissing pal Duncan.
"Dad Phil, played by Steve McFadden, will be distraught at the news later this year.
"He has always been disappointed with Ben — who used to be played by Charlie Jones — for his lack of masculinity after he developed a love of music and dancing.
"Ben will be Albert Square's third gay character after Syed Masood (Marc Elliot) and Christian Clarke (John Partridge).
"Ironically, his romance will develop after Phil encourages him to toughen up by going boxing with Duncan.
"But the lads end up being more than just sparring partners when they share a kiss..."

The Sun.
So it must be true, innit.

I hope they've cleared this FILTH with Brian Sewell.

Update: Guardian Media quote Bryan Kirkwood, EastEnders' executive producer; "For EastEnders viewers, it was never a question of if, but more like when Ben Mitchell was going to come out as gay. The Mitchells represent the spirit of EastEnders – tough, loyal and uncompromising.
"To see a man like Phil learn to deal with, [SPOILER ALERT!!!] and ultimately accept, his gay son, is a valid story for a drama like EastEnders to embark on."