A SCOTTISH soap opera is set to feature a gay storyline between women in the Western Isles, the first on Gaelic television.
An Clò Mòr director Tony Kearney has pledged to “redress the balance” over a lack of same-sex representation on Gaelic TV.
He wants to show islanders there is “nothing to be scared of” by acknowledging gay relationships in the islands.
Kearney suggested there may be an "inherent fear" of same-sex relationships in the Western Isles because of the prevalence of the church.
The second series of the drama will air on BBC Alba on Tuesday night and will feature a “three-way love affair” between three women working in the Hebridean Harris Tweed industry.
Kearney, who used to play a gay character Scott Wallace in River City, hopes the story can become as pivotal as the lesbian kiss in Channel 4’s Brookside was 30 years ago.
He said: “There’s never been a lesbian storyline before in a Gaelic drama, which is incredible to think in 2024. We’ve been really determined to have full representation here.
“We had to redress the balance, because there had been dramas but there had never been proper representation of same-sex relationships.”
The kiss between Anna Friel’s character Beth Jordache and Nicola Stephenson’s Margaret Clemence on Brookside was watched by six million people and was the first lesbian kiss to be shown in a TV programme before the 9pm watershed.
It went on to be shown to a worldwide audience of billions when a clip of the kiss was screened as part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
Kearney went on: “Things have changed. We’re not having anguished coming-out stories now.
“People are past that. It’s just about people falling in love with other people. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
The first series of An Clò Mòr featured a burgeoning relationship between two men in the mills and the response encouraged Kearney to explore other LGBT+ relationships.
He said: “There might be some issues around same sex relationships that come from the church in the Western Isles, which maybe means it’s not talked about or encouraged, or maybe there’s an inherent fear.
“But we’ve shown there’s nothing to be scared of, and there’s been no backlash. We didn’t have one negative comment about our same-sex storyline between two men in the first series.”
Kathryn MacKay, who plays the landlady Cairistiona Campbell, said: “It’s as important that this sort of relationship is visible in rural areas of Scotland as it is anywhere.
“I’m very proud to be part of the first female gay kiss on Gaelic television and I think it has been tastefully and sensitively done.”
