“Ed’s quite clumsy in how he’s dealing with this...”

We catch up with Corrie’s Trevor Michael Georges to discuss Ed’s turmoil...

Hi Trevor! Why is Ed so upset about James coming out?

Ed is old-fashioned to the point where he’s blinkered! He’s a political dinosaur, living in the past. Ed does say he knows he’s wrong and has the strength to say he’s trying to work it out.

Is he trying to be supportive?

He’s new to the area, and has no one to talk it through with, so he is constantly coming out with things that he hasn’t processed properly yet, and is quite clumsy in what he says. He says things out loud that are wrong and unfortunately he’s saying it to people who are equally nervous. Some damage is done by what he says off the cuff.

Why does he advise James to keep his sexuality secret?

Ed’s logic comes from his own perspective of dealing with racism as a young man. Ed feels that as a black man, he couldn’t hide his colour, but his son can hide his sexuality. So, from Ed’s point of view, he advises his son to keep quiet. Everyone reads this as another form of homophobia.

Why is it important for Corrie to tackle this issue?

This is something that still affects people. Ed’s comments will resonate with people and will hopefully make them think. It’s well publicised that life for gay footballers isn’t easy, but it’s important to raise awareness of homophobia on and off the pitch. I worked at a factory decades ago, and everyone had different views, but the minute someone said, “Did you see Corrie last night?”, it was like this ceasefire. Corrie provides a talking point and reaches out to people.