Zoe Tate EMMERDALE

While soap’s first gay

man – Eastenders’ Colin Russell

– appeared back in 1986, it took seven years before the genre had its first lesbian character. And forget the furore about Brookie’s lesbian kiss, it was the then still-slightlysleepy show of Emmerdale that was first to introduce a lesbian character. Zoe, unfulfilled by the physical side of her relationship with Archie Brooks, headed to a ladies’ poetry group in Leeds and had her eyes opened.

Emmerdale viewers watched avidly as Zoe gradually came to terms with her gayness, in an emotional and sensitive storyline, which the writers ensured was dealt with in a constructive and positive manner. She even ‘married’ her girlfriend

Emma Nightingale in 1996 in a commitment ceremony – bringing us soap’s first gay wedding of sorts!