TV Blog: Furore over Coronation Street gay kiss was a storm in a teacup

Undated Sky 1 Handout photo from The Smoke. Pictured: Jamie Bamber as Kev, Jodie Whittaker as Trish & Rhashan Stone as Mal. See PA Feature TV Bamber Whittaker. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/BskyB/Matt Holyoak Productions. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature TVBamber Whittaker. WARNING: These pictures are either BSKYB copyright or under license to BSKYB. They are for BSKYB editorial use only. These pictures may not be reproduced or redistributed electronically without the permission of Sky Stills Picture Desk.

Sky 1 rolled out their new Fire Fighting drama this week, The Smoke.

It was billed as wanting to ‘throw out the familiar formula’ of shows about the emergency services.

So, of course, the first episode opened with a brave fireman clambering through a burning building, desperately searching for a wailing baby whom he could heroically rescue.

However, within the first quarter of an hour, all the typical clichés were coming out in their droves: giggling girls flashed the fire engine as it sped past, and all the bosses were incompetent box-tickers who forgot their subordinates’ names.

Granted, as the episode unfolded it grew much more promising, asking troubling questions about bureaucracy in the Fire Service and about the new found desire to label so many people ‘heroes’. In one poignant line, Kev’s superior, Nick, unwittingly exposed the hollowness of the word, insisting: “You’re a hero – you acted very… heroically.”

Coronation Street provided us all with some controversy this week after Ofcom rejected complaints from viewers regarding a kissing scene between Marcus and Todd on Coronation Street.

In a ridiculous furore, reminiscent of ‘that’ lesbian kiss in Brookside all those years ago, 100 complaints were lodged to Ofcom following the scenes, which were shown before 9pm. In the episode, Todd finally managed to seduce Marcus and ended up kissing him on the sofa, culminating in Marcus leading Todd upstairs. I say fair play to Todd, he’s punching well above his weight there.

The Big Reunion featured a particularly awkward reunion with Eternal and a reintroduction to 3T this week. Other than the inevitable coasting of 3T on their famous Uncle’s fame and wealth, the only other highlights were that Vernie from Eternal retrained as a barrister after the group split up and that TJ is the legal co-guardian of his three cousins, Michael Jackson’s children Paris, Michael and Prince.

The quote of the night, however, goes to the ever optimistic floppy haired Ben from A1: “I’m retired”. He was 21.

It was also the penultimate episode of the long-running sitcom Outnumbered this week. Despite it’s wincingly accurate portrayal of daily family life, there wasn’t much of a plot but such as it was, it saw perma-harassed father Pete, trying to juggle a broken-down car, a broken-down boiler and an impending nervous breakdown due to his AWOL offspring. As charming and twee as this programme is, I do feel it has long since passed its sell by date.

This week’s television seems to be a pre-lude for the next few coming weeks which also sees the return of Jonathan Creek, along with an explosive storyline in EastEnders featuring the inevitable re-uniting of Max and Stacey.