Biggest LGBTQ+ romances in British soap history - from Ballum to Vanity

Some of the LGBTQ+ love stories in soap operas have changed the lives of fans, challenged perceptions and even made history.

Often soaps are a place where LGBTQ+ viewers can feel comfortable and see boundaries being crossed and broken down, leading to some of the strongest and most enduring fan communities.

So, without further ado, we have gathered some of the most pivotal and loved LGBTQ+ British soap romances.

Biggest LGBTQ+ romances in soap history - from Ballum to Vanity

Ben Mitchell and Callum Highway (Max Bowden and Tony Clay) - EastEnders

Ben Mitchell (now played by Max Bowden) has had a major romance before with Paul Coker (Jonny Labey) but his longest-running love story remains with husband Callum Highway (Tony Clay). Having seen Ben struggle with his sexuality over the years, his current iteration's brazen pride in who he is was refreshing when he returned to the soap in 2019.

However, his heart truly shone through when he grew closer to Callum, and then engaged to Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty). After a forbidden love, the pair eventually came clean about their love and became a couple.

There have been bumps in the road of their romance – including their brief split around the time Ben was raped by Lewis Butler – but they always come out from these issues stronger.

Few soap pairings have found such a vocal fanbase either and Ballum fans continue to prove some of the most engaged fandoms in soap.

Charity Dingle and Vanessa Woodfield (Emma Atkins and Michelle Hardwick) - Emmerdale

Well, no one can say that Emmerdale pairing Vanity has been without its issues but they’re made for each other really.

Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) is the epitome of chaos, the village schemer and hopeless mum who is always trying to be better. Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) is the neurotic but warm and motherly vet who travelled a long, bumpy road to accepting her own sexuality.

Together the pair truly made each other’s lives better and they created an ideal family unit, and also helped Vanessa wrestle with losing her father and discovering her sister, along with Charity discovering a long-lost son and facing up to having been a victim of child sexual abuse.

Actresses Emma Atkins and Michelle Hardwick share easy and natural chemistry and their recent scenes together prove that Charity and Vanessa should be back together soon. Sorry, Mackenzie.

Kate Connor and Rana Habeeb (Faye Brookes and Bhavna Limbachia) - Coronation Street

They may be another soap pairing that ended in tragedy, but Kate Connor (Faye Brookes) and Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia) remain a standout for Coronation Street in recent years. Kate arrived in the soap as an out lesbian and engaged to a soldier but this later fell apart and she pursued a string of romances until her life changed when her married friend Rana.

As Rana revealed her true feelings for Kate, which were masked by what initially appeared to be homophobia, the pair entered into a forbidden romance that was complicated by Rana's marriage to Zeedan Nazir (Qasim Akhtar). Eventually, a series of near-exposures ended as Rana came clean and eventually was disowned by her parents who feared the damage to their family's reputation.

Eventually, Kate and Rana became engaged but had disagreements over the prospect of children and briefly split.

The pair reunited and planned their wedding but tragedy struck when Rana was killed in the Underworld factory collapse with Kate by her side. Kate would later leave Weatherfield for a fresh start, never losing her feelings for her lost love.

Colin Russell and Barry Clark (Lord Michael Cashman and Gary Hailes) - EastEnders

A ground-breaking romance when it aired in the 1980s, EastEnders made waves when it slowly made clear that yuppie graphic designer Colin Russell (Lord Michael Cashman) was gay and showed his relationship with younger market stall holder Barry Clark (Gary Hailes).

The pair were sometimes an odd couple as their class differences and personality types saw some clashes, but the pair always cared about each other no matter what. A stir was caused when Colin kissed Barry on the head in 1987 – the first gay kiss in a UK soap opera – leading to some outraged headlines in the press.

The pair eventually split, but they remained good friends, with Barry even returning for Colin's exit in 1989.

Thankfully, Colin and Barry were shown together on-screen in December 2022 and had reconciled - being shown having the kiss on the lips that they never had in their first stint in the show.

Aaron Dingle and Robert Sugden (Danny Miller and Ryan Hawley) - Emmerdale

One of the original online soap shipper fandoms, the love for "Robron" was strong from when Aaron received an unexpected kiss from scheming businessman Robert – who was portrayed from 2015 onwards as bisexual. Aaron had already had a traumatic journey towards coming out and also lost his beloved partner Jackson Walsh in an assisted suicide storyline.

However, the fiery chemistry between Miller and Hawley made the pair firm favourites with fans and brought a new level of engagement to a soap relationship. While Aaron was mischievous at the best of times, Robert could be outright villainous.

Yet, over time, both warmed and became nicer characters the more they were together. After complications including Robert's engagement to Chrissie White and the death of Katie Sugden, the pair would go on to get engaged and even marry.

Finally, the pair's love story came to an end when actor Ryan Hawley left the soap in 2019 as Robert was sent to prison. Aaron explored romance after Robert but it would never quite feel the same - especially to their legion of Twitter and Tumblr fans.

Hayley Patterson and Roy Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh and David Neilson) - Coronation Street

Few characters in British soap have been as impactful as Hayley Patterson, later Cropper (Julie Hesmondhalgh). The transgender character was introduced in 1998 and developed a friendship and romance with the eccentric Roy Cropper (David Neilson).

After initial reservations due to her transition journey, Roy decided to put their connection first and stood by her amid the prejudice she faced in Weatherfield. Eventually, the street came to accept and be nicer to Hayley, while the sweet Hayley and dithering Roy's romance blossomed into the most stable bond on the street, even seeing them foster children.

The pair married too and became sources of love and guardianship in Weatherfield until Hayley was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2013, prompting a "right to die" storyline to end Hayley's life in 2014. Roy has never gotten over losing Hayley since and she is one of the most regularly referenced deceased characters in soap.

Actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, a cisgender woman, has stated multiple times that she believes she wouldn't play the role of Hayley now and the part would be played by a transgender actress, but Hesmondhalgh's impact in changing public perceptions of transgender women as Hayley was groundbreaking.

John-Paul McQueen and Craig Dean (James Sutton and Guy Burnet) - Hollyoaks

One of the golden ages of Hollyoaks has to be the mid to late noughties and a key part of that was the tortured romance between best friends John-Paul McQueen (James Sutton) and Craig Dean (Guy Burnet). After level-headed John-Paul saved Craig from a beating, the pair became friends and each had their own heterosexual romance when soon it became clear that John-Paul was in love with Craig.

John-Paul later came out and this led to much turmoil and Craig even physically hurting John-Paul to deny his own sexuality. However, the pair eventually became friends again and eventually entered into a secret passion as Craig pursued a relationship still with Sarah Barnes (Loui Batley). After a long process to propel Craig to put him first, John-Paul and Craig became a fully-fledged couple until the issue of Craig's shame surrounding his sexuality began to emerge again, prompting John-Paul to end their romance and Craig to leave for Dublin alone.

Yet, when John-Paul left the show for the first time in 2008, Craig returned from Dublin to ask him for a second chance and reignite their love, and John-Paul agreed and left with him to Dublin. The pair's happy ending was naturally undone as John-Paul has since returned to the soap alone, but Craig is heavily referenced and the couple reunited off-screen for a time too. JP still has a complicated love life, but never has it been as iconic as when it was with Craig.

Debbie Dingle and Jasmine Thomas (Charley Webb and Jenna Coleman) - Emmerdale

A slightly more tragic pairing, sullen Debbie Dingle (Charley Webb) and bubbly vicar's niece Jasmine Thomas (Jenna Coleman) came together in a complicated love triangle as Jasmine found a sexual relationship with Debbie's bad boy father Cain Dingle (Jeff Hordley).

However, Debbie stood by Jasmine as the latter found herself pregnant from her affair with Cain, later choosing to get an abortion. While the pair would later split they soon reunited again towards the end of Jasmine's time on the soap when she killed attempted rapist Shane Doyle (Paul McEwan) after he attacked her and Debbie helped her cover up his death by dumping his body in a lake. The corpse later resurfaced and both Debbie and Jasmine found themselves in trouble with the law. The pair attempted to go on the run but Debbie was caught and arrested.

Eventually, Jasmine returned and took full blame for what happened to Shane and was sent to prison for manslaughter but departed by swearing her everlasting love for Debbie.

Christian Clarke and Syed Masood (John Partridge and Marc Elliott) - EastEnders

A groundbreaking pairing, it’s hard to not include these two EastEnders characters together. Christian Clarke (John Partridge) was a different kind of gay man in soap - he was visibly masculine, promiscuous, unapologetic in his sexuality and yet not defined by it. Syed Masood (Marc Elliott) was a Muslim gay man – a first for British soap – and was engaged to marry a woman, Amira Shah.

Syed and Christian’s chemistry was electric and also provided massive growth for each other – Christian found a new level of intimacy in his life, while Syed would eventually come out of the closet as a gay Muslim man and slowly come to accept his sexuality and how this could live alongside his faith.

The pair’s relationship had its fair few ups and downs but considering all of their heartache along the way, it was only right – and oddly unique, for soap especially – that this groundbreaking pairing got their happy ending when they left the Square together.

Beth Jordache and Margaret Clemence (Anna Friel and Nicola Stephenson) - Brookside

One unexpected pairing in Channel 4's groundbreaking soap Brookside was troubled Beth Jordache (Anna Friel) and her friend Margaret Clemence (Nicola Stephenson) who grew close in 1994 and found a true connection. History was made that year when the pair shared a kiss - the first lesbian kiss to be shown on British TV before the 9pm watershed.

The pair's kiss has often been seen as a landmark moment in LGBTQ+ representation but also won both actresses a massive lesbian following, particularly Anna Friel who has made clear she never wanted the pair's sapphism to be seen as a response to the traumatic abuse Beth had suffered.

Friel previously told Radio Times: "I am proud we took on such controversial storylines and it was new and innovative. I am proud that we got it in the contract that Beth would always stay gay; it wasn’t because of her sexual abuse."

While the pair did not have a romantic happy ending - Margaret decided she was not a lesbian despite her feelings for Beth and Beth would go to prison for killing her evil father and later died in custody of a heart condition - there's no denying the impact of this romance and the effect it had on the British population.

The Beth/Margaret kiss made such an impact that director Danny Boyle included it in the 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony - which was broadcast around the world, including in 76 countries where such acts are taboo or even illegal. Now, that's quite a legacy.

Liv Flaherty and Vinny Dingle (Isobel Steele and Bradley Johnson) - Emmerdale

Representation for asexuals has been thin on television in general which is why it was so refreshing when Liv Flaherty (Isobel Steele) came out as asexual in 2017 after struggling with her sexuality.

However, it was not until two years later that Liv found the person of her dreams in the form of the loving and empathetic Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson). Vinny was always accepting of Liv's sexuality and their romantic life shone through with emotional maturity. While Liv struggled with alcoholism and her difficult family past, Vinny stood by her and they eventually married.

Sadly, when actress Isobel Steele left the show, the soap preserved the sanctity of their romance by killing off Liv in the 50th anniversary storm episodes. It was a grim end for one of the soap's most touching romances.

Brendan Brady and Ste Hay (Emmett J. Scanlan and Kieron Richardson) - Hollyoaks

One of soap's most toxic romances has to be in the form of soap gangster Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan) and bad boy Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson).

The on-screen chemistry between Scanlan and Richardson won the pair a legion of fans but the characters' dynamic made for uncomfortable viewing as Brendan physically abused Ste while still pursuing a sexual relationship with him, forcing him to keep their affair a secret.

Despite their many ups and downs and attempts at a fully open romantic relationship, the darkness in their relationship never ceased.

However, the pair's connection remained a constant even amid their nastier times, all the way through to Brendan's exit when he was sent to prison, but not before a final goodbye to Ste telling him that he changed everything in his life.

Suki Panesar and Eve Unwin (Balvinder Sopal and Heather Peace) - EastEnders

The most recent pairing on this list already has a following to rival that of Ballum. EastEnders took their time to peel back the layers of the scheming matriarch Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal) after her introduction in 2020, eventually revealing her repressed sexuality when she made a move on friend and colleague Honey Mitchell (Emma Barton).

Then Suki crossed paths with paroled former lawyer Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) and found a deep passion that soon bubbled to the surface but faced a major obstacle when Suki's murderous husband Nish Panesar (Navin Chowdhry) left time in prison.

The forbidden romance is still very much at the height of the drama and you can bet we will be watching with bated breath.

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