Most iconic lesbian soap couples – ground-breaking kiss, tragic death and murder
From Brookside's Beth and Margaret to Coronation Street's tragic Kate and Rana, we have a look at some of the most memorable lesbian romances in the world of soaps
Soapland has seen several lesbian romances, with female love stories gathering pace after Anna Friel’s groundbreaking Brookside kiss.
The actress’s 1994 storyline in the Channel 4 show broke new ground. And since then viewers have been gripped by plots like Kate and Rana’s doomed relationship in ITV’s Coronation Street and Suki and Eve’s secret relationship in BBC favourite EastEnders.
Brookside became the first British soap to feature a lesbian kiss, with Margaret and Beth being the characters involved in the ground-breaking moment.
Brookside’s Beth and Margaret
Back in the early 90s, Brookside’s Anna and Nicola Stephenson took a great stride forward for representation when their characters Beth Jordache and Margaret Clemence struck up a relationship.
In 1994 the soap made history as it aired the first pre-watershed lesbian soap kiss between the characters.
Anna later said she got more fan mail than ever after kiss, with The Independent quoting her as saying: “50% of them were from gay people. Most were supportive and positive about Beth and I had lots of letters from people saying they were confused and that Beth had helped them to come out. So I’m glad I’m doing something to help.”
Corrie’s Kate and Rana
In 2019 Kate Connor (Faye Brooks) and Rana Habeeb (Bhavna Limbachia) were the talk of the cobbles when they fell for each other in moving scenes in Coronation Street.
Dubbed “Kana” by Corrie fans, their storyline was a big favourite and fans were glued to their TV screens as they prayed things would work out for the smitten pair.
However, things took an upsetting turn when Rana died in the factory collapse the very day that she was supposed to be tying the knot with Kate. Viewers were in floods as Rana became trapped in the rubble and Kate rushed to be next to her when she passed away.
Emmerdale’s Charity and Vanessa
Emmerdale viewers were big fans of the romance between Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) and Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick), referring to them as “Vanity”.
Vanessa was there for Charity through her rape trial and as Vanessa battled cancer, Charity decided that she wanted to pop the question and marry her. However, the path of true love did not run smooth for the characters and Charity ended up cheating with Mackenzie Boyd (Lawrence Robb).
In 2020, their romance crashed and burned, but plenty of loyal viewers still hope things could work out for them in the end.
EastEnders’ Eve and Suki
Albert Square has been gripped by the illicit romance between Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) and Suki Panesar (Balvinder Sopal).
Things have been complicated for the pair, because Suki is married to husband Nish. Eve and Suki started bonding after ending up in a police van together in 2022. The romance blossomed and they ended up kissing for the first time late last year.
Their relationship progressed slowly, with Digital Spy quoting Balvinder as saying: “We’re also trying to tell a truthful story for people in the LGBTQ+ community and the Southeast Asian community too. We are dealing with it very sensitively, and the only way to do that is to tell the story slowly and unravel it bit by bit.”
However, there was a sad ending for their secret love affair when Suki’s son Vinny caught them together.
Emmerdale’s Jasmine and Debbie
Love blossomed between Debbie (Charley Webb) and Jasmine (Jenna-Louise Coleman) in the early noughties after they locked lips in a bid to rile Debbie’s dad Cain. Things got messy when Jasmine slept with Cain, but she and Debbie later patched things up.
The situation later took a dark turn when Jasmine killed attempted rapist Shane Doyle (Paul McEwan) after he attacked her and Debbie helped her to cover it up. The murder did come out and initially the finger was being pointed at Debbie.
But Jasmine stood up and took the blame, saying her and Debbie’s love would last forever after she was jailed for four years.
