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Roundup of lesbians on international TV: Emmerdale, Verbotene Liebe, Podia Acabar o Mundo, and more!While lesbian and bi visibility on American television might be pretty poor these days, there are some interesting developments happening with lesbian/bi TV characters in other parts of the world. Here are updates on some of the more popular ones: Grande Fratello (Big Brother Italy) — Italy AE reader Laura tipped us off that Italy's ninth season of its version of Big Brother has two female contestants who came out as lesbians: 31-year-old street artist Siria, and 23-year-old butcher Leonia, 23. (Siria has had girlfriends and boyfriends in the past, but has reportedly indicated a preference for women moving forward). These women are the first openly gay female contestants on a reality show in Italy. Italian readers, keep us posted on how these two do in the game! Plus Belle La Vie (More Beautiful Life) — France Celine (Rebecca Hampton) and Virginie (Virginie Pauc) have decided to have a child together. (Yay, more pregnant lesbians on TV!) Virginie, left, and Celine AfterEllen.com reader KJaneway wrote in to tell us she bumped into Rebecca Hampton in Paris recently, and had a quick chat with her about her character Celine:
That is cute! Emmerdale — U.K. AfterEllen.com reader redraisin wrote in to update us the revival of the short-lived romantic relationship between teenagers Debbie and Jasmine, who are now living together as roommates.
Ah, rape and murder — nothing brings a lesbian couple closer! Except maybe pregnancy. Podia Acabar o Mundo (The World Could End) — Portugal In a November BLWE, we mentioned that that the primetime soap Podia Acabar o Mundo has a doctor, Cláudia (Diana Chaves), and a medical student, Sónia (Ana Guiomar), who were going to share a kiss — and they did. Cláudia and Sónia AE reader Shiffie wrote in to describe the scene:
Later, Sonia came out to her parents and introduced them to Claudia. They didn't take it too well, since they are fairly tradition and don't understand how two women can get married and have kids. (Clearly they haven't watched enough American TV!) Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love) — Germany There may be a bit of a love triangle going on on the German soap Verbotene Liebe, between Carla (Claudia Hiersche), Charlie (Gabriele Metzger), and newcomer Stella (Anne Wis), who joined the show in December as the new manager for the castle Koningsbrun. Carla is gay, Stella is probably gay, and Charlie appears to be straight. Stella, left, and Charlie Or Charlie could be Stella's mother. Or something else entirely. Regardless, it looks like Carla and Stella are headed for a relationship. Keep up on the show's twists and turns in our forum topic on the show. Do you have more updates on the shows above? Let us know in the comments! Submitted by on January 29, 2009 - 6:14pm. |
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I remember watching some Verbotene Liebe a few years back...
...all that comes to mind is a pool or bathub scene and a bf coming home early...
Ah, rape and murder — nothing brings a lesbian couple closer! Except maybe pregnancy.
So true. Thanks for that.
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Who doesn't blog these days?
eurOut for all your European queer needsthanks
fun, like these round the world updates!!!!!!!! wish we could get snippets streaming with english subtitles, lol
(by the way that charlie in the german soap would have been my first pick for ho was gay? you sure you have the characters identified properly?
Charlie vs. Stella
Charlie vs. Stella
As you know now Stella is the younger one. Carla is desperatly in love with Stella, but Stella mentioned in the last episode, that Carla is not her type. We'll watch for you. Btw, I love AfterEllen, thanks for that. Best wishes!
OMG Sarah, I could smack
OMG Sarah, I could smack you for not noticing sooner as I and others have tried to get AE's attention on Verbotene Liebe (Carla and Co), BUT I am too happy that you've finally come around. Wilkommen!
There are several avenues to learn more about the sexy Claudia Hiersche and newcommer Anne Wis.
You can go to several forums. The "green" or Offical Claudia Hiersche Fanforum (http://hierscheforum.hi.ohost.de/index.php has an English Speaking Section and section on everything about Carla, Hanna & Susanne (which will get you through Carla's 1st big love (died in her arms) and her legally married 2nd love. Other areas can catch you up to her new employee Stella and her baby-daddy's sister Charlie (straight).
Another great helpful site is the "red" forum or Erstes Claudia Hiersche Forum at http://claudiahiersche-fancommunity.de/ it too has and English area and info on Carla and Stella.
The show-site itself can provide uselful info, but you'll need a translator. The show site is http://www.daserste.de/verboteneliebe/
Definitely check out Carlafreak at YT as this Belgian woman keeps english speakers up to date on what is happening with the ladies of VL. There are some other great providers of Hi-def clips too, but they are seldom translated.
This show is THE BEST language tool. After a couple of years of watching the show my Deutche comprehension has gone way up. I wish it had been around when I was in school.
Please spread the word. Claudia Hiersche may be tiring of her role as Deutchlands sexiest lesbian. I hope new world-wide attention will either inspire her to continue with the role of Carla or create new opportunites for us to see her. Hoffentlich :)
engl subs
there are the first few episodes with subs on youtube already
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7pYI8nLnsE&feature=related
I think that's the first one...
have fun!
"on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux"
stella is the left one
She just came into the soap as a love interest for carla. it's not clarified whether she is gay or not, but the hate-affection relationship between her and carla seems to go in this direction. and she made carla wet...with water, djeeez...carla and her first girlfriend met the same way.
you can read a recap here
and that's carla:
as far as i know, charlie isn't gay at all. if you don't want to guess, you can always pm me ;)
eurOut.com for all your European queer needs
Thanks!
English Claudie Hiersche/Carla resources
Most Claudia Hiersche sites have an international section: http://hierscheforum.hi.ohost.de/viewforum.php?f=27
They are not always the most active but if you have questions people will usually be quick to asnwer.
stella being gay...
stella has been outed to carla by her cousin lately. Carla has fallen in love with her, but she is not really Stellas type. Stella falls for Charlie. That's how far I got...
a
"on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. l'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux"
Yes, Stella is gay
In the most recent clip Carla saw Stella being affectionate with a young blond woman. Stella's cousin informed Carla that the woman is Stella's ex-girlfriend. Carla was shocked and Gregor told her, yes, Stella is indeed gay and he had always known. And then he mocked her for having such a bad L-dar.
It's very funny that EVERYBODY around Carla seems to be just as anxious to see Carla get laid as the fans are. He father's widow Elisabeth tried to set her up with a woman in fall. Her half-sister Sarah asked her straight on whether she was in love with Stella and very sweetly tried to encourage her and sang Stella's praises. Her best (straight) friend Nathalie (who tried to set her up with yet another woman in fall) almost threw a party and gushed about how it was the most normal thing in the world (because Carla had doubts because she is Stella's boss) and that she couldn't wait for Carla to finally be happy again. Stella's cousin Gregor when he realized that both Carla and Stella had been clueless about the other's orientation gleefully informed first Carla and then Stella that the other is a lesbian and smirkingly told them that maybe they would get along better now.
I like that the show is definitely is treating this as a great and big event and it's only Stella and Carla's personalities that get in the way (Carla is insecure about starting a new relationship and putting her heart out there, Stella probably thinks Carla is crazy beacuse Carla always runs all hot and cold for her).
I've been keeping up to
I've been keeping up to date with the Debbie and Jasmine storyline cos Debbie might just be the cutest/hottest thing I've ever seen... and well... you're right, the beginning of an end. will try not to give too much away... but its so typical that a lesbian relationship can only seem to end badly by: 1) one of them kills (so she has to go to prison or has to run/leave) or is killed 2) one of them turns psycho/stalker 3) one goes back to men 4) one has to leave because of very far fetched circumstances... the emmerdale covers at least 2 of these
I hope the women in the other storylines are having better luck!
If people want to know what happens with Debbie and Jasmine look for clips on youtube... by chickletngear... he/she pretty much covers their entire storyline from 2005 when they were first together to the recent storyline which pretty much finished this week on the 27th I think...
Update..well, or maybe not
I just checked the German forums for that storyline (yeah,yeah..i don't watch it). there are a lot of rumours about the picture you used. stella rebuffs carla, stella then could fall for charlie. but there are just as often rumours that charlie is the lost mother of stella :P
sorry i can't and don't want to get further into that now *gg but charlie was straight all series long, carla was always gay and stella seems to have definitely a soft spot for women ;) let's see what happens.
oh and again, i didn't want to imply you don't know something or someone. :p
good night, ladies! :)
eurOut.com for all your European queer needs
Actually...
Stella was revealed for sure as a lesbian yesterday or the day before. Also in the last couple of days, Carla has realized she is in love with Stella.
And I'm pretty sure it will be Stella persuing Charlie, not the other way around. But nothing between them has happened yet, I believe it will be in the next couple weeks. Charlie has been straight up til now and it is anticipated that Stella and Carla will end up together.
Just so it's clear, Stella is in the black shirt, and Charlie in the blue dress, in the picture above.
It's sad that lesbian
It's not really better in Europe, though
Besides of what you see in the article and what AE already reported (skins, hollyoaks, etc), there is Gute Zeiten Schlechte Zeiten in Germany. Paula and Franzi (best friends) fell for each other. Franzi then died in a fire. Paule tries to recover and is now falling for the most.straight.girl.ever.
In France there is also La vie est à nous which actually doesn't even have a lesbian storyline yet, since Kelly (gay) gets, if lucky, 3-4 lines while her co-characters talk about straight sex all the time.
The Belgian soap LouisLouise will introduce a new character: Sonja, a lesbian. And she will fall for the main character Louise,, which could be a lesbian storyline..somehow...uhm...well, Louise is actually a man and called Louis but after a spell turned into a woman. Ever saw the movie Switch? That's what the series is about.
Last but not least we have Los Hombres de Paco which had a very, very cute storyline about Pepa and Silvia but now...uhm, I don't want to spoil but first it became again about pregnancies and then Pepa did something similiar like Liz in Nip/Tuck.
What is hospital central doing, actually? *writes notes
A few making outs in reality tv, bad quality movies on local channels. that's pretty much it. i mean, Europe, that's a lot of countries :O
But there will be quite a few queer film festivals in europe this summer and there were some interesting dvd-releases. We don't lose the hope, though;)
eurOut.com for all your European queer needs
Paula leaving GZSZ
I thought the actress who plays Paula was leaving GZSZ? The Paula and Franzi story was beautiful and it's great that Paula is realizing and admitting that she is a lesbian before she leaves, but it's still sad that Franzi had to die just as Paula was ready to stand by their relationship and that now that Paula finally admitted to herself that she is gay she gets written off :(
I heard Hospital Central is really good. ok, there is sickness and all, but an all lesbian triangle and no baby or killing or being killed in sight.
DONT FORGET!
Viva Pepsi! :-) They
Viva Pepsi! :-)
They are awesome although the past couple of episodes have been a downer. They better make up soon.
Charlie
Charlie broke up with her boyfriend
Charlie just broke up with her young guy boyfriend this week because he was too controlling. She now is quite lonely and her nephew told her to keep the faith that surely there must be somebody out there for her: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-2k8HK-JUk(yes her nephew is gay, Charlie has always been a great friends of the gays and all lovelorns in general)
I could picture Charlie having a short fling with Stella, however, I think she would get bored very quickly because she really loves men a lot. She is a very vivacious older lady. She loves men, art and her freedom and she is a great friend. She reminds me of a more classy, old world version of Samantha from Sex and The City (who also had a short lesbian affair, but it didn't last). I do not think that she will be a real threat to Stella and Carla. I think it's more likely that once she realizes Stella's interest in her that she might try to matchmake Carla and Stella.
Verbotene Liebe with English translations
This is the Channel I watch Verbotene Liebe with English translations on that is pretty up to date.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=CarlaFreak&view=videoslos hombres de paco
Maia: Shortland Street, NZ/Aotearoa
Maia Jeffries has been an out lesbian character in NZ's soap, Shortland Street, for a few years.
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/site_index_skin/shortland_street_index_group
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/459100
Has been in a relationship and entered into a civil union partnership (shortly after it became possible in law in NZ). She's split with her partner now, Has a baby from artificial insemination, and is in love with heterosexual woman Alice. Maia just admitted to Alice tonight that she killed Alice's B/F, Ethan, and that she, Maia, has a thing for Alice. Ethan was a real sleaze and criminal, trading in body parts, secretly filming sex with Alice, and worse. Alice says she and Maia are "in this together" and for Maia not to go to the police and give herself up.
belgium
We also have some gay characters on belgium television! Well, Flanders to be exactly.
I don't watch all of them , but i think we have about 5 lesbian/bi characters, on 4 different shows!
Not bad for (half of) our little country I guess.
belgium
We also have some gay characters on belgium television! Well, Flanders to be exactly.
I don't watch all of them , but i think we have about 5 lesbian/bi characters, on 4 different shows!
Not bad for (half of) our little country I guess.
Ireland
Seacht is back on TG4 and Linda hooked up with her ex, Jane on Tuesday night. There was snogging a go-go, huzzah for the girls! I didn't catch most of the first series so I don't know what happened between them then, but it would appear that Jane cheated on Linda in the eary eps.
Seacht is the only programme that actually acknowledges that there really are lesbians in Ireland - and who knew that the irish word for lesbian is lesbian!
At least they survived so far ;)
I have a hard time with writing about some storylines because they show up as quickly as they disappear again. It happened quite a few times that I got a tip that there's a lesbian in, for instance, the netherlands or belgium. but not on national television but a local channel almost no one receives. Also no youtube, because just too small audience. Then I finally found a way to find out what exactly happened there and when i started writing I got the update: no wait, she's already dead/back with a guy/doesn't show up at all, anymore.
ok, i have to admit, this sounds kinda funny :p
eurOut.com for all your European queer needs
Nope, you're right!
It may indeed sound funny, but it's true. Many of the lesbian characters in Belgium disappear just as fast as they appeared...
Take Sonja for instance she's gone already and no there was no romance between her and Louise because she/he was too busy being in love with Thomas, too bad because the chemistry was definetely right and Sonja was interested in Louise, which resulted in an almost kiss but nothing more.
Too bad!
Stella, the most stylish butchette in the world
Claudia Hiersche has my heart and soul, but I think I'm a bit in love with Stella too. And I LOVE her clothes! I don't think she has worn a dress or skirt even once and yet always looks stylish. And she just looks good with everyone, even the straight girls on the show!
(There are many more pictures of Carla and Stella together, but Stella usually wears her work uniform in most of them and I wanted to show her different outfits)
But let's not forget the beautiful Claudia Hiersche!
Nobody does lovelorn as well as she does. And pouty! And starry eyed!
Even the straightgirls on the show are very cute.
I know the story around Stella and Carla might very well be very frustrating. There is a lot of one step forward two steps back. But it gets a lot of screentime, really is all about these only female characters, two of them lesbians and Claudia Hiersche again rocks the world out of these scenes.
Verbotene Liebe
Oh my. I wish I was German. Verbotene Liebe looks fab. Very camp and a little Surreal! Hee. It sure beats the rain-drenched misreable British soaps. I've also heard good things about it on afterelton. Aren't there a couple of gay male characters too?
Hollyoaks is a little strange at the moment. I'm not a regular watcher but I tried to keep up with Zoe and Sarah. It seems like Sarah is having the whole "I think I might be gay" revelation, whilst Zoe is...well....no one seems to know what's going on! One minute you think she likes Sarah, the next she's totally straight. There seems to be a lot more milage in this storyline so fingers crossed. Someone mentioned that they're off screens until the end of January?
Im also keeping a close eye on Neighbours and Home and Away. I'm sure someone mentioned Charlie from Home and Away was going to turn out to be gay. I don't watch, but my friend, who does, assures me that nothing has happened so far.
Neighbours? Well, it has a horrible record for decent gay/bisexual characters. It recently played it for laughs again with Toadie. But I have my fingers crossed that Donna will end up with a girl after the air-head that is Ringo. What's more, she's a likeable and funny character. Any news from Oz on whether this might happen?!
Many of Carla's storylines
Many of Carla's storylines are subtitled on youtube. Just search for Carla Hanna, Carla Susanne, Carla Anke, Carla Marina and Carla Stella. The current Carla/Stella subtitles are done by CarlaFreak.Nina and Erika were another lesbian couple that was around before Carla.
Carla's big love was Hanna who died in her arms. (guest girlfriend Evelyn)
Then came Carla and Anke which was a pretty fun slutty story, but Carla never had any real feelings for her and they liked each other mostly for the sex.
Then Carla and Susanne, Carla's second big love, but eventually they broke up and got divoced. They were together for 2 years. (guest girlfriend Fredericke)
Then Carla and Marina which was a really short story. Carla dated splitting with Susanne, but it didn't go anywhere because Carla still wasn't over Susanne.
And now of course Stella :) I'm looking forward to it because so far both Carla's big loves, the other women (Hanna and Susanne) started out as straight before meeting Carla. So hopefully this will be Carla's first big love story with a woman who is a true blue lesbian from the start.
The show also has and had gay love storyline (Tom and Ulli and now Christian and Oliver; Christian and Oliver became so popular that AfterElton even started doing episode recaps of Verbotene Liebe for them; Oliver is Charlie's nephew, Christian is Stella's younger cousin (we usually see her only with her older cousin Gregor who is a big womanizer), the two are still on the show, but since their main story culminated they have been in the background supporting other storylines (the bisexual Oliver will soon be a friend to Stella and she confides in him that she has a thing for his aunt Charlie;)).
It's still a straight soap opera with those cheese "bar owner falls in love with secret princess" or "boy cheats on girl with her mom" or "boy falls in love with his father's young wife" stories, but it is very GLTB friendly and the stories are usually told with a lot of romance. They are not perfect, but I think they do pretty good.
I also like the pace on
Verbotene Liebe
I just stumbled across Verbotene Liebe a few days ago. And I'm watching now because the Carla, Stella storyline is new and still exciting. And somehow I like Stella, although I'm not convinced about the acting.
I used to watch the show back when Carla was together with Susanne. But then stopped watching at some point.
Now I'm glad that Carla has a new love interest. But I wonder what happend to Susanne. Her whole family seems to have vanished.
Susanne's family
Susanne's son Paul was the first to leave. He fell in love with his French teacher Anne and they moved to France together. About a year later, after Susanne and Carla's divorce Susanne took her daughter and they moved to France together after a fight with her dad about money (I always hated that, what about Carla and Susanne's child Sophia? Wasn't it supposed to be THEIR child? So how can Susanne just leaven even if they are divorced?).
The only one who is still around is Susanne's grumpy dad Arno. After Susanne left they instead brought in a new Brandner family. Susanne's cousin Matthias with his wife and children and they live with Arno now. They still mention Susanne from time to time.
Terapia d'urgenza
this is the new Italian serie released on 29 August 2008. It's a "Hospital Central"'s version in Italy. The couple in the series is Marina and Esther. The storyline of them first time met each other is the same as "Hospital Central"'s Marca and Esther.
This is the youtube user's link to the gist of its first episode:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqrFvh9BwDA&feature=channel_page
The two ladies are pretty. But I heard that it was axed because of some reasons maybe because of the non-originality storyline which is too similar to "Hospital Central".
Anyone heard of this serie too?
TdU
the series was cancelled after the first kiss aired. a little bit too much for italy ;) but they said they will come back with more serious storylines one day. yeah, uhm, sure. lesbians aren't taken seriously, we got that already.
you can read an article about the show here.
and recaps until it was canceled here, here and here.
the announcement of the cancellation is also in the comments of this one here.
eurOut.com for all your European queer needs
danke
thank u so much, show-time, for giving me so much info. Also, the eurOut website is awesome.
I am in Singapore, a country with no lesbian series to share with you guys here. For Verbotene Liebe, I have followed Carla through her love stories since she and Hanna were together. Then came other short affairs, followed by Suzanne and later their divorce. Just when I thought there is nothing that could interest me anymore, there comes Stella Mann. And i am addicted to this relationship.
ABC's series "All My Children" is also one of my favourites. I always find Bianca deserves someone who truly and sincerely loves her wholeheartedly. And now we see Reese Williams came into picture.
Los Hombres De Paco's Pepa and Silvia (aka Pepsi) is my most favourite couple of them all. But lately they are experiencing some pregnancy and trust issues. I can't wait to see them back again.
Although I hope Hospital Central's Maca chooses Vero, but as long as Maca is happy. We are happy too.
Australia's Out of the Blue on-screen lovers Peta and Poppy has a good story line too. Too bad, there is no details after their marriage in the previous episodes.
I suddenly remember a Japan series called "Ikemen Idlo" (aka Mendol) also portray lesbian couple, not one but two. The story is about 3 young girls who became idols when they met a singer producer. The show is hillarious throughout.
The Czech Republic - Other Love
Soukromé pasti (Private traps) , part Jiná láska (Other Love) - The Czech Republic
One part of dramatic series was about married teacher, mother of two little children, who fell in love with young lesbian colleague.
Every part was about one controversial theme a whole series awakened big interest and had big ratings.
It´s possible to watch it online (legally) here. No subtitles :(
http://archiv.nova.cz/multimedia/soukrome-pasti-jina-laska.html
Another one here who loves
Another one here who loves Pepsi !!!!!
As for Hospital Central ... SPOILER ALERT !!!!!
In the last episode of season 16, Maca, who had to decide between Esther and Vero, realized that she was still in love with Esther.Last thing we see in the epi is Maca ringing at Esther's bell, telling her that she has to speak with her, and Esther with a big smile :-)
And yes, the lesbian storyline is exactly the same in Terapia d'Urgenza as in HC, even the names and the jobs were similar !
Carla/ Stella
Today's episode was great. Carla kissed Stella. I mean full-on, grabbed her face, laid one on her kiss. And her reaction afterwards, priceless. "WTF have I just done?"look. Poor Carla is so smitten and Stella is so clueless at this point. Personally, I get the impression that Stella feels an attaction for Carla too, but doesn't realize it yet.
As from future spoilers, I think it will be clear that Charlie DOES NOT have that kind of interest in Stella. I see her more as matchmaker at this point. And really, its quite a clever way to give the actress more screentime.