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Home » Blogs » Trish Bendix's blog » Around the world in lesbian television

Around the world in lesbian television

by
Trish Bendix

Thank the goddess for our international readers. We have some hot tips from several this week on what they've been watching in their respective homelands, and it appears that here in America I'm missing out.

AfterEllen.com reader Alice let us know that Peta and Poppy on the BBC soap Out of the Blue recently got engaged. Now, they're sharing duties in preparation for the wedding, which is only two weeks away. (Too many brides in the kitchen? This could be disastrous or, like the best part of lesbian relationships, practical magic.)

Poppy (Katherine Hicks) and Peta (Daisy Betts) are adorable together, and their being together is a non-issue for everyone on the show, except for Poppy's grandma, Olive. It appears that only Poppy's parents were able to make the ceremony, but the women continued to plan for their big day, amid the rest of the drama that comes along with soap operas. They were wed on a recent episode.

ARKA filled us in on the lesbian couple on Hunters of Men last week, but it appears that Spanish TV will be introducing another lesbian. On the show Lex, which focuses on a lawyer's office, the secretary, Katia (Dulcinea Juarez), is a single lesbian looking for love. Hopefully, we'll have more on this as it develops. Thanks for the tip, ARKA!

Reader Gotika in Portugal told us that the primetime soap Podia Acabar o Mundo (The World Could End) has a doctor, Cláudia, and a medical student, Sónia, who will reportedly be sharing a steamy kiss, according to the Portuguese press.

Based on a novel of the same name, the show will have the women work together and fall for one another, but then one will get fired because they lack chemistry Sónia has a hard time coming out to her parents, which threatens their relationship. Sounds like a totally brand-new storyline! What will they come up with next?

Anything but pregnancy and adoption, please. We've seen it all before.

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    • Submitted by
    Trish Bendix
    on November 13, 2008 - 3:15pm.
    TAGS :: 
    monica_ca's picture

    Pepa and Sivlia...

    Submitted by
    monica_ca (685 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 3:55pm.
    ...from Los Hombres de Paco are my absolute FAVOURITE!!  They make me want to learn Spanish :D
    shelleyc's picture

    Me too

    Submitted by
    shelleyc (302 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 4:44pm.

    I love Pepa and Silvia too. They are so cute.

    Shelley C

    Ma-lis-a's picture

    Same here!

    Submitted by
    Ma-lis-a (118 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 4:57pm.

    I took Spanish for one year (and did horribly) but I find that the little threads of Spanish that I once knew come back to me while I watch the show; I'm even picking up phrases here and there.

    With that being said, they are seriously one of the cutest couples ever. Their scenes are well written AND the two actresses have amazing chemistry with each other. What more could you ask for?

    Lucy's picture

    Me too!

    Submitted by
    Lucy (71 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 9:59pm.

    I love them too, they are both so cute :)

    For readers like me who know literally 3 words in Spanish check out this playlist on Youtube...they have kindly posted 18 videos all with english subtitles - definitely worth watching!

    http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BE6A055499A2A380

     

    jayweh's picture

    please take that obsession

    Submitted by
    jayweh (41 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 11:28pm.

    please take that obsession and start learning the language! that´s what I did a month ago  and I´m doing juuuuust fiiiiine! creo que el espanol es un idioma muy fácil de apprender! ain´t no prettier reason to pick up spanish than laura sanchez! go for it!:-)

    saludos desde alemania!

    femlesh's picture

    Totally agree!

    Submitted by
    femlesh (36 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 11:42pm.

    Pepa and Silvia in Los hombres de paco are THE best couple I've ever seen in a show. Congrats to the writer/director and actresses for the build up and all.

    Oh and I only knew basic French befor but didn't have a hard time understanding them. After the show I of course started to learn Spanish.

    Fizz's picture

    I've been keeping up to date

    Submitted by
    Fizz (98 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 4:01pm.
    I've been keeping up to date with Out of the Blue. It's a bit like South of Nowhere in that the affection displayed between the two is MINIMAL. For example, when they said goodbye, Peta and Poppy shook each others HANDS, LMAO. But other than that, yeah it's really nice that none of the supporting characters have a problem with Poppy and Peta's relationships :)
    marilyne's picture

    Finally!

    Submitted by
    marilyne (92 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 4:05pm.

    Lesbians on portuguese TV!! I love that country so much, i'm glad to see things moving on lately with TV celebrities coming out, and now this. I hope things will keep on going the right track :-) 

    Everything with passion, nothing with talent...

    IfOnly's picture

    Based on a novel of the

    Submitted by
    IfOnly (294 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 4:16pm.

    Based on a novel of the same name, the show will have the women work together and fall for one another, but then one will get fired because they lack chemistry Sónia has a hard time coming out to her parents, which threatens their relationship. 

    THANK YOU! I'm so scared people will forget. Or let it be forgotten.

    ¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

    The heartache won't pass. 

    A goodbye by BetweenThaLines: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppLksXooMWo

    Please visit: http://community.livejournal.com/erica_callie/205532.html

    Holly's picture

    I don't think you have

    Submitted by
    Holly (130 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 5:17pm.
    I don't think you have anything to worry about. Fans will remember it for a very long time. Angry lesbians know how to hold a grudge, or maybe that's just me... ABC can still kiss my ass for all I care.
    shelleyc's picture

    Maca & Esther from Hospital Central

    Submitted by
    shelleyc (302 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 4:49pm.

    It looks like they may be on the road to a reconciliation. I hope I hope I hope. Next weeks episode looks promising.  

    Shelley C

    Holly's picture

    Pepa and Silvia are

    Submitted by
    Holly (130 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 5:19pm.

    Pepa and Silvia are awesome. I have no idea what they are saying, but they are still awesome!

    I wish we could get some lesbian characters on UK TV, or am I just looking in completely the wrong places?

    Melissa Hsu's picture

    yawn

    Submitted by
    Melissa Hsu (not verified)
    on November 13, 2008 - 5:29pm.
    Are they "lesbian" or bisexuals? Something tells me this all about sweeps week in those countries.
    Gotika's picture

    actually, there's no such

    Submitted by
    Gotika (5 posts)
    on November 14, 2008 - 7:28am.
    actually, there's no such thing as 'sweeps week' in portugal. and i don't think it matters if they're lesbin or bi, as long as their characters (and relationships) are portrayed with the same respect as heterosexual ones.
    Traveler's picture

    Not Sweeps Stunts

    Submitted by
    Traveler (322 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 6:59pm.

    Take a nap or don't watch if you're bored, but most of these characters are not sweep stunts.

    Thank you Trish for covering this. It has long been a pet peeve of mine that shows with no lesbian or bisexual characters get coverage on AE while shows that do have queer female characters do not. Granted, many of these shows are not American, but since many can be caught up with on YouTube, they are accessible. And the AE map of lesbian/bi characters is a font of information.

    Some of these shows like "Out Of The Blue," "Los Hombres de Paco," and "Hospital Central" have had threads in the forums.

    And the info on "Out Of The Blue" is a little dated, they're married now.

     

     

     

    Naibsel's picture

    shortland Street New Zealand

    Submitted by
    Naibsel (27 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 9:26pm.

    It seems hospitals are the place to find the lesbians.

    In New Zealand we've got nurse Maya of Shortland Street. She has a son, who was once 'kidnapped' by an x-lover, and now she is falling for her strait, man-crazy, friend Alice.

    I only came to New Zealand recently, so I don't know her intire background, and seeing as how the show has been running for 15 years, 5 days a week, I'm sure there is a lot more to know.

    Right now I'm just cheering for her and Alice! 

    ---The Danish Kiwi---

    Traveler's picture

    Shortie

    Submitted by
    Traveler (322 posts)
    on November 14, 2008 - 3:55am.

    If you want to catch up on Maia, check out YouTube. For basic info, i.e. when Maia first came on the show, check out uniyou's channel; there's a bunch of clips there that will get you started.

    The gold standard for old school Shortie is Ands1977: he is downloading full episodes and many include Maia and her first partner Jay.

    Naibsel's picture

    Awesome thanks. I must

    Submitted by
    Naibsel (27 posts)
    on November 18, 2008 - 3:37am.

    Awesome thanks.

    I must confess that I'm hooked on Shortie. Gonna miss it when I go home, thank GOD for the internet... 

    The Danish Kiwi

    Naibsel's picture

    It seems the states has a

    Submitted by
    Naibsel (27 posts)
    on November 13, 2008 - 9:39pm.

    It seems the states has a lot to learn from the rest of the world...

    blooddrivendream's picture

    My grandmother watches

    Submitted by
    blooddrivendream (170 posts)
    on November 14, 2008 - 2:21am.
    My grandmother watches Portuguese soaps often. I sort of want to be there when this comes on.
    clarissavaughn's picture

    Lesbians on tv and guess what? The World didn't end!

    Submitted by
    clarissavaughn (1 post)
    on November 14, 2008 - 8:09am.

    "Sounds like a totally brand-new storyline! What will they come up with next?"

    Lol.
    The entire soap lacks inspiration, as do all portuguese soaps, so it's nothing new.

    On the other hand having a lesbian couple portrayed on primetime tv is a total brand new thing in Portugal. We usually get what comes in soaps from Brazil, but it doesn't compare to this being a portuguese story played by portuguese actresses, including Diana Chaves, who is very popular here.

    So this is quite an achievement for this small european country, where the debate on gay marriage has only started a few weeks ago. 

    And actually it would be really good if they focused on pregnancy and/or adoption, not for the sake of really good fiction, but to open the minds of people on these issues, for the sake of real life lesbian couples living in this country. 

     

    Fizz's picture

    By the way, I would

    Submitted by
    Fizz (98 posts)
    on November 15, 2008 - 5:07pm.
    By the way, I would definitely recommend watching Out of the Blue, Peta is so hot it hurts and one user has kindly uploaded ALL Peta & Poppy scenes from the entire first series onto YouTube, Wowee! Trust me guys, you'll be occupied for 2 days. I also found myself slowly getting into the storylines, Peta's storyline towards the end of the series is absolutely rivetting!!
    minerva's picture

    Finally there will be

    Submitted by
    minerva (12 posts)
    on November 20, 2008 - 8:49am.
    Finally there will be lesbians in Portuguese TV. Here, in Portugal, lesbians have no representation in the media and there are basically no celebrities out of the closet (except Solange F).

    This is a huge step forward and I'm hoping for the writes not to ruin what as the potential to be a really good story.

    Plus, Diana Chaves is so HOT cute ;D 

     

    Catarina Luz's picture

    Diana Chaves!! wow!! That

    Submitted by
    Catarina Luz (46 posts)
    on July 27, 2009 - 6:44pm.

    Diana Chaves!! wow!! That girl is really hot.. I like her smile :D oops!

    well... I'm from Portugal and I used to see that soap! :)

     


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