Emmerdale star: Gay plot is like nothing before
Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt said the show's current gay storyline is different from any similar soap plot. The actor, who plays Paddy Kirk, said it's the reluctance of Aaron Livesy (Danny Miller) to accept his sexuality that makes the storyline stand out. He said: "The gay thing has been tackled by soaps for ever, but it's differently done because he didn't arrive gay - he's almost a homophobic homosexual because he doesn't like what he is at all. "His peer group don't like gay lads. He even punched a gay lad in the past to get in with his mates. It's just really interesting because he's really fighting it. "It's done more realistically than I've seen in a soap. There have been gay storylines in here before, but [in this one] there are no cliches whatsoever. It's just fantastically done." Dominic said no one else in the village would be troubled by Aaron's sexuality, but the teenager is terrified about what people will think. He hopes viewers will find the storyline helpful if they are going through a similar experience. "I think there'll be people out there that don't know what they are, or they've been hiding it, and I think this will help. All Aaron's problems, anything that goes wrong is his own thoughts. He's his own worst enemy, no one else is bothered." Click here to watch whatsontv.co.uk’s weekly soaps video preview, the Soap Scoop
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.