Brookie’s lesbian kiss? Now Gaelic TV f inally catches up after 30 years

IT has been almost 30 years since Channel 4 broke ground by screening British TV’s first pre-watershed kiss between two women.

Although the clinch on soap opera Brookside ushered in a new era of tolerance on television, it seems the staid world of Gaelic broadcasting has been slow to catch up.

However, BBC Alba has now finally aired its own first racy lesbian plotline – in a Gaelic drama set in a Hebridean tweed mill.

And, perhaps unsurprisingly, eyebrows have been raised in the more traditional reaches of the Western

‘A bold tale of passion, rivalry and intrigue’

Isles, which are home to most of Scotland’s Gaelic speakers.

Last week, viewers of An Clo Mor (which translates as The Great Cloth) saw characters Mairead and Cairistiona in bed together and kissing passionately.

After watching the drama, one islander took to social media to complain about the content and threatened to boycott BBC Alba.

Brookside’s lesbian kiss – first broadcast in 1994 – was later screened to a TV audience of billions when a clip of it was included in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

As it was shown in 76 countries where gay relationships were still illegal, it became the first same-sex kiss ever to be shown on TV in these countries.

The six-part series An Clo Mor airs at 9pm on a Monday – after the watershed – and can be found on BBC iPlayer. It is set in the fictional family business of MacSween’s Mill and, according to the BBC, is ‘a bold tale of passion, rivalry and intrigue’.

In one plotline, married Mairead prepares to leave her husband to be with Cairistiona when they realise they want to be together and do not want to hide their love.

The women are seen in bed together in one episode before sharing a kiss in the next one.

One furious islander announced on social media – in an outburst that has since been removed – that she was disgusted by the plot.

She claimed there was nothing in the pre-publicity to prepare her for the outrageous incident. The irate viewer also claimed she would never watch BBC Alba again.

Others, however, said they were thoroughly enjoying the drama and even likened it to hit US television show Dallas.