Medical drama Holby City has recently received complaints from viewers that it’s a bit too “gay”, according to the BBC’s head of continuing drama, Oliver Kent.
The show first premiered in 1999 and features an ensemble cast that portrays staff and patients at a general hospital—some of whom are gay.
“I am involved in Holby City and we had complaints recently because it was deemed by some viewers that we had too many gay characters,” Kent said.
“And that’s because at the time we had two gay love stories. We had four characters out of 17. I don’t think that’s disproportionate.”
Kent added that the BBC was taking absolutely no notice of bigoted viewers, instead saying there was more work to do in representing queer characters.
"What we could do more is represent bisexual characters. That is what we could be better at exploring.
"I don't think we have quite got that as right yet as we could. I think we could probably be better at that. I don't know how but I think we could."
One character—nurse Lofty—was recently revealed to be gay in an episode of Holby City this year and fans had mixed opinions on Twitter.
One person wrote: "Why is Holby so obsessed with gay stories. Someone pushing there agenda... So many gays really. I have only met one in my life.”
To which someone replied: “Hello. I'm gay. Now you've met two...and I know hundreds more if you'd like an introduction?”
The episode also received dozens of positive messages with one person writing: "Catching up with #HolbyCity! Oh wow, did not expect Lofty to be gay/bi! That is so cool. Looking forward to seeing how it gets explored."
