{"id":741034,"date":"2026-08-17T17:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741034\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:50:11","slug":"eastenders-icon-michael-cashman-reveals-how-landmark-role-changed-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741034\/","title":{"rendered":"EastEnders icon Michael Cashman reveals how landmark role changed his life"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.<\/p>\n

Michael Cashman says the day he was called to the office of EastEnders<\/a>\u2019 executive producer Julia Smith was like being summoned by the school principal.<\/p>\n

It transpired that the BBC\u2019s top brass were becoming increasingly nervous about the scenes between Cashman\u2019s character Colin and his romantic partner Barry \u2013 specifically them sharing the first gay kiss on the lips in a British soap \u2013 and wanted writers to tone it down because of what was being written in the press.<\/p>\n

Cashman had seen the papers for himself. \u201cFilth: get this off our TV now,\u201d said one headline. \u201cEastBenders!\u201d shouted another. He listened as Smith picked up the phone and said clearly to a BBC chief, \u201cThere is no way I\u2019m going to be editing those scenes.\u201d Cashman exhales. \u201cShe stood up to editorial and political pressure and it changed everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is 40 years ago this month that Cashman, a former child actor, first arrived on Albert Square. He remembers: \u201cI always loved EastEnders, but I never thought I\u2019d be in it. But when I went in, Julia told me, \u2018We\u2019ve tried to cast a straight actor, but we kept thinking of you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

Gary Hailes as Barry Clark and Michael Cashman as Colin Russell in EastEnders.\u00a0BBC<\/p>\n

Smith warned Cashman about the backlash that would come his way, playing the soap\u2019s first gay character in an era boiling over with homophobia and, more aggressively, confusion and fear over the transmission of the Aids virus. Smith\u2019s advice? \u201cShe suggested I talk to Leslie Grantham about dealing with the press!\u201d he laughs, but she wasn\u2019t wrong.<\/p>\n

Cashman remembers a brick flying through his window at home and reading letters of vitriol, despite the BBC\u2019s attempts to prevent them finding their way to him. However, it seems others\u2019 sentiments more than made up for the abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne lady wrote to me, saying her eight-year-old son had asked her why Colin had kissed Barry. She told him it was because Colin loved Barry the way Mummy loved Daddy, and that was that,\u201d he beams. \u201cThat\u2019s why the tabloids hated us. We were getting through.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Keep up to date on what\u2019s worth watching with your favourite entertainment news from Radio Times \u2013 see more of our exclusive news and interviews featured prominently in Top Stories when using Google.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Colin and Barry, played by Gary Hailes, did indeed become part of the furniture of the Queen Vic. \u201cIt took three months for Colin to come out, so viewers got to know him as Pauline and Angie did. The stereotype of gay men had been destroyed by this ordinary man with his chippy boyfriend living their lives in their community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, 40 years later, Cashman reports men in their 50s still telling him what a difference Colin made, including one who remembered, \u201cWatching you made me realise I wasn\u2019t the only one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/p>\n

Ian McKellen, Michael Cashman and Peter Tatchell on a Clause 28 March in Manchester, February 1988.\u00a0Holborn\/Mirrorpix\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

If Colin\u2019s presence on the square changed lives across the country, it changed Cashman\u2019s in equally profound ways. In 1989, the same year he departed EastEnders (save for a few one-off returns), he co-founded Stonewall, campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights, and from 1999 to 2014 he served as an MEP and later as the Labour Party\u2019s official LGBTQ+ international envoy.<\/p>\n

Made a Lord in 2014, he continues to campaign, the latest step in a journey detailed in his 2020 memoir, One of Them: from Albert Square to Parliament Square<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most personally, the role of Colin sealed a bond with his father, an otherwise reserved man who enjoyed watching him on TV: \u201cHe phoned me up and told me he loved me. He realised that if he\u2019d been gay, he would have stood up, too. Because of Colin, I became my father\u2019s son.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest issue of Radio Times is out now \u2013 subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"35<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Soaps<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine. Michael Cashman says the day he was called to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-741034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}