'Neighbours' to screen lesbian plot

[Perdita]

Neighbours will broadcast its second lesbian storyline just weeks after rival Australian soap Home and Away endured a public backlash to its own same sex romance, reports the Courier Mail.

Later this month, Donna (Margot Robbie) and new Ramsay Street resident Sunny (Hany Lee Choi) will lock lips on Australian screens in what producers are calling an "impulsive kiss" after a love letter scandal is exposed.

The kiss between Donna and Sunny will be Neighbours' second attempt at a same sex storyline. In 2004, the soap was slammed by talkback radio callers and conservative groups when it featured a lesbian kiss between schoolgirls Lana Crawford (Bridget Neval) and Sky Mangel (Stephanie McIntosh) in its 6.30pm family friendly G-rated timeslot.

Last month, Neighbours script editor Pete McTighe promised that the soap planned to screen a controversial plot despite reports that the series was going "back to its roots".

"We have controversy-central coming up on air in 2009," he said at the time. "It's a huge story, and is likely to stir up quite a bit of debate."

In March, Home and Away came under attack from conservative and parent groups after policewoman Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson) began a brief romance with female deck hand Joey Collins (Kate Bell).

[Abbie]

I hate it when soaps do this- copying is boring

[Abigail]

Wait for the family groups to rise up against this again

[Abbie]

Oh this is so typical

[Perdita]

Neighbours actress Margot Robbie has played down her character Donna Freedman's upcoming lesbian kiss as "not a big deal".

Earlier this month, it was revealed that Donna and new Ramsay Street resident Sunny (Hany Lee Choi) would lock lips in what producers called an "impulsive kiss".

"It's really not a big deal at all. It's not an actual gay storyline, it's just kind of an impulsive peck," Robbie told the Herald Sun. "It's just like another day on set really. I have to kiss other characters all the time and usually that's real kissing."

In March, rival Australian soap Home and Away came under attack from conservative and parent groups after it screened a lesbian romance between policewoman Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson) and deckhand Joey Collins (Kate Bell).