John Partridge and Carl Ferguson's liplock

Gee, it's comforting to know that the U.S. isn't alone when it comes to mass hysteria and overreaction. On Tuesday's episode of the long-running UK soap opera Eastenders, the characters of Christian and Lee shared a medium-hot kiss, putting some viewers' knickers in a twist. (The Daily Mail also ran a similar story.)

Apparently, the kiss happened before the 9 p.m. "watershed", which, from the jist of the comments, is when the television becomes filled with indecent, filthy acts like ... gay snogging.

Some choice excerpts from letters sent to the BBC in complaint:

"This is disgraceful whilst young children are watching and sets the wrong example."

"I am appalled by the display of homosexual kissing before the watershed shown on EastEnders."

And my favorite...

"I had to explain to my seven-year-old son what was happening. He now thinks he is gay because he kisses his dad.”

Well, that's what you get for having children. I'm a bit confused, though ... Hollyoaks has gone much further in terms of showing gay affection, and it's a daytime show, so why aren't there riots in the streets about that?

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• Jiminy Glick (a fat-suited and sibilant Martin Short, natch) interviews self-professed "filth elder" John Waters at the Independent Spirit Awards. I want one of each just to keep in the pantry for rainy days.

• Defamer has some fun pics of Sir Elton John's Oscar bash, which was one of the biggest parties in town this year. Those gays and their fetes!

• Okay, so this may or may not be American Idol contestant David Hernandez working at a gay bar in Phoenix. But any barfly worth his margarita salt knows that half of the men who work at gay bars aren't gay, they're "just experimenting with getting better tips". (t/y PBuG for the tip!)

• EastEnders actor Aaron Sidwell may be on his way out, but his character, Steven Beale, can add "bisexual" to his profile (along with "mentally ill" and "matricidal gun enthusiast") before his "big bang" of an exit.

• I mentioned the benefit that the Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice stars are holding for their crews to offset the wages lost during the writers' strike, but I didn't realize that T.R. Knight was actually one of the forces behind it.

• You may have heard that Microsoft vet Ric Weiland (he was one of the first 5 employees) bequeathed a tremendous private donation to gay groups - $65 million - following his tragic suicide. But did you also know that he had been out for decades (he sported a license plate reading "YES IAM" in 1977!!) and was a total hottie back in the day?

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

There's a new six-part dramatic series starting over in the UK next month that sounds wonderfully exciting, not least of all because it features a soap hunk as a cross-dressing gay prostitute ... circa 1750. The series, City of Vice, tells the true tales of the Bow Street Runners, London's first police force, and their specific dealings with the world of prostitution.

One of the prostitutes in question is brought to powdered-and-corseted life by Nigel Harmon, a former EastEnders hunk, who plays a cross-dressing tart who is apparently also dating one of the policemen. Early reports say that Harmon's camp performance steals the show, although from some candid snaps from the set it looks as though things don't go terribly well for his character. Granted, this was the 18th century, so things were even more bleak for gay men even when they weren't prostitutes in ball gowns. And given that the show has been compared to Deadwood, it looks like bleak is the name of the game all around.

City of Vice starts in January on C4.

Here’s a run down of British soap goings on that have pinged our gaydar in the UK for the week ending December 16….

Coronation Street, ITV1

Goodness gracious, what is the world coming to; evil seems to be overcoming all that is good and wholesome in Weatherfield. Not that Sarah Platt could ever be described as wholesome, but you get my drift!

Yes folks, it looks like David Platt may have the last laugh after all. It appears that being a lying scumbag has paid dividends for the devil child, what with rich and successful Uncle Stephen (who’s swapped Christmas in Canada for Weatherfield, the fool!) choosing to reward the spawn of Satan for all the terrible things he’s done. And by reward, we mean offering David a new life and a new job… in Milan! Yes, Milan, Italy!

Poor Sarah, no wonder she’s furious! And jealous. David has never looked quite so smug. But it looks like he won’t be smiling for too long, not if Sarah has her way. Her warning to David to not count his chickens just yet was chilling. Hmm we wonder what devilish plans the little minx has up her sleeve? Make it good Sarah, make it good.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s mysterious stalker was revealed… and it’s his dad. Well, a dodgy looking man who claims to be his father, anyway. Mum Michelle was totally baffled by the claim and worse, was forced to defend herself when boyfriend Steve asked her is she had been unfaithful to her late hubby Dean. Talk about being an insensitive jerk. Steve, we mean.

Poor Michelle was so afraid for her son, she put Ryan under house arrest. Which actually wasn't quite as bad as it sounds, considering he got to bunk off school and play video games.

Elsewhere, Steve offered his ex- con dad a job and Jim promised to stay away from ex-wife Liz and her hubby-to-be Vern. He certainly does seems to be a changed man, does our Jim, not even kicking off when faced with a bunch of rowdy lads in the pub.

Oh, and John and Rosie went on a romantic date… at a lay by. And they celebrated spending some quality time together by having a romp in the backseat of his Megane! Classy!


Eastenders, BBC1

Question.

What do you get if you cross Jack Branning and Phil Mitchell with a pool table?

Here’s a run down of British soap goings on that have pinged our gaydar in the UK for the week ending December 9…

Coronation Street, ITV1

Sadly, the inevitable happened this week. Yes folks, Liam Connor is off the market and it’s that lucky cow Maria Sutherland who’s gone and bagged him! Well, who’d have thought it; being jealous of Maria of all people!

Yes, Liam finally did the evil deed - sorry, the right thing - and proposed to the hairdresser. Well, she is carrying his child. Although we all know he’d much rather be with his fiery sister-in-law, Carla instead. After all, he can barely tear his eyes off her and she certainly wasn’t happy with his engagement news. We think this could probably turn out to be one of the shortest engagements soapland has ever seen.

Meanwhile, devil child David continued to cause mayhem and mischief. This week he pinched barmy Becky’s mobile phone so he could send flirty texts to Jason. No, we didn’t know he was that way inclined either. But alas his attempts to make sister Sarah even more paranoid and jealous than normal backfired. Yes, the truth came out and he got rumbled.

Unfortunately, things came to ahead in the Platt-Grimshaw household when Gail announced that Sarah and Jason should move out because it was obvious Sarah and David would never be able to live under the same roof! Talk about taking the wrong side, Gail!

Elsewhere, two new faces made a welcome appearance in the Street, in the shape of bookies Harry and his son Dan, played by former Bad Girls star Jack Ellis and Matthew Crompton from The Bill. And it seems Jack and Vera have decided to leave the Street (shock! horror!) and move to Blackpool. Although unfortunately for Paul, if his grandparents do sell up and move, they will discover that their rat bag grandson has taken out a loan in their name against their house. Such a naughty boy, that Paul. Oh, and Ryan has got himself the ultimate celebrity accessory: a stalker. Yes, Michelle’s young son keeps getting followed by a dodgy looking bloke in a flash Subaru.

But the award for the most shocking moment of the week went to Kirk Sutherland - for wearing a suit. And even more shocking, he looked rather dashing in it, too.

Here’s a run down of British soap goings on that have pinged our gaydar in the UK for the week ending December 2…

Coronation Street, ITV1

Sulky Sean wasn’t quite so sulky this week. In fact, he was pretty much back to his normal, chipper, annoying self. In our book, annoying and chipper beats sulky any day of the week.

And it seems being reconciled with best bud Violet is bringing out the best in him. With Violet and Jamie hoping to move into a flat together, Sean decided to make Christmas come that little bit early for the lovebirds by offering to stump up the five hundred big ones they need for their deposit. But unfortunately, in typical macho blokey fashion, Jamie rejected Sean’s kind offer. Hmm what's that saying about pride cometh before a fall?

However, not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, sneaky Violet proved that women are indeed the smarter (some might prefer sneaky!) sex and decided to accept Sean’s help and his cash, whilst keeping it a secret from boyfriend Jamie.

Elsewhere, lovely Liam was well and truly gobbed and smacked this week. But then Maria’s bombshell revelation that she’s pregnant would be enough to shock anyone. Of course, being the lovely bloke that he is, our Liam promised to do the right thing by her and the baby. However, Marie seemed to sense that he wasn’t all that keen and decided to have an abortion. But neither of the pair seem happy about that decision, either. Please, will somebody do us all a favour and knock their heads together!

Meanwhile, Jim McDonald was released from prison; Violet’s extremely irritating little sis Lauren decided to visit; and devious Rosie blackmailed creepy John in to giving her good grades, otherwise she’d blab about their affair. Well, that’s certainly one way of getting an ‘A’!

Eastenders, BBC1

Carly, Kevin and Shirl visited a bruised and battered Deano in prison this week. The promise of a round-the-world trip would be enough to bolster anyone’s spirits. Providing they were able to stay alive long enough, obviously.

If you ask us, Strictly Come Dancing is the best thing that’s ever happened to sexy Matt Di Angelo. The boy is oozing charisma and sexy appeal – even if h does look like he's gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson! Pity he won’t be gracing our screens for much longer, having been given the boot from the soap.

Here’s a bumper two week special run down of British soap goings on that have pinged our gaydar in the UK between November 11 to November 25….

Coronation Street, ITV1
Poor old sulky Sean Tully is still walking around Weatherfield with a face like thunder. The not-so-happy chappy either needs a great big hug or a kick up the backside – we still can’t quite decide. Violet may have (begrudgingly) forgiven him for going behind her back and finding out about their baby’s sex, but discovering that his unborn baby’s mummy has rekindled her love affair with former flame Jamie went down about as well as a wet weekend in Bognor Regis.

While Vi and Jamie were all loved up again (aww bless), with Jamie promising to treat Vi’s baby like his own, Sean decided he wants to play a bigger role in bringing up their son. And with Vi adamantly against Sean’s involvement, the gay barman decided to fight for his access rights in court. Or at least he did, until he visited a solicitor and discovered that it would take thousands of pounds to fight his case. Talk about having the courage of your convictions - not.

Fed up with the former friends’ feud, Jamie and Sean’s other half, Marcus decided to conspire together in a desperate bid to get the pair talking again. Thankfully, Vi had a change of heart and agreed to let Sean be involved with bringing up their child. Yay! Result! Hopefully no more sulky Sean.

Meanwhile, the seedy affair unfolding between teacher John and call girl in the making Rosie continued to get even seedier. It’s surely only going to be a matter of time before the lovers get caught in the act. First Sally almost caught the pair snogging at school. And then hubby Kevin very nearly burst in on them at it in bed together!

But Fiz, John’s other half, seems to be less oblivious. Although she thinks randy John is actually having it away with Sally! Fiz even went so far as to clock Sally one. Oh, if only she knew!

It seems it wasn’t just another one of those unsubstantiated rumours after all. As we previously reported, Eastenders' producers have been frantically searching for a fresh face to portray the part of Jane Beale’s (Laurie Brett's) long-lost gay brother. Well, the good news is they have finally found their man in the shape of openly gay actor John Partridge.

The 36 year-old singer and dancer, who is probably best known for his performance in the musical CATS, is set to play the part of Christian, who arrives in Walford in the New Year after inviting his sister Jane to his civil ceremony.

Speaking of his role on the BBC’s official website, Partridge said: "I'm delighted to be joining EastEnders and playing Christian. I think he's going to upset the apple cart at the Beales'."

Born in Manchester, England, Partridge trained as the Royal Ballet Lower School and left college at seventeen in 1989 to tour the UK with the original touring production of CATS. His other credits include productions of Starlight Express, Tommy, Grease, Miss Saigon, Rent and Taboo.

Partridge has also worked with numerous rock and pop acts including U2 and the Pet Shop Boys.