reveals that Eddie has died and has reunited with Barry. Character creation and development Colin was EastEnders first homosexual character. Introduced in August 1986, Colin was one of the more popular characters in the early years of the programme. At first the audience and the residents of Walford were kept in the dark about the fact that Colin was gay. This changed by the end of the year, at which time Colin acquired a young boyfriend named Barry Clark (Gary Hailes). Colin was one of the most controversial characters of his time — mainly because gay-orientated content was still relatively rare on prime-time television during the mid-1980s. Gay characters that existed were usually farcical, camp parodies, created purely for comic relief, such as Mr Humphries in the situation comedy, Are You Being Served? Although EastEnders was not the first UK televised soap to include a gay character (Channel 4's Brookside had that accolade), the portrayal of an openly gay male, let alone a homosexual relationship, on a prime-time, pre-watershed BBC programme was unheard of before Colin and Barry's introduction. The licence funded BBC held a far greater audience share than the commercially funded Channel 4, thus public reaction to EastEnders''' gay characters was much stronger and more widely documented in the British press. Colin was a middle-class, well-meaning, slightly uptight yuppie, and his inclusion was an attempt to portray the gentrification of the East End of London. The openly gay actor and gay activist Michael Cashman, who had roots in the East End, was chosen to play the role. Cashman initially resisted playing Colin, but was persuaded by his boyfriend, Paul Cottingham, and after receiving his parents' backing, he accepted the part. The makers of EastEnders decided that Colin's partner needed to be in stark contrast in order to prevent Colin from becoming too rarefied (up until this point middle-classed characters had been relatively unsuccessful and had failed to fully integrate into EastEnders predominantly working-class community). Barry was scripted to be much more down-to-earth in comparison: working-class instead of middle-class; openly gay instead of 'in the closet'; loud and brash instead of shy and retiring, and in addition the age difference between the two was substantial — Colin being roughly fifteen years Barry's senior. A relationship between Colin and Barry was quickly developed and the residents of Albert Square gossiped in hushed voices about the true nature of their friendship.