and Barry left Walford for a job on a cruise ship. Colin had a health scare during the autumn of 1988 and for a moment it looked like EastEnders might have been about to do an AIDS storyline. The press speculated that Colin was showing early signs of the disease and the possibility was even briefly indicated too on-screen when Colin himself began to fear that his symptoms were AIDS related. In fact giving Colin AIDS was never the programme's intention — it was felt that the most simplistic and unhelpful message that the programme could give out would be to have its only homosexual character become HIV positive — particularly as it happened at a time when misconceptions and fear about AIDS were rife. Colin was eventually diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, although this fact was kept from him by his doctor for the remainder of the year and he lived out 1988 with the belief that he was in perfect health. Towards the end of 1988 Colin found new love, with a fellow yuppie — Guido Smith (Nicholas Donovan) — whom he met through his work. Colin's gay relationship was once again the cause of much controversy in January 1989 when EastEnders aired the first homosexual mouth-to-mouth kiss on a British television soap opera. The chaste peck on the lips between Colin and Guido resulted in a front page denunciation in The Sun newspaper, written by then Sun writer Piers Morgan, who described it as "a homosexual love scene between yuppie poofs... when millions of children were watching". The kiss was watched by twenty million people and came at a time when Margaret Thatcher’s government had set forward a moral agenda that urged a return to traditional family values. The Sun printed the assertion that "Furious MPs last night demanded a ban on EastEnders as the BBC soap showed two men kissing full on the lips". Cashman decided to quit the show in the early part of 1989. While still on the cast of EastEnders, Cashman had founded the influential gay campaign group Stonewall and has now given up acting to become a Labour MEP. He was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 where he was the Labour spokesperson on human rights. He is also an active campaigner across a wide range of issues. On screen, Colin finally learned he had multiple sclerosis and decided to leave Walford