It is a common misconception that the first lesbian kiss on British television was Anna Friel’s passionate embrace on Brookside in the early 90s.



In fact, the taboo was broken two decades earlier in the BBC drama Girl, featuring Alison Steadman, and the moment is now being made available for the public to watch for the first time in four decades.

To coincide with the Pride in London festival, the BBC will make the half-hour drama, which tells the story of an affair between two female army officers, viewable on the BBC store. The kiss was shared between Alison Steadman and Myra Frances and has not been aired since it was first broadcast on BBC2 in 1974.

Steadman, who went on to star in Mike Leigh’s TV plays and sitcoms such as Gavin and Stacey, spoke about how proud she was to have been involved in such a watershed moment for equality on television, but said she had found it quite shocking at the time.

“When I was offered the part I felt quite nervous. A completely new adventure. Never been offered anything like it before,” she said.

“The director, Peter Gill, was great because he didn’t fuss about the fact they were two women or that they had to kiss. He said it was just a love story.”

The scene was nonetheless considered so controversial that the producer of the show came to watch rehearsals to make sure things didn’t go “too far”. The broadcast was preceded by a special announcement by the controller of BBC2.

Steadman said she had been most worried about her parents watching the drama and being embarrassed by the comments it might initiate, but that they took it well.

“My mum said she thought it was great and was very moved by it,” she said.

It wasn’t until five years later, in 1979, that the first gay kiss between two men was broadcast on BBC1 in Coming Out.

The first pre-watershed lesbian kiss was between Anna Friel and Nicola Stephenson on Brookside in 1994.

Girl will be released by the BBC as part of its Pride and Prejudice collection of landmark LGBT dramas such as the adaptations of Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and Hanif Kureshi’s The Buddha of Suburbia.