Taken from interviews over the last few years, regarding Serena Campbell as a lesbian character and falling in love with a woman although being ‘a dyed in the wool heterosexual’.

This article isn’t just about Berena, but about Serena as a character and about Catherine Russell who plays her.

The Berena storyline has been hugely popular with those who are heterosexual and the LGBT audience.

Catherine spoke to ‘What’s on TV’:

“From the perspective of a lesbian viewer, there’s so little out there on regular TV that they can look at and go ‘that represents me, there I am’, that I feel a great responsibility to get this right.”

Catherine had played Serena around 5 years before stepping in the role of a lesbian character.

On the 30th August 2016 in the episode Protect and Serve, Serena kissed her friend Bernie Wolfe. They had given in to their flirting, eyes locking from the across the ward, little shoulder bumps which had been Catherine and Jemma’s (Redgrave) little add ons.

From ‘Inside Soap’ 2016:

“I can understand why it was asked of Serena, as we haven’t seen that side of her. The question was whether we could make it believable. But I think we live in a time where we’re moving away from the idea that you put your sexuality in a box. If Bernie was Bert, I think Serena would act the same. It’s the human being and the sexual spark that she’s attracted to.”

Serena was attracted to Bernie as Bernie was attracted to Serena. Serena was shocked that she had kissed her and was questioning her sexuality. Serena knew she wanted Bernie, but because she hadn’t been in love with a woman before, it scared her. Now that in itself is brilliant representation. Woman feel scared being in love with a woman, questioning themselves. I feel Catherine and Jemma portrayed those roles brilliantly.

When Catherine was approached with this storyline she could have turned it down. Herself and Jemma played roles to represent the LGBT Community. Now, I know that a lot of people are saddened by the end of storyline but we as a community need to appreciate what has been given to us. On screen we had two women fall in love, we had their relationship and their ending. We had Catherine interact with us regarding the storyline and she even joined Jemma Redgrave at the London Comic Con.

I myself feel that I was represented in Serena’s character. A woman who was confused and in time accepted herself.

Thank you to Serena Campbell and Catherine Russell who chose to commit to a storyline that she did not have to.

– by CRFANPAGE13
(@CRFanpage13 on Twitter)