colin and guido's gay relationship was the cause of much controversy in january 1989 when "eastenders" aired the first homosexual mouth-to-mouth kiss on british television. the chaste peck on the lips between colin and guido resulted in a front page denunciation in "the sun" newspaper, 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".