Gary Lamont Talks River City Gay Domestic Violence Plot

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Gary Lamont Talks River City Gay Domestic Violence Plot

Published on Jun 16 2012

River City actor Gary Lamont has discussed his characters current storyline and how he hopes it will encourage other gay men to come out to their families.

Lamont plays Robbie Fraser in the BBC Scotland soap having joined the cast in 2009. A forthcoming storyline will see Robbie become the victim of domestic violence from his partner Will Cooper (Scott Ryan Vickers). Robbie will first see the darker side of Will when he is pinned up against a wall by his boyfriend moments after proposing.

In an interview with the Daily Record newspaper Lamont has discussed the storyline and his character and how he hopes it will help others come out to their families. “I hope a storyline like this opens up a dialogue for people if they need it. It could become a catalyst for conversation. People tell me they watch River City with their mums, a lot of guys especially.”

Lamont discussed his own experience of coming out to his family telling the Daily Record “When I first told my mum it was mortifying, there were a lot of tears. Mum’s biggest thing was worrying what people would say about me, without really knowing me. But it’s all fine now. It’s just one part of my life, one aspect of my character. It’s not what defines me.”

The actor has not previously talked about his own sexuality explaining “I’ve never really felt the need to mention it before, but I’m in a relationship with a man and I’m very happy…I don’t talk about my partner publicly, because this is work and he’s not part of that.”

River City is not the first soap to tackle gay domestic abuse; Hollyoaks has tackled the issue through the characters of Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) and Brendan Brady (Emmett J. Scanlan) with the storyline also touching up manipulation as well as physical violence.


River City: Robbie & Will