Lana Crawford
Encyclopedia
Lana Crawford is a fictional character
from the Australian soap opera Neighbours
, played by Bridget Neval
. She made her first appearance on 31 August 2004. Lana was introduced as Neighbours' first openly lesbian character. During her tenure, Lana became friends with Sky Mangel
and they shared the show's first on-screen lesbian kiss. The storyline and the character were attacked by radio callers and conservative groups. However, at the same time, critics praised Neighbours for tackling the issues of female homosexuality and said that the storyline was a real television advance, which helped redefine the show. Neval and Lana departed on 13 January 2005.
' first ever openly gay character. She and best friend Sky Mangel (Stephanie McIntosh
) shared the show's first lesbian kiss.
Neval and the character of Lana were attacked by radio callers and conservative groups for "making homosexuality look cool" after the kiss was featured in the show in the G-rated timeslot. Neval said the experience was "eye opening", she also added "You read the letters to the newspapers and articles and, if you are a gay teenager already feeling insecure about how your sexuality will be accepted, that would be incredibly devastating". Peter Stokes, chief executive of Christian group Salt Shakers said "It just saddens me that we give our young people the message that these relationships are OK". However, Ray Misson, head of Melbourne University's arts education department, described Neighbours' depiction of a lesbian as a real television advance. Ric Pellizzeri, Neighbours' executive producer, said the show was reflecting reality by becoming more contemporary. He said "We are not condoning or promoting homosexuality...ultimately, we're telling a story about tolerance". Pellizzeri also added that the kiss was as far as the show would go, but it would not be "dissuaded from telling stories about homosexuality".
(Marisa Warrington
) and Penny Watts (Andrea McEwan
). She was born in Australia, but her family moved to Canada when she was young. They returned to Australia a few years later and Lana began attending Wattle Heights High School, where she was bullied over her sexuality. This led her to transfer to Erinsborough High.
(Lara Sacher
), who is also employed there. Lana is convinced that she had seen Serena before and she realises that Serena had been in some photos taken by dodgy photographer Chris Cousens (Simon Mallory
). Lana admits to Serena that she had also been taken in by Chris and that she was not over it. Lana did not get on with Serena's cousin, Sky, and one day they fight at school. Susan Kennedy
(Jackie Woodburne
) places them in detention and urges them to work things out. They begin to trust each other a little and when Serena invites Lana over to watch movies, Sky and Lana discover they both like black and white films. They bond and Lana watches Sky fall asleep.
Sky realises that Lana has hidden depths and tells her. Lana gets upset and tells Sky that she is not hiding anything. Sky calls a friend who attended Wattle Heights High with Lana and she finds out about the bullying that caused Lana to change schools. During a playfight at a sleepover, Lana suddenly kisses Sky. She runs out of the house and goes to the Coffee Shop, where she finds Sindi. Lana reveals to Sindi that she is gay. She admits that she does not want to lose Sky as a friend and tries to pass the kiss off as a joke. Sky tells Boyd Hoyland
(Kyal Marsh
) about the kiss and Serena also finds out. She then outs Lana to the school. Lana attempts to convince everyone that it is a rumour and she starts dating Brendan Bond (Michael Wahr). When Sky finds out that Lana is planning to sleep with Brendan during a party, she decides to stop her. Lana tells her to go, but she also decides to tell Brendan that she cannot sleep with him as she prefers girls.
Lana receives anonymous notes in her locker praising her for being brave. However, she is also targeted by a gang of girls and they threaten to cut her hair off. Susan decides to get the school involved in a tolerance campaign, but many of the parents begin to protest about it. Sky and Lana begin drawing a cartoon strip called Enigma and Freak Girl and Buffy Only (Laura Gordon) from an underground gay magazine becomes interested in publishing it. One night, Sky and Lana decide to plant lavender plants outside Lassiters hotel and they camp out to watch everyone's reactions. In the excitement of the moment, Sky kisses Lana. Lana is happy with this development, believing that Sky has fallen for her. Sky realises that she feels nothing and explains to Lana that they can only be friends. Lana accuses Sky of using her and avoids her for several days. Lana goes to Ramsay Street and makes friends with Sky. Lana decides not to attend the end of the year formal dance, but her friends manage to convince her to go. She finds a note asking her to the dance, from someone named George. During the formal, "George" introduces herself as Georgina Harris (Adrienne Smith), and she and Lana spend the rest of the night together.
Lana decides to go to Canada and Sky is sad to be losing her best friend. At a farewell party, Sky tells Lana that she will miss her and Lana says goodbye to George. As her taxi arrives to take her home, Lana tells Serena that she will find someone to make her happy and she receives a gift from Sky. The gang then watch as Lana leaves Ramsay Street.
The character's inclusion in Neighbours and her storyline received a positive reaction from the public, television critics and LGBT websites. The episodes showing the kisses between Sky and Lana were shown unedited in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. They provided Neighbours with a small increase in ratings.
The Sydney Star Observer
said that Lana's coming out to her cousin Sindi, who reacted in a positive way, was "good to see". They also praised Lana's best friend, Sky for her reaction. The paper then commented on how Neighbours wanted Lana to be a "sympathetic gay character", which, they observed, must have upset the Christian groups. Website AfterEllen commented on the kiss between Lana and Sky, saying "From the amount of backlash this kiss generated in Australia, you'd think that they'd shown a full blown love scene". They added that the negative attention it received by the Australian press mirrored Lana's storyline, which saw her receive a negative reaction from her peers at school. The website also said that lesbian characters and the storylines in the show are "problematic at times, and the public outcry over the lesbian storyline on Neighbours indicates we still have a long way to go before lesbian characters are routine on Australian television". However, the website praised the soap for deciding to tackle the issues.
In 2007, Australian newspaper the Herald Sun
placed Lana and Sky's kiss at number nine on their list of Neighbours Top Ten moments. They said "It's rare that Neighbours attracts the attention of the shock jocks around the country, but that's what happened when Sky Bishop, played by Stephanie McIntosh, gave Lana, played by Bridget Neval, a kiss. Sky was exploring her sexuality and the scene was one of the most talked about ever in the press. Lana left Erinsborough and Sky has gone on to be an unmarried mum". The Neighbours: 20 years of Ramsay Street book said that the kiss between Lana and Sky "helped redefine Neighbours as it entered its third decade" and television critic, David Knox, said that Neighbours had handled Lana's situation "quite well". Sam Butler of SX News
said the storyline between Lana and Sky had been "surprisingly sensitive and unsensationalist."
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the Australian soap opera Neighbours
Neighbours
Neighbours is an Australian television soap opera first broadcast on the Seven Network on 18 March 1985. It was created by TV executive Reg Watson, who proposed the idea of making a show that focused on realistic stories and portrayed adults and teenagers who talk openly and solve their problems...
, played by Bridget Neval
Bridget Neval
Bridget Neval is an Australian/Canadian actress. She has been in various television programs including Wicked Science but is most famous for her portrayal of Lana Crawford in Neighbours.-History:...
. She made her first appearance on 31 August 2004. Lana was introduced as Neighbours
Sky Mangel
Sky Mangel is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Stephanie McIntosh. She made her first on-screen appearance on 1 February 1989, played by Miranda Fryer. McIntosh took over the role on 13 August 2003 when the character returned to the show...
and they shared the show's first on-screen lesbian kiss. The storyline and the character were attacked by radio callers and conservative groups. However, at the same time, critics praised Neighbours for tackling the issues of female homosexuality and said that the storyline was a real television advance, which helped redefine the show. Neval and Lana departed on 13 January 2005.
Character development
Lana was NeighboursStephanie McIntosh
Stephanie McIntosh is an Australian actress and singer. She is known for her role as Sky Mangel in the Australian soap opera Neighbours and her music career, which began with the release of her debut album Tightrope in September 2006.-Background:McIntosh attended Firbank and then Melbourne Girls...
) shared the show's first lesbian kiss.
Neval and the character of Lana were attacked by radio callers and conservative groups for "making homosexuality look cool" after the kiss was featured in the show in the G-rated timeslot. Neval said the experience was "eye opening", she also added "You read the letters to the newspapers and articles and, if you are a gay teenager already feeling insecure about how your sexuality will be accepted, that would be incredibly devastating". Peter Stokes, chief executive of Christian group Salt Shakers said "It just saddens me that we give our young people the message that these relationships are OK". However, Ray Misson, head of Melbourne University's arts education department, described Neighbours
Backstory
Lana is the daughter of Joan Crawford and cousin to SindiSindi Watts
Sindi Parker is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Marisa Warrington. She made her first on-screen appearance on 19 July 2002. Sindi was initially a recurring character, before she was promoted to regular...
(Marisa Warrington
Marisa Warrington
Marisa Michelle Warrington is an Australian actress who played Sindi Watts on the Australian soap opera Neighbours....
) and Penny Watts (Andrea McEwan
Andrea McEwan
Andrea McEwan is an Australian actress, singer, musician and songwriter.-Life:After attending MacRobertson Girls' High School in Melbourne, McEwan started acting, appearing in several television series including Ocean Girl and Funky Squad...
). She was born in Australia, but her family moved to Canada when she was young. They returned to Australia a few years later and Lana began attending Wattle Heights High School, where she was bullied over her sexuality. This led her to transfer to Erinsborough High.
2004–05
Lana is given a job at the Coffee Shop, where she becomes friends with Serena BishopSerena Bishop
Serena Bishop is a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Neighbours, played by Lara Sacher. She made her first on-screen appearance on 9 October 2003. Serena's storylines included kissing her cousin's boyfriend, being taken advantage of by a photographer and starting an incestuos...
(Lara Sacher
Lara Sacher
Lara Sacher is an Australian actress who played Serena Bishop on the Australian soap opera Neighbours from 2003 to 2005.- Biography :...
), who is also employed there. Lana is convinced that she had seen Serena before and she realises that Serena had been in some photos taken by dodgy photographer Chris Cousens (Simon Mallory
Simon Mallory
Simon Mallory is an Australian actor who played Chris Cousens in the Australian soap opera Neighbours in 2004 and 2005. He was a series regular on the Nine Network late night sketch comedy series Comedy Inc - The Late Shift....
). Lana admits to Serena that she had also been taken in by Chris and that she was not over it. Lana did not get on with Serena's cousin, Sky, and one day they fight at school. Susan Kennedy
Susan Kennedy
Susan Kennedy , is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Jackie Woodburne. The character and her family were created by storyliners in an attempt to bring the show back to its roots. Susan made her first on-screen appearance on 3 October 1994 along...
(Jackie Woodburne
Jackie Woodburne
Jackie Woodburne is a Northern Irish-born Australian actress.-Personal life:Woodburne was born in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Her father was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. She has two older siblings: John and Stephen. At age three she emigrated with her family to...
) places them in detention and urges them to work things out. They begin to trust each other a little and when Serena invites Lana over to watch movies, Sky and Lana discover they both like black and white films. They bond and Lana watches Sky fall asleep.
Sky realises that Lana has hidden depths and tells her. Lana gets upset and tells Sky that she is not hiding anything. Sky calls a friend who attended Wattle Heights High with Lana and she finds out about the bullying that caused Lana to change schools. During a playfight at a sleepover, Lana suddenly kisses Sky. She runs out of the house and goes to the Coffee Shop, where she finds Sindi. Lana reveals to Sindi that she is gay. She admits that she does not want to lose Sky as a friend and tries to pass the kiss off as a joke. Sky tells Boyd Hoyland
Boyd Hoyland
Boyd Hoyland is a fictional character from the Australian Network Ten soap opera Neighbours, played by Kyal Marsh. He made his first on-screen appearance on 5 June 2002...
(Kyal Marsh
Kyal Marsh
Kyal Reese Marsh is an Australian actor. He was born in Clare, South Australia. He moved to Melbourne with his family when he was one year old.-Acting & modelling career:...
) about the kiss and Serena also finds out. She then outs Lana to the school. Lana attempts to convince everyone that it is a rumour and she starts dating Brendan Bond (Michael Wahr). When Sky finds out that Lana is planning to sleep with Brendan during a party, she decides to stop her. Lana tells her to go, but she also decides to tell Brendan that she cannot sleep with him as she prefers girls.
Lana receives anonymous notes in her locker praising her for being brave. However, she is also targeted by a gang of girls and they threaten to cut her hair off. Susan decides to get the school involved in a tolerance campaign, but many of the parents begin to protest about it. Sky and Lana begin drawing a cartoon strip called Enigma and Freak Girl and Buffy Only (Laura Gordon) from an underground gay magazine becomes interested in publishing it. One night, Sky and Lana decide to plant lavender plants outside Lassiters hotel and they camp out to watch everyone's reactions. In the excitement of the moment, Sky kisses Lana. Lana is happy with this development, believing that Sky has fallen for her. Sky realises that she feels nothing and explains to Lana that they can only be friends. Lana accuses Sky of using her and avoids her for several days. Lana goes to Ramsay Street and makes friends with Sky. Lana decides not to attend the end of the year formal dance, but her friends manage to convince her to go. She finds a note asking her to the dance, from someone named George. During the formal, "George" introduces herself as Georgina Harris (Adrienne Smith), and she and Lana spend the rest of the night together.
Lana decides to go to Canada and Sky is sad to be losing her best friend. At a farewell party, Sky tells Lana that she will miss her and Lana says goodbye to George. As her taxi arrives to take her home, Lana tells Serena that she will find someone to make her happy and she receives a gift from Sky. The gang then watch as Lana leaves Ramsay Street.
Reception
The Sydney Star Observer
Sydney Star Observer
The Sydney Star Observer is a free weekly tabloid and online newspaper that caters to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The paper is owned and published by Gay & Lesbian Community Publishing Limited, a community-owned and oriented business...
said that Lana's coming out to her cousin Sindi, who reacted in a positive way, was "good to see". They also praised Lana's best friend, Sky for her reaction. The paper then commented on how Neighbours wanted Lana to be a "sympathetic gay character", which, they observed, must have upset the Christian groups. Website AfterEllen commented on the kiss between Lana and Sky, saying "From the amount of backlash this kiss generated in Australia, you'd think that they'd shown a full blown love scene". They added that the negative attention it received by the Australian press mirrored Lana's storyline, which saw her receive a negative reaction from her peers at school. The website also said that lesbian characters and the storylines in the show are "problematic at times, and the public outcry over the lesbian storyline on Neighbours indicates we still have a long way to go before lesbian characters are routine on Australian television". However, the website praised the soap for deciding to tackle the issues.
In 2007, Australian newspaper the Herald Sun
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
placed Lana and Sky's kiss at number nine on their list of Neighbours Top Ten moments. They said "It's rare that Neighbours attracts the attention of the shock jocks around the country, but that's what happened when Sky Bishop, played by Stephanie McIntosh, gave Lana, played by Bridget Neval, a kiss. Sky was exploring her sexuality and the scene was one of the most talked about ever in the press. Lana left Erinsborough and Sky has gone on to be an unmarried mum". The Neighbours: 20 years of Ramsay Street book said that the kiss between Lana and Sky "helped redefine Neighbours as it entered its third decade" and television critic, David Knox, said that Neighbours had handled Lana's situation "quite well". Sam Butler of SX News
SX News
SX News is a weekly gay and lesbian newspaper based in Sydney, Australia.One of several titles published by Evolution Publishing under the Gay News Network banner...
said the storyline between Lana and Sky had been "surprisingly sensitive and unsensationalist."