'Neighbours' to screen lesbian plot

Neighbours will broadcast its second lesbian storyline just weeks after rival Australian soap Home and Away endured a public backlash to its own same sex romance, reports the Courier Mail.

Later this month, Donna (Margot Robbie) and new Ramsay Street resident Sunny (Hany Lee Choi) will lock lips on Australian screens in what producers are calling an "impulsive kiss" after a love letter scandal is exposed.

The kiss between Donna and Sunny will be Neighbours' second attempt at a same sex storyline. In 2004, the soap was slammed by talkback radio callers and conservative groups when it featured a lesbian kiss between schoolgirls Lana Crawford (Bridget Neval) and Sky Mangel (Stephanie McIntosh) in its 6.30pm family friendly G-rated timeslot.

Last month, Neighbours script editor Pete McTighe promised that the soap planned to screen a controversial plot despite reports that the series was going "back to its roots".

"We have controversy-central coming up on air in 2009," he said at the time. "It's a huge story, and is likely to stir up quite a bit of debate."

In March, Home and Away came under attack from conservative and parent groups after policewoman Charlie Buckton (Esther Anderson) began a brief romance with female deck hand Joey Collins (Kate Bell).