met, even if they only ever correspond through Twitter or Tumblr or an anonymous messageboard( or zine piece). Scheduled on primetime BBC1, in a long-running existing serial drama, depicted by two extremely talented actresses, and backed up by some great scripts( who doesn’ t love Back in the Ring? You know you do!), Berena is rare, and it’ s caught the imagination and set it ablaze. Whilst it isn’ t the first or second or even third time Holby has featured wlw characters, something about the combination of factors here has made it stand out. For all the sometimes uneven, sometimes real-life-influenced plotting( the“ Kiev” interlude to allow Jemma Redgrave a break; the workman-like rapid dispatching of Elinor to allow Catherine Russell hers), Berena has been something genuinely out of the ordinary: a true love story between two women on-screen that felt real, believable, even warm; an integral part of the show it was in, and convincing and natural for the particular characters. The real-time nature of the story developing as the episodes come out each week allowed fans to follow the undeniable all kinds of chemistry from the outset, through the various ups and downs, and to find other fans and as time went on, to create a space to discuss and riff on what is sufficiently so unusual a fictional story( still) as to represent a phenomenon. Alongside the canon screen version itself, fan culture has felt inspired to show its appreciation and imagination in creating a space not only for dialogue but Twitter hashtags, videos, fanfiction and of course the endless stream of quality gifs. Long story short, in what’ s essentially a minor plot in Holby City, of all things, many of us have somehow found an element of truth that maybe is at times missing elsewhere. And what’ s that?
Well, put your feet up, open a bottle of Shiraz( or the alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverage of your choice), because it’ s Tuesday night at 8pm, and it’ s time for that regularly scheduled message. If you ask me, all told, Berena does something really simple, but at the same time, pretty unusual; and sure, it probably shouldn’ t be such a big deal, that’ s true, and yes, it’ s something many people wouldn’ t feel the need to notice, and something a lot of us, and a lot of the wider world, happily( and I’ ll drink to this) no longer need to hear in order to get through the day or achieve their dreams. But for those who do, who find maybe being themselves not so easy all the time, who, say, can’ t always be big and macho, or the most fantastic and fearless anyone anywhere, Berena, on a programme maybe your mum and your aunty and your boss and a few million other people watch each week, tells you something, something maybe you need to hear every now and then, or something you’ d just like to: It’ s OK to be a woman who loves another woman. Or a woman who would like to. Or thinks she might like to. I’ m hurtling towards middle-age, in“ real life” I would say I am as out as I can be, and I would never concede publicly that I’ m scared to be me, but sometimes, all the same, amidst all the other work I do to try to keep my mental well-being on an even keel, I have to say that when feeling low, or anxious, or not good enough, or like it’ s all a bit too much, it’ s really good to hear it: it’ s OK to be you. by RizztheBizz