Hollyoaks star Annie Wallace criticises Neighbours' tragic death story
"I'm still angry about this."
Hollyoaks star Annie Wallace has criticised Neighbours' decision to not give Mackenzie Hargreaves a happy ending.
Mackenzie, played by Georgie Stone, is the Ramsay Street soap's first transgender character, and recently married the love of her life Hendrix Greyson on UK screens.
But Mackenzie will be left heartbroken in upcoming scenes, when her husband dies following a lung transplant.
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Annie criticised the decision on Twitter, saying that Mack has fallen victim to the "tragic trans" television trope.
"Yay... let's give this young, beautiful trans woman a happy ending," she tweeted. "And then let's kill off her husband of mere weeks. The 'tragic trans' trope rears its ugly head yet again."
Much like the well-known 'Bury Your Gays' trope, Wallace is alluding to the age-old stereotype that see LGBTQ+ characters' story arcs rooted in tragedy.
"I'm still angry about this," she later tweeted. "The show is about to end, and Neighbours just couldn't bring themselves to give them a happy ever after. Trans people deserve that too. Let's SEE it, please."
In response to Annie's criticism, the soap's story editor Shane Isheev took to Twitter to address the actress' concerns.
Shane revealed that there would have been plans for Mack to have a happy ending had the show not been axed from screens.
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"This was planned before we knew the show was ending because we were losing the actor. And the beautiful Georgie also wanted Mack to have the FULL soap experience," he tweeted.
"Trust me, had we continued, we had plans for Mack to find love again and have her happily ever after."
Neighbours airs weekdays at 1.45pm and 6pm on Channel 5 and streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 6.30pm on 10 Peach and streams on 10 Play.
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