Since the whole point of soap TV is to be drama-filled, what better way to do it than to put lesbian couples in it? We’ve compiled a list of our favourite sapphic stories, plotlines and couples in soap TV.

Even though the point of soap is to be filled to the brim with drama, this genre proves that we don’t need to use the ‘bury our gays’ trope every time.

Jenny and Emma – Hand aufs Herz
This German lesbian soap premiered in the 2010s and only lasted a year, but it still produced a whopping 200 episodes for you to binge-watch. This one will particularly appeal to the musical sapphics, as the show is mainly set in a music class and features many musical numbers.

The show’s main characters are Jenny (Lucy Scherer), a young woman who moves from London to Cologne, and Emma (Kasia Borek), a shy new student at the school. This duo falls in love and looks longingly at each other while singing – what more is there to love?

Sophie and Sian – Coronation Street
Who doesn’t love Coronation Street? The infamous show (a favourite amongst Irish mammies) gives us many sapphic couples in their soap, including Sophie (Brooke Vincent) and Sian (Sacha Parkinson). Their whirlwind romance starts as teenagers dating in secret, until the pastor catches them. Sian gets disowned after coming out, and Sophie nearly dies after falling off a church roof.

The two never have a happy ending, as their wedding is called off after Sian discovers that Sophie kissed their friend Amber. The two still give us a story worth mentioning, as their teen romance spoke to so many in the early 2000s.

Marina and Clara – Em Família
This Brazilian flick shows a messy one-is-married one-is-pining duo, as Marina (Tainá Müller) pines after a married Clara (Giovanna Antonelli). This show is nothing short of drama-filled, as past and present relationships stop the two from going any further. This tense and sometimes steamy lesbian soap was one of the first to grace Brazilian TV, initially receiving backlash for its production.

Zoe Tate – Emmerdale
Another favourite with the Irish mammies definitely has to be Emmerdale. The show’s first lesbian character was Zoe Tate (Leah Bracknell), who came out in an emotional 1993 scene. The character then goes on to have girlfriends, get married and get divorced. We see all the tough bits with this sapphic character, which everyone appreciates seeing and sometimes relating to.

Bárbara and Mercedes – Perdona nuestros pecados
Bárbara (María José Bello) and Mercedes (​​María Soledad Cruz Court) take place in a small Chilean village in the 1950s, making them our vintage lesbians for the list.

These two lovebirds are teachers in the same high school and are organising the school play. Things get rocky as Bárbara, who has always known that she’s a lesbian, is married to the chief of police and gets locked away, while Mercedes’ father sends her to conversion therapy. The two do get their happy ending, along with being the first-ever lesbian couple to appear in a Chilean show.

Mariah and Tessa – The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless’ Mariah (Camryn Grimes) and Tessa’s (Cait Fairbanks) is nothing short of drama-filled – how all soaps should be. This American flick shows a friends-to-lovers pipeline which then turns messy, as Tessa leaves to go on tour and gets cheated on.

They make up, but Mariah ends up getting kidnapped after choosing to be a surrogate. This is a whirlwind of events from start to finish, with lots of sweet moments in between all the mess.

Olivia and Natalia – Guiding Light
This enemies-to-lovers storyline going under the ship name ‘Otalia’ is nothing short of complicated. The Guiding Light couple starts when Olivia (Crystal Chappell) tries to seduce Gus, Natalia’s (Jessica Leccia) husband. This comes after Olivia learns her heart is failing, Gus gives his heart to Olivia, and Natalia, not wanting her husband’s heart to go to waste, nurses Olivia back to health. The two become extremely close, leading to a fan base forming for them.

Despite becoming the longest-running show in American TV history after its finale in 2009, the relationship was never actually romantic. Olivia’s Crystal Chappell created a spin-off (with name changes) called Venice: The Series. The two actors played love interests, giving fans the chance to finally see them together.

Suki Panesar – EastEnders
After struggling with her identity for years before coming to terms with it, EastEnders‘ Suki shows us the trials and tribulations of struggling to accept who you are, and the beauty of acceptance.

Suki marries her partner Eve Unwin (Heather Peace) in a 2025 episode, celebrating with a beautiful ceremony. It still being a soap, there is still plenty of drama with Suki’s ex-husband trying to poison her new spouse. Nish ends up falling to his death from a balcony, leaving the two lovebirds to live happily ever after.

Mary Goskirk – Emmerdale
We’ve already mentioned Emmerdale, but we just have to mention the show again for Mary Goskirk (Louise Jameson). This amazing sapphic figures out her identity later in life in 2022. This was the show’s first lesbian representation, and although not being lucky in love just yet, Mary has been welcomed by friends with open arms.

There are dozens of lesbian couples and characters in soaps, so narrowing the list down is difficult. Soaps have been a vessel for introducing sapphic stories into mainstream media, and they continue to keep us hooked on their stories and happy with the representation, episode after episode.