In 2011’s final episodes of Neighbours, out gay mechanic Chris Pappas’ life is left hanging in the balance after being struck by an unseen attacker.

After a run-in with a homophobe who assumes Chris is interested in his son, the young man is struck with a heavy wrench and left for dead.

The attack scene was broadcast on Monday night as part of the soap’s final week of the year, but the long-running show’s executive producer Susan Bower tells Same Same there’s more drama to come for Chris in this Friday’s climactic installment.

See the attack below…

Played by 21yr-old James Mason, Chris became Neighbours’ first-ever gay male regular character when he came out last year.

“In the beginning when he came out he definitely wasn’t embraced,” says Bower of how his character fit into Erinsborough life. “We were very conscious of making the story real and not approach it with rose coloured glasses as in many cases with young adults coming out, it’s a very tough time for them.

“Chris was ostracised by a lot of his peers at school and at one stage, forced to leave the basketball team he captained. The character of Lucas did his best to accept Chris, however when a customer makes derogatory remarks to Chris about gay people, Lucas basically tells him to get over it and it was just in fun. I’ve no doubt many young gay people have been told that and it’s terribly insensitive. However, now he has some core friends that have supported him. Chris is evolving all the time.”

After a quiet few months, this week’s bashing storyline is a major one for the character. “Chris is still very self-conscious of his sexuality,” Bower explains, “and when he is bashed, his initial concern is how his father will react if he thinks it is a gay bashing so he tries to really play it down which has dire consequences.”

Other scenes transmitted this week show the introduction of nurse Aidan Foster, played by Bobby Morley, which the Neighbours crew have revealed will be a second gay character.

Watch Aidan’s first scenes, from Tuesday’s episode:

Neighbours plays at 6:30pm each weeknight on channel Eleven, and recent episodes can be viewed online via the show’s official website.