Kieron Richardson has hit back at viewers who don’t want to see LGBTQ storylines on TV.

In a new Channel 4 campaign called Complaints Welcome, celebrities who appear in various shows including Countdown and The Great British Bake Off read out actual complains that the channel has received about them.

Hollyoaks star Kieron, who plays Ste Hay in the long-running soap, appears kissing his husband Carl Hyland before saying to the camera, “I’m not homophobic, but do we have to have gay kissing at dinner time?”

The Great British Bake Off presenter Sandi Toksvig appears on a motorbike as she says, “She looks like Tom Cruise”, while Catastrophe star Sharon Horgan says, “This just confirms my suspicion that women aren’t funny.”

Explaining the purpose of the new campaign in a statement, Channel 4 said: “We’ve made a film featuring our talent bringing to life genuine complaints which viewers have made about them.

“We understand that not every programme, or even every presenter, is going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

“That’s because Channel 4 was set up to be different, to provoke debate, take bold creative risks and represent unheard voices from all around the country.

“So sometimes we may cause a bit of a stir, but that’s part of our job.”