Kris Fisher is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Gerard McCarthy.

He is noted for his storylines involving the PEP treatment, a bisexual love triangle, his outlandish personality and being the only permanent cross dressing character in a British soap opera.

[2] McCarthy had wanted a role in the show because actor Shaun Williamson had advised him to get a part to boost his profile.

[1] After initial screen tests with casting directors he was called in to meet Bryan Kirkwood who gave McCarthy the outline of the character[1] and later he was contracted with the show long-term.

[1] McCarthy considered leaving the series by Christmas 2008, but producers asked him to stay on to help portray a HIV storyline involving his on-screen brother.

[6] At the time of auditioning for the role McCarthy perceived Kris' look to be gothic, but the casting team revealed that his look was to be aimed at provoking a reaction rather than a drag queen look, a mixture of celebrity styles taken from both Eddie Izzard or Russell Brand.

[6] McCarthy has also stated on one occasion that he doesn't believe his character is trying to cross dress or be a transvestite and rather simply creating his own unique style.

[6] McCarthy also helps to style Kris by trying to balance his look by using feminine parts along with other traditionally masculine items in the outfit.

Off-screen Stonewall, a lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity organisation, told The Guardian newspaper it had managed to get a character from the soap to wear their campaign T-shirt.

[8] The scenes drew criticism from an extremist Christian group claiming that soap operas are being 'lobbied' into pushing a politically correct view of modern Britain into their shows.

[9] Gary Nunn of Stonewall defended the scenes stating: "One of our key priorities is to promote fair coverage of lesbian and gay people in the media and we work with programme makers to reflect this, a recent example of this is our work with Hollyoaks where the character Kris Fisher wore a T-shirt with our campaign slogan: 'Some people are gay.

"[8] Malachy Fisher (Glen Wallace) was diagnosed with HIV, but had sex with Mercedes McQueen (Jennifer Metcalfe) numerous times.

The use of PEP drugs was a first in British soap opera as at the time it was relatively new, and helped raise the awareness that there are precautions at lowering the risk of the disease available, post a potential infection.

[10] One storyline for Kris has been a bisexual love triangle which resulted in a three way open relationship with Nancy Hayton (Jessica Fox) and Ravi Roy (Stephen Uppal).

Later Kris started having sex with a guy called Nathan, but when his brother Malachy comes to Hollyoaks, he pretends Nathan is a friend and starts wearing masculine clothes, as Malachy doesn't know that he is bisexual or that he likes to wear women's clothes.

Danny Valentine (David Judge) had made a faulty repair to a boiler, causing a carbon monoxide leak that left Kris, John Paul McQueen (James Sutton), Katy Fox (Hannah Tointon), Summer (Summer Strallen), Zak Ramsey (Kent Riley), Carmel McQueen (Gemma Merna), Russ Owen (Stuart Manning), and other students unconscious.

[12][13] Kris later starts dating Summer Shaw, and his old flame Jess leaves the village with Darren Osborne's (Ashley Taylor Dawson) gambling winnings.

When John Paul listens to Kris telling a sexually confused teenager to get a life and stop thinking they are special, he calls into the radio show.

John Paul and Elliot Bevan (Garnon Davies) go to the station to confront Kris, but a blackout ends any attempt to resolve the issue.

John Paul and Elliot begin interrupting Kris' broadcasts with a pirate program which makes fun of him.

When John Paul tries to start up an organization for LGBT students at HCC, Kris initially doesn't get along with him, but they become friends.

He is surprised to learn the man is Father Kieron Hobbs (Jake Hendriks), who tells Kris he also has feelings for John Paul.

During the events of Hollyoaks Later, Kris and his brother Malachy return home to Ireland to bury their late father.

The pair share all their favourite moments from when they were younger, and eventually Lindsey tells Kris that she is going to fulfil their dream and travel the world.

Kris then goes on to get a job in a call centre, then become involved with a vengeful gangster when he and his flatmates withhold a large sum of money they find.

Kris then gets back with Nancy and there are problems early on in the relationship when their friend Sarah Barnes (Loui Batley) is murdered and Zoe gets the blame, they both stand by her until she is cleared of all involvement.