Years of appearance Title Network Character name Actor Notes
1985 An Early Frost NBC Michael Pierson Aidan Quinn The first made-for-television film to address people with AIDS.
1986 St. Elsewhere NBC Dr. Robert Caldwell Mark Harmon In "Family Feud" aired Jan. 29, 1986, Dr. Caldwell was diagnosed with HIV after leaving the hospital his former colleagues are informed of his death in season six.
1987 Designing Women CBS Kendall Dobbs Tony Goldwyn In "Killing All the Right People", Kendall is a young gay man with AIDS who asks the women to design his funeral.
1987 The Equalizer CBS Mickey Robertson Corey Carrier Six year old boy with AIDS is protected from harassment from his neighbors by the titular character.
1988 Go Toward the Light CBS Ben Madison Joshua Harris A young couple face the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS. The young couple (Linda Hamilton, Richard Thomas) try to save their young son from the virus.
1988 Midnight Caller NBC Mike Barnes
Tina Cassidy
Kelly West
Ross Parker
Richard Cox
Kay Lenz
Julia Montgomery
J. D. Lewis
In "After It Happened", Mike is a bisexual man who deliberately infects men and women, including Tina and Kelly, with HIV. Ross is Mike's former partner, who Mike abandons when Ross gets sick. The episode was controversial, drawing protests from San Francisco AIDS groups who believed the episode would encourage violence against gay people and people with AIDS.[1] Kay Lenz won an Emmy Award for her portrayal. She reprised her role in 1989's "Someone to Love".[2]
1989–1991 Degrassi High CBC Television Dwayne Meyers Darrin Brown Heterosexual white male teenager, infected by a summer girlfriend.
1989 The Ryan White Story ABC Ryan White Lukas Haas 13-year-old haemophiliac who contracted AIDS from factor VIII
1990–2003 EastEnders BBC Mark Fowler Todd Carty Heterosexual male; former runaway who returned to his family after contracting HIV; died of an AIDS-related illness. He is the world's first soap opera character to contract the disease, and also the first to portray an HIV/AIDS character on a major television show outside North America.
1991–1993 Life Goes On ABC Jessie Chad Lowe white male teenager, infected by girlfriend.
1991 thirtysomething ABC Peter Montefiore Peter Frechette gay male, infected by his one of his partners
1992 Something to Live for: The Alison Gertz Story ABC Alison Gertz Molly Ringwald female, infected during a one night affair
1993 And the Band Played On HBO Various Various The shows details the original discovery of AIDS and early problems in dealing with the disease
1993 NYPD Blue ABC Ferdinand Holley Giancarlo Esposito Appears on episode titled "Holley and the Blowfish", character is a police informant who robs drug dealers. Was infected by drug usage.
1993–1995 General Hospital ABC Stone Cates Michael Sutton white male teenager
1994 The Real World MTV Pedro Zamora openly gay, infected by one of his partners, famous AIDS educator
1994- General Hospital ABC Robin Scorpio Kimberly McCullough white female teenager, infected by her boyfriend Stone Cates.
1996 Murder One ABC Richard Cross Stanley Tucci Cross is an unscrupulous businessman whose imminent death from AIDS leads to an ethical awakening.
1997 Oz HBO Various including Antonio Nappa, James Robson, Nat Ginzburg and Clarence Seroy Various Men, infected while in prison, HIV positive inmates are isolated in Unit E, a cell block exclusively for HIV positive inmates not allowed to be amongst general inmate population.
1998 Law & Order NBC Kenneth "Twist" Stark Jason Hayes In the 1998 episode "Carrier", Stark was charged with murder and attempted murder for deliberately infecting women with HIV.
1999 ER NBC Jeanie Boulet Gloria Reuben African-American female adult, infected by husband.
2001–2005 Queer as Folk Showtime Vic Grassi
Ben Bruckner
James "Hunter" Montgomery
Jack Wetherall
Robert Gant
Harris Allan
Vic was Michael Novotney's uncle. Ben was Michael's boyfriend and a college professor. Hunter was a former hustler who became Ben and Michael's foster son.
2002 Takalani Sesame SABC Kami puppet Five-year-old female puppet. Contracted HIV via tainted blood transfusion. World's first HIV-positive Sesame Street Muppet.
2005 Nip/Tuck FX Gina Russo Jessalyn Gilsig Sex addict. Had a child before she knew she was infected with the virus but the baby did not contract it. Re-appeared briefly to work as a receptionist at McNamara/Troy but died soon after when she fell off a building.
2005–2008 Home and Away Seven Network Cassie Turner Sharni Vinson Cassie contracted HIV after sleeping with her older boyfriend Henk, who had contracted the disease from a drug addicted former girlfriend.
2007 - The Best Years The N (U.S.) Lee Campbell Alan Van Sprang Bisexual Lee owns local hot spot nightclub Colony.
2008 Hollyoaks Channel 4 Malachy Fisher Glen Wallace Heterosexual male; contracted the disease and kept it a secret from girlfriend Mercedes. He told his brother Kris as he may have contracted it from a one night stand with Merdedes Mercedes & Malachy were to marry but ended their relationship, a row in the pub had Mercedes revealing his disease to his friends & Mum, They couple later married, Mercedes is awiting her results.
2008 South Park Comedy Central Eric Cartman
Kyle Broflovski
Trey Parker
Matt Stone
In the episode 'Tonsil Trouble' Cartman is infected with HIV during a tonsillectomy When Broflovski mocks him, Cartman secretly injects him with infected blood to pass on the virus. Both are subsequently cured through injections of money into the bloodstream.