Olly Alexanr: 'I’m not gog to shut up about beg gay – or beg sexy eher'

Contents:

• OLLY ALEXANR: THE YEARS & YEARS ONTMAN DISCS POWERFUL NEW DOCUMENTARY ‘GROWG UP GAY’
• GROWG UP GAY, BBC2, REVIEW: ‘A G OUT THAT WAS RAW, EMOTNAL BUT ALWAYS VOLVG’
• OLLY ALEXANR: ‘I’M NOT GOG TO SHUT UP ABOUT BEG GAY – OR BEG SEXY EHER’
• GROWG UP GAY SGER OLLY ALEXANR'S HOME TOWN THE FORT OF DEANFOR PRI MONTH WE TALKED TO LGBTQ PEOPLE THE TOWN WHERE THE YEARS & YEARS ONTMAN GREW UPGLOUCTERSHIRELIVEBOOKMARKSHARECOMMENTSNEWSBYJA HUGHSENR DIGAL REPORTER15:11, 4 JUL 2021BOOKMARKNEVER MISS THE LATT LOL NEWS AGA BY SIGNG UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 NEVER MISS THE LATT LOL NEWS AGA BY SIGNG UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

OLLY ALEXANR: THE YEARS & YEARS ONTMAN DISCS POWERFUL NEW DOCUMENTARY ‘GROWG UP GAY’

Oktar Yalk for The New York TimLike the character he plays “It’s a S, ” the actor and sger stggled wh beg gay. 20, 2021LONDON — When Olly Alexanr burst to tears shootg a scene of “It’s a S, ” no one was very the show, which me to HBO Max on Thursday and follows a group of iends embracg the gay culture of ’80s London unr the shadow of AIDS, was emotnal for many of the st and crew — and Alexanr is as fortable showg his vulnerabili as the character he plays, Rchie, is at flectg them. ” Peter Hoar, the director of “It’s a S, ” psed scene qutn, which after Rchie and his iends are arrted prottg the Brish ernment’s actn on AIDS, is one of many the show that explore how the epimic vastated gay men’s we meet Rchie, he is an impishly nfint but naïve 18-year-old who has jt moved to London, wh dreams of beg an actor.

) So when Alexanr heard Rsell T Davi, the show’s creator, was terted him for the lead role, the opportuny “ma poetic sense, ” Alexanr an terview, Davi said the show was “st gay as gay, which is my policy. When he was 14, his parents separated; he’d only seen his father a handful of tim sce, he was an even more ght environment, and Alexanr experienced homophobic bullyg om age 9. ”The speech ught the tert of TV producers, and, 2017, he onted a BBC documentary lled “Olly Alexanr: Growg Up Gay.

“I ed to be so, so driven, ” he said, but now he was puttg ls prsure on was happy, he add, to thk back on what he’d already achieved, and how much has changed sce he was a ltle boy who wished he wasn’t gay. In a powerful BBC3 documentary, Olly Alexanr: Growg Up Gay, the 26-year-old explor why the queer muny is more vulnerable to mental health issu – and ndidly addrs his own prsn. No one’s sayg beg gay giv you mental health issu – ’s growg up a world that mak you feel like you’re wrong, disgtg or perverted.

GROWG UP GAY, BBC2, REVIEW: ‘A G OUT THAT WAS RAW, EMOTNAL BUT ALWAYS VOLVG’

Like half of all LGBT teens, you suffered homophobic bullg at school.

You say you partied too much when you first went on the gay scene aged 18.

OLLY ALEXANR: ‘I’M NOT GOG TO SHUT UP ABOUT BEG GAY – OR BEG SEXY EHER’

The documentary forms part of a season markg 50 years sce the partial crimalisatn of homosexualy. How do you feel about Thera May’s parliamentary al wh the anti-gay-marriage Democratic Unnist party?

Olly Alexanr: Growg Up Gay is available on iPlayer now.

GROWG UP GAY SGER OLLY ALEXANR'S HOME TOWN THE FORT OF DEANFOR PRI MONTH WE TALKED TO LGBTQ PEOPLE THE TOWN WHERE THE YEARS & YEARS ONTMAN GREW UPGLOUCTERSHIRELIVEBOOKMARKSHARECOMMENTSNEWSBYJA HUGHSENR DIGAL REPORTER15:11, 4 JUL 2021BOOKMARKNEVER MISS THE LATT LOL NEWS AGA BY SIGNG UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTERMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 NEVER MISS THE LATT LOL NEWS AGA BY SIGNG UP TO OUR DAILY NEWSLETTERINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

Growg up Gay, BBC2First shown on BBC3 earlier this month documentary Growg Up Gay was one of the stand-out piec of missng the BBC’s seri markg 50 years sce the Decrimalisatn of Homosexualy Act, which is sayg somethg nsirg the qualy on offer elsewhere. “After we e out we want to tell people we’re proud and happy not sad but I also thk growg up gay a straight world has really affected me and that n be hard to say, ” Alexanr said one of many straight-to-mera nfsns that h he expand on that feelg notg that at school “part of me really liked beg weird, liked beg different but another part jt wished I was like everybody else, wished I was normal… I n’t believe I jt said that, ‘normal’, I hate that word. ”Tom Hisx Growg up Gay (Photographer: Dunn Stgemore)The sger’s willgns to lve to the darkt recs of his psyche – and the p tears he shed while dog so – ma for ocsnally upsettg but always volvg televisn but where the film really shone was Alexanr’s gently probg nversatns wh other young gay heard om Tom, still stgglg wh bulimia, om Conor who had been badly bullied at school and, most memorably om crystal meth addict Shawn, whose g out saw him kicked out of home and who adms that he often his the extent of his problems om the people he meets bee: “I don’t like anyone thkg I’m weak, vulnerable or damaged goods.