Rsell T Davi to explore 21st-century gay life two Channel 4 dramas | Rsell T Davi | The Guardian

Contents:

• IT'S A S: GAY ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT DURG THE AIDS EPIMIC
• CHANNEL 4 PLOTS TO SHOCK WH S NEW GAY DRAMA CUCUMBER
• CHANNEL 4 GLAD TO PNEER THE FIRST GAY DRAMA ON BRISH TV
• RSELL T DAVI TO EXPLORE 21ST-CENTURY GAY LIFE TWO CHANNEL 4 DRAMAS
• 2022 GAY
• HOW ARE LGBT PEOPLE REACTG TO CHANNEL 4'S GAY DRAMA "CUCUMBER"?
• CHANNEL 4 UNVEILS FIRST LOOK AT RSELL T DAVI GAY DRAMA IT'S A S
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• CUCUMBER: EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHANNEL 4’S NEW GAY DRAMA SERI
• CHANNEL 4'S CUCUMBER IS FOLLOW-UP TO GAY DRAMA QUEER AS FOLK
• QUEER AS FOLK AT 20: HOW RSELL T DAVI’ GAY DRAMA CHANGED THE LANDSPE OF TV

IT'S A S: GAY ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT DURG THE AIDS EPIMIC

Image source, Channel 4Image ptn, Mician and actor Olly Alexanr plays Isle of Wight native, Rchie Tozer It's a SIt's a S has been an emotnal watch - not least for members of the Isle of Wight's gay and lbian muny who lived through prejudice and isolatn the 1980s and Channel 4 drama, which end on Friday night, was penned by Rsell T Davi and tells the story of Rchie Tozer - an 18-year-old om the island whose fay do not know that he is gay, and who leav for universy, bright lights and excement of London the ultimately mak a sad return home across the water as the HIV epimic sts s vastatg 's a story that echo wh many the island's LGBT muny who lived through those tim - beg shamed for the 'disgrace' of g out, while also while also livg fear of Aids. When he arrived on the island wh his partner David Hill, he admted had a "reputatn for beg closed-md and backward", and he found a gay muny that was "largely hidn and very ightened" source, Karl LoveImage ptn, Karl Love (left) moved to the island wh his partner David HillMr Love remembers the nicknam the muny ed nversatns so anyone overhearg would be none the wiser - "Marigold, Gladys, Lady Di, Margaret Thatcher and many more". "Image source, Karl LoveImage ptn, Mr Love was volved early mpaigns aimed at supportg the gay and lbian munyAs It's a S, the impact of the HIV epimic was felt on the Love began workg to promote the safe sex msage among the gay populatn and supportg those wh the vis.

"Image ptn, The Isle of Wight was chosen to host the 2018 UK Pri eventHowever, alongsi the heartbreak were the "fantastic parti", many, appropriately for the home of sailg, wh the Gay Cisg and Sailg Associatn.

Fifteen years after showg the ground-breakg gay drama Queer as Folk, Channel 4 hop to "outrage the Daily Mail" wh a multi-platform follow-up, which the broadster boasts is so risqué that "wouldn't get past an Amerin work".

CHANNEL 4 PLOTS TO SHOCK WH S NEW GAY DRAMA CUCUMBER

In Febary, ran a bold mpaign challengg homophobia Rsia, to ci wh the Sochi Wter projects om the broadster clu Carol, a Film4 treatment of The Price of Salt, Patricia Highsmh's novel on a lbian affair between a female partment-store assistant and an olr married woman.

CHANNEL 4 GLAD TO PNEER THE FIRST GAY DRAMA ON BRISH TV

Dom Bird, head of formats at Channel 4, revealed that among programm velopment are a "very powerful film" lled Unrage & Gay and My Milln View Sex Change, a project showg young women g Ttosterone Diari to rerd onle the progrs of their sex chang.

Gay Love: Sex and Apps will follow a young man lookg for a partner on apps such as Grdr and Wenger, drama head at Channel 4, told The Inpennt on Sunday that Cucumber was "amazgly warm, credibly funny and betifully wrten", but he accepted that viewers might be "challenged" by the explic ntent. The third element, Tofu, will n on Channel 4's webse and feature siar factual ntent on the liv of "ordary people", Wenger Queer as Folk, a story of young gay men, Cucumber – to be screened 2015 – looks at gay life across different generatns and stars Vcent Frankl, who played PR Stewart Pearson The Thick of It, as a 46-year old man gog through a relatnship break-up, and Freddie Fox (om the actg dynasty) as a young object of his sir. Followg this creria, programm as diverse as Brishead Revised (1981), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), Six Feet Unr (2001-05), The Wire (2002-08), Glee (2009-) and Morn Fay (2009-) don’t make the cut, spe their strong sendary queer characters (the ternatnal succs of Morn Fay particular, broadst untri where homosexualy is still illegal, uld help liberalise attus, followg the marriage of Cameron and Mchell, two of the most popular characters).

RSELL T DAVI TO EXPLORE 21ST-CENTURY GAY LIFE TWO CHANNEL 4 DRAMAS

Dpe bomb threats to the stud and protts om relig groups, the episo was broadst 1997, wh Ellen fally utterg the words “I’m gay”, accintally speakg the words to the microphone at an airport check- sk. Queer as Folk (1999-2000)This one me out of nowhere, a shamels and often outrageo seri that gave a kickg to the perceptn of gay men as sexls bt iends to female protagonists and stead put them centre stage, showg them to be as flawed, selfish and sex-hungry as everyone else – more so, fact. It hasn’t dated a jot (although Manchter’s Canal Street is now the stompg ground of hen parti alongsi the gay clubbers), and lnched the reers of s three stars, Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly and Charlie Hunnam.

Angels Ameri (2003)This hugely amb two-parter based on Tony Khner’s epic play, dubbed ‘A Gay Fantasia on Natnal Them’, juggl the liv of very different gay men livg New York durg the Reagan admistratn. Swedish drama Don’t Ever Wipe Tears whout Glov follows the relatnship between a troubled Jehovah’s Wns and a untry boy who mov to Stockholm the early 1980s, as the outbreak of AIDS begs (the awkward tle om a stern stctn om a matron sldg a nurse who shows passn to a dyg gay man, showg the fear and paranoia surroundg the vis at the time).

2022 GAY

But while eply movg and often harrowg, s greatt triumph is showg the love and support wh the gay muny Stockholm, while a shot of the two men fallg love as snow falls gently around them is achgly betiful.

Backed by a massive publicy mpaign, the channel claims the show will draw a large crossover dience and pict gay life a ntemporary, entertag before the first episo was aired, Queer as Folk had already provoked moral outrage. It's about a group of young gay guys their early 20s (I thk) who all move to London the early 1980s to follow their dreams and aspiratns but soon have their liv turned upsi down when the HIV epimic hs the gay muny.

HOW ARE LGBT PEOPLE REACTG TO CHANNEL 4'S GAY DRAMA "CUCUMBER"?

Rsell T Davi, bt known for revivg Doctor Who, is wrg two Channel 4 dramas explorg 21st-century gay life, promisg a ankns not seen sce his groundbreakg Queer as said he was not "revivg Queer as Folk, much as I loved ", although his new Channel 4 projects, Cucumber and Banana, share a Manchter settg wh his earlier work.

The thematilly lked dramas, to be broadst next year along wh Tofu, an onle seri offerg viewers the chance to share their sexual experienc, are Davi's first work for Channel 4 sce the send seri of Queer as Folk as Folk's first outg the prev year was a landmark mastream Brish drama, wh s portrayal of gay sex and the liftyle of the late 1990s gay muny, centred around the nightlife of Canal Street Manchter.

CHANNEL 4 UNVEILS FIRST LOOK AT RSELL T DAVI GAY DRAMA IT'S A S

), liberately ambiguo (Brishead Revised) or worthy and a b dull (Michael Cashman's character, Col Rsell, the first gay man EastEnrs) were isolated portrayals of gay, lbian and bisexual characters, but you had to look for them – Dirk Bogar's 1961 film Victim, about a barrister takg on blackmailers; John Hurt as The Naked Civil Servant 1975; and an episo of Crown Court a year later, about a gay transvte entrapped by a policeman.

A TV tone, also proved characters TV dramas are now more monplace, om Doctor Who sp-off Torchwood (Rsell T Davi aga) and Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks to US drama Brothers and Sisters and Netflix's acclaimed prison seri Orange Is the New a recent survey by Stonewall suggted the realistic portrayal of lbian, gay and bisexual people on UK televisn had shown no signs of improvement over the past five years. It may appear quat now, when we have TV seri like Hulu’s Love, Victor (about a Latx teen explorg sexual fluidy) or Netflix’s Bondg (about sex work and alternative sexualy), but the great gay panic set off by Ellen DeGener g out on her s 1997 was a bombshell that didn’t necsarily nvce the works that they’d open the gat to LGBTQ experienc.

Luckily Will & Grace buted 1998 and the groundbreakg NBC seri nvced many that gay people might not be so toxic (and wouldn’t sre off advertisers) — so much so that Vice Print Joe Bin later creded wh changg his md about same-sex marriage. Dpe the fact that lns of Amerins wnsed two men raise a happy and healthy dghter om the fort of their livg room sofas, took a fan mpaign to lobby Disney-owned ABC to fally allow Mchell (gay actor Jse Tyler Fergon) and Cameron (straight actor Eric Stontreet) to kiss ( fally happened 2010).

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

From the Roy Cohn-flected Army-McCarthy heargs — which was the first time many people heard the word “homosexual” uttered on TV — through the “don’t ask, don’t tell” Neti, that clud The Goln Girls and Digng Women, to our current glter-and-glam era of RuPl’s Drag Race and almost-anythg-go pansexualy. In that way, ’s breakg siar ground to the Sundance Now seri This Close, om af actors Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman, about a straight woman and gay man who are bti lookg for love and unrstandg.

It was Cher-lovg Jack (Sean Hay) and alholic, right-wg sociale Karen (Megan Mullally) as much as Will (Eric McCormack) and Grace (Debra Msg) that enared Amerins to the sassy s, wh l like: “Commandment number one the gay bible: Thou shalt not vet my ex’s ass. Adapted om gay director Jt Simien’s breakout film of the same name, about black llege stunts g to terms wh a “post-racial Ameri, ” the seri explor them of race, genr, and sexualy by skewerg jt about everyone for hypocrisy and double standards. In the send season, he manag to evolve beyond simple trop and is given space to explore his queer inty, cludg havg his heart broken by Silv (a self-scribed “Mexin Italian gay vers top otter pup”), fdg a boyiend (of sorts), and even beg rejected by another black man bee of his sk lor — provg that, spe all the talk of “muny, ” ’s never easy to fe lastg bonds.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

When her straight male roommate’s twentysomethg girliend, Francis, qutns why Leila is so terrified to tell anyone that she has sex wh both men and women, Leila tells her ’s plited bee ’s “a gay thg.

Pl, managed to change many nservative viewpots the black muny — cludg Timbaland, who crafted the seri’ tchy origal tracks — and was a rare moment which a gay character of lor had so much visibily. The bt of the volv Otis’ gay bt iend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa), which is ls a tradnal g-out story (everyone already seems to know when the show begs) than about Eric beg more fortable how he feels about himself and how he prents himself to the world.

But there are a lot of other smart stori on LGBTQ subjects, om the technil (a gay virg learns the logistics of anal douchg) to the emotnal (former bt iends don’t work as a uple after both e out) — so many, fact, that ’s a b easier to five when one of the seri’ queer storyl (volvg a homophobic bully) don’t really work. K., who was technilly still an executive producer at the time — but one of the most important them is Tig tryg to fd a gay muny this part of the world where she feels fortable, and the growg csh she’s velopg on her apparently straight rad producer Kate (played by Notaro’s wife, Stephanie Allynne). Holm), hers some of origal-recipe Rob’s most memorable obssns and quirks — among other thgs, Simon is the one who giv the speech about patibily pendg on what you like, not what you are like — even as his story is very different, startg wh the fact that he and the new Rob break up bee he’s gay.

CUCUMBER: EVERYTHG YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHANNEL 4’S NEW GAY DRAMA SERI

The entire n of this lightful throwback s has queer-iendly ntent, but particularly s first season (still streamg on Netflix, even though the latt season was ma for Pop), which slowly but refully charted the journey of Elena (Isabella Gomez), a Latx teen g to the realizatn that she’s gay, and gradually disverg how to tell her very Catholic fay about . While parts of may not have aged so well, the seri ntaed lots of TV firsts — cludg the first legally wed gay uple, first gay adoptn, and HIV-posive/negative uple — wh -stars Hal Sparks, Peter Paige, and Stt Lowell explorg what meant to have relatnships and stggle for acceptance.

The fact that they start wh a group of gay men who are clearly not a gay bar, happily stg there havg discsns – 15 years ago, if that was a scene Queer as Folk, probably would have end wh some kd of homophobic abe or attack or somethg. I thk there were many que subtle aspects of the episo like that which might not necsarily have been too noticeable, showg gay people livg que openly and fortably, which actually says a lot about problems they were discsg were problems that would also affect heterosexual upl, like one person wantg to get married and the other not wantg to get married, so I thk 's really good that the issu that hopefully e out are not 'gay issu', they are human issu. And phg away his boyiend but then sperately tryg to clg on to him when he then go off wh the other much as everyone enjoys beg part of the scene and enjoys beg part of gay culture, I like that he didn't like that as much and had been put off by .

CHANNEL 4'S CUCUMBER IS FOLLOW-UP TO GAY DRAMA QUEER AS FOLK

For so long many of have grown tired of the sentence 'Stop throwg homosexualy our fac', which giv me another reason to love the dramas [Cucumber and siar programm], bee their advertisg is send to there's the diversy.

Rsell T Davi is known for revivg Doctor Who, but he also created groundbreakg gay drama Queer as Folk, heartwarmg/breakg spirual succsors Cucumber and Banana, and the te story adaptatn A Very English he's got another gay-centric drama g to Channel 4 next year, tled It's a S. That said, the vast majory of viss rema trouble-ee, even for visors who equent the cy’s ls-than-secret gay bar and club bt hotels MoswThe historic exterr of the Hotel Metropol, facg the ternatnally-celebrated Bolshoi Theatre and close to many of the other ma thgs to do Mosw, is nothg pared to s sumptuo terrs. Tverskoy is great for sightseeg, the theatr and gay latt hotel als Mosw are listed on the Gay Mosw Hotels to See & DoRed Square (Krasnaya Ploshchad) - the heart of Mosw and the cy’s most famo tourist Kreml (Moskovsky Kreml) - a huge se wh The Diamond llectn the Armoury and several amazg church.

The st (which featur gay actors playg gay characters) also clus the lik of Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) and Stephen seri is loosely spired by Davi' own real-life experienc – jt like the three central characters It's A S, he was an 18-year-old gay man 1981, at the start of the AIDS crisis. “I’m not beg woke about this… but I feel strongly that if I st someone a story, I am stg them to act as a lover, or an enemy, or someone on dgs or a crimal or a sat… they are not there to ‘act gay’ bee ‘actg gay’ is a bunch of s for a performance.

QUEER AS FOLK AT 20: HOW RSELL T DAVI’ GAY DRAMA CHANGED THE LANDSPE OF TV

In 1984, wh Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party power, a group of lbian and gay activists, led by Mark Ashton, fd unlikely alli a llective of Welsh mers takg dtrial actn followg p closur.

Takg part the nversatn are Lisa Power, a -founr of LGBT chary Stonewall who also volunteered for Swchboard durg the Aids crisis; the Rev Richard Col, the vir of Fedon Northamptonshire and former member of the pop group the Communards; Marc Thompson, an HIV activist, the director of the Love Tank CIC and the -founr of PrEPster; Guardian lumnist and thor Owen Jon; Omari Douglas, who plays the character Rose It’s a S; and Jason Okundaye, a wrer and the -founr of Black & Gay, back the day, a digal archive honourg and rememberg black queer life those of you who lived through the perd, what memori did watchg the show brg back?

Seeg all the ath and the neglect, the rpons om fai … What Rsell T Davi also ptured was the accuracy of the gay muny at the time, the early 80s: the ropey pubs wh dirty dancefloors, snoggg for those of you who didn’t, did the show add to your knowledge or unrstandg of that era? Some of the whe gay men that we worked wh at the time have certaly learned a lot and are now some of the greatt champns around race issu and genr issu as There was this huge divi the early days of the rponse between the gay muny, which was largely assumed, pletely wrongly, to be whe, and the Ain muny, which was equally appropriately assumed to be heterosexual. Channel 4 unveils follow-up to s ground-breakg gay drama Queer as Folk - and boasts that 's too graphic for Amerin TV News show is part of three-strand programme: one on Channel 4, one on E4 and third on webse Cucumber is scribed by Channel 4 boss Jay Hunt as 'channel-fg'It stars Vcent Frankl who was PR Stewart Pearson The Thick of It Updated: 18:45 BST, 24 Augt 2014.