Cucumber: Everythg you need to know about Channel 4’s new gay drama seri | London Eveng Standard | Eveng Standard

Contents:

• CHANNEL 4 PLOTS TO SHOCK WH S NEW GAY DRAMA CUCUMBER
• CHANNEL 4 GLAD TO PNEER THE FIRST GAY DRAMA ON BRISH TV
• CHANNEL 4 UNVEILS FIRST LOOK AT RSELL T DAVI GAY DRAMA IT'S A S
• HOW ARE LGBT PEOPLE REACTG TO CHANNEL 4'S GAY DRAMA "CUCUMBER"?
• RSELL T DAVI TO EXPLORE 21ST-CENTURY GAY LIFE TWO CHANNEL 4 DRAMAS
• 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 GAY SEASON: A MISSED OPPORTUNY?

CHANNEL 4 PLOTS TO SHOCK WH S NEW GAY DRAMA CUCUMBER

The UK has been pecially strong this regard, mirrorg s mendable rerd of excellent gay cema.

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).

Will & Grace (1998-2006) was a huge h, but s portrayal of gay men was clichéd and too few of the jok land (although try tellg that to the often hysteril stud dience).

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

Homoeroticism throbs subtly throughout, but only the remarkable two-hour epilogue do e to the fore, through a fantastic and nightmarish journey through the md of Biberkopf.

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

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. Some crics bemoaned the foc on gay issu, and ratgs fell, leadg to the show’s ncellatn.

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

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. Its first episo, featurg 29-year-old Stuart rimmg a horny 15-year old, was unapologetilly provotive, and upset both the tabloids and many gay viewers, who were alarmed by s subversive characters.

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

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. His next gay seri, Bob & Rose (2001), about a homosexual guy who falls love wh a woman, had s admirers, but Queer as Folk remas a landmark.

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.

Jt Kirk and Ben Shenkman also excel as a gay uple torn apart when the former tts posive for HIV. The Reagan admistratn’s appallg lack of reactn to the vis and the effects AIDS had on gay relatnships is arrtgly picted by the late director Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf?

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

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).

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

It also punctur the cliché of Swen as an uber-liberal untry, showg the toxic homophobia that prevailed when the disease ma headle news. 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. 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".

"The broadster, named Channel of the Year on Friday at the Edburgh Internatnal Televisn Ftival, has found a new nfince and is reassertg s posn as the home of programmg on ntemporary gay life. 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.

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. "In a drama lookg at the tails of people's sex liv, whether gay or straight people, of urse you are required to bt taboos or ask probg qutns.

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

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. Frankl's character, Henry Bt, ends up hoe-sharg wh a group of younger gay men.

CHANNEL 4'S GAY SEASON: A MISSED OPPORTUNY?

"We all live together a great big gay hoe, beg gay!