THEGAYUK

Tag: BBC

All the latest breaking news on the UK Broadcaster, BBC. Browse The THEGAYUK’s complete collection of features and commentary on the BBC.

  • People were not happy about the “grilling” Rupert Everett got about his sexuality by John Humphrys

    People were not happy about the “grilling” Rupert Everett got about his sexuality by John Humphrys

    Radio 4’s John Humphrys “relentlessly grills” actor Rupert Everett about being gay and then asks: “Do you think there will ever come a time when you can do an interview and being gay doesn’t even come up?” – People were not happy.

    ©-s_bukley-Depositphotos

    Not a day seemingly goes by when Radio 4’s Today programme and John Humphrys, one of the BBC’s highest-paid talents, trends on Twitter for some reason or another. Today however people were not happy that Humphrys pressed Rupert Everett, who was in the studio to discuss his new film about gay icon, Oscar Wilde, on the actor’s sexuality – even asking Everett if he regretted coming out as gay.

    (C) BBC – Photographer: Rolf Marriott

    People were not happy.

     

     

    Responding to the interview, A BBC spokesperson said, “Since this interview centred around Rupert Everett’s portrayal of, and long-standing interest in, Oscar Wilde, it was not inappropriate to draw parallels between the two men and their experiences of being gay at different points in history.”

  • Stormzy is the BBC’s Artist Of The Year

    The BBC has announced that Stormzy is their “Artist Of The Year” despite homophobic Tweets found on the performer’s Twitter timeline.

    Hip Hop artist Stormzy has been made the BBC’s “Artist Of The Year”. The announcement comes weeks after Stormzy was criticised for homophobic tweets found on his Twitter timeline. Tweets which he later apologised for in a heartful statement.

    He was given the award at the BBC’s annual Music Awards.

    In 2015 the BBC named him on the BBC Influential Sound of 2015 list.

    The tweets, some of which date back to 2011 use homophobic slurs, like “no homo” and “faggot” to blast critics on his social media account. At least one was aimed at an actor for dancing on an advert. The tweets were sent from his account before he achieved chart success in 2017.

    Successful Self Release

    Stormzy self-released his album earlier this year and achieved a number 1 album in the UK charts, selling at least 100,000 records – achieving a Gold disk.

     

     

     

  • Were the male models on last night’s Apprentice “Sexually Harassed?”

    If you tuned into the BBC’s Apprentice last night, you would have spotted how two contestants treated male models.

    Twitter users are not happy with the “inappropriate” way the male models were treated last night during a task on The Apprentice, where the candidates had to choose a model for a front cover of a magazine.

    During the task, candidates, Elizabeth McKenna and Michaela Wain called the models to walk one by one and asked if they had abs under their shirts and asked them to reveal them.

    The “cringey” scene was criticised by some fans of the show calling the interaction, “sexual harassment” and having “double standards”.

    THEGAYUK.com’s editor and chief, Jake Hook said, “It was totally unsuitable for Elizabeth to touch the male model or measure his inside leg in the way she did. Both candidates acted inappropriately in the casting and what resulted was an entirely cringey TV moment. As a company who have created dozens of magazine covers, we have never measured a model’s inside leg. It was disappointing to see this being broadcast as a potential insight into how a magazine cover is created. I wonder how Elizabeth and Michaela react if they had been treated in this way”.

  • Nick Grimshaw’s radio rating slip even further

    The Radio 1 presenter’s morning show isn’t doing great.

    Since taking over the morning slot at Radio 1 in 2012, Nick Grimshaw‘s audience has slowly shed hundreds of thousands of listeners – but BBC bosses still maintain that Radio 1 is “the most relevant youth brand in the UK today”.

    Nick’s figures are the lowest for any Radio 1 breakfast show since Rajar, the research body who collects audience data, began. At its peak, the Radio 1 morning show, presented by Chris Moyles managed to reach 7.06 million listeners.

    Between July and September this year, the show had 4.93 million weekly listeners, down from 5.5 million listeners for the same period the year before.

    Controller Ben Cooper said that there was still a 10.5 million weekly listenership for the station, across all its output and that Radio 1 had 9.4 million subscribers on social media and 5 million YouTube subscribers.

    Traditionally listener figures are always lower in the summer months as people tend to be away on holiday or have different routines compared to the rest of the year.

    According to the BBC, a source at Radio 1 said, “Teens are addicted to their phones so you can see why Radio 1 does so well on YouTube and Facebook.”

    Big Earner

    Nick Grimshaw is open of the top earners at the BBC. Earlier this year it was revealed that Nick earns up to £399,999 for his roles at the publicly funded broadcaster.

    Earlier this year it was revealed that Nick Grimshaw was one of a handful of openly gay staff at the BBC to earn more than £150,000. Whilst Graham Norton topped the earner’s list with a salary of up to £899,999, Nick Grimshaw earns up to £399,999 per year for his roles at the BBC.

  • French and Saunders make a BBC return

    French and Saunders are reuniting…

    To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their show, Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French are reuniting for a Christmas special. Their last series aired just over a decade ago in 2007. The first series aired in 1987.

    Speaking to the Mirror, Dawn French said,

    “There’s some Handmaid’s Tale in there. We had fun with some of the costumes.”

    Fans can also expect to see a parody of drunken reality TV shows, with French admitting that she was quite shocked by some of the behaviours of some of the contestants and cast in those type of shows.

    It is expected that the show will air on BBC 1 on Christmas Day.

  • What gay content is available on the BBC iPlayer?

    What gay content is available on the BBC iPlayer?

    This article has moved. Click here to find out what LGBT+ content the BBC has on its BBC iPlayer.

  • What LGBT shows are available on the BBC iPlayer?

    What LGBT shows are available on the BBC iPlayer?

    UPDATED APRIL 2020

    The BBC’s iPlayer has a number of LGBT focussed programmes and titles on it. We’ve listed the most current list of LGBT content available to stream from the BBC.

    LGBT Documentaries on the BBC

    Believer WATCH NOW

    Believer follows Imagine Dragons’ Mormon frontman Dan Reynolds on a new, personal, mission to explore how The Mormon church treats its LGBTQ members. With the suicide rate rising amongst teens in the church’s home state of Utah, his concern with the church’s teachings forbidding same-sex sexual behaviour sends him on path of acceptance and change. Believer follows Dan and openly gay ex-Mormon and lead singer of Neon Trees, Tyler Glenn, as they create LoveLoud, a festival they hope will reconcile the church and members of the LGBTQ community. Directed by Don Argott.

    Caitlyn Jenner: Honesty WATCH NOW

    The world’s most famous transgender woman Caitlyn Jenner explains why honesty is the key to peace of mind. In 1976, Caitlyn – then known as Bruce – won Decathlon gold at the Montreal Olympics. She was called ‘the world’s greatest athlete’. Fame and adulation followed but gender dysphoria – where there’s a mismatch between someone’s biological sex and their gender identity – was always bubbling away under the surface. In 2015, Caitlyn finally came out as a transgender woman. In this episode Simon Mundie and Caitlyn discuss some of the lessons she has learnt throughout her incredible life. They talk about the importance of honesty, and being true to yourself and your family around you. About not judging a book by its cover, as someone who apparently has it all may well be suffering inside, and about why it’s all about the challenges you overcome, not the heights you attain. You can hear the full one-hour 20 minutes unedited version of this interview on BBC Sounds – just search for the Radio 4 podcast Don’t Tell Me The Score.

    Gareth Thomas: HIV and Me WATCH NOW

    Rugby legend Gareth Thomas lifts the lid on living with HIV. In an emotional and hard-hitting documentary he finally goes public about his condition and reveals how hiding the truth about his health left him feeling depressed and contemplating taking his own life.

    Now he is on a journey to change perceptions about HIV by raising awareness, fighting prejudice and taking on the biggest physical challenge of his career – running the world’s toughest Iron Man.

    With the help of family, friends, medical experts and others with HIV, he sets about tackling the stigmas, myths and misunderstandings surrounding the condition. Modern medicine may have made the virus treatable and non-transmittable, but old ideas about HIV still persist and Gareth is on a mission to smash the stereotypes and show that ‘he has HIV and it’s OK’

    Generation Activism: Transgender Rights WATCH NOW

    Fox and Owl define as non-binary and have dedicated their lives to campaigning for trans rights. They filmed a typical week in their lives, revealing the highs and the lows of life as a trans activist.

    Hate And Pride In Orlando WATCH NOW

    Stacey Dooley travels to Orlando in the aftermath of the Pulse Bar shootings in 2016.

    She attends vigils, marches and funerals to see how America responds to this latest atrocity and she’ll ask if this could be the one to finally make a difference. Stacey explores the levels of prejudice and homophobia faced daily by the LGBT community in America, levels that are often compounded if you belong to an ethnic or religious minority.

    With revelations that the shooter may himself have been gay, she will also try to track down and talk with gay Muslims to understand the conflict they face between their religion and their sexuality.

    Insider’s Guide: Glasgow WATCH NOW

    Lawrence Chaney is a drag queen who lives in Glasgow. If you’re looking for entertainment in the city, Lawrence has you covered with an independent cinema, music hall and gay club. If vintage clothes are your thing, Lawrence has the insider’s tip on where you can get unique clothes from days gone by.

    And if, at the end of all the exploring, you need a good, old-fashioned chippy – it’s on the table.

    Late Night Line-UP WATCH NOW

    Michael Dean hosts a discussion about the two-part Man Alive report on homosexuality in Britain. The panellists, writer Maureen Duffy, social psychologist Michael Schofield, Conservative MP Ray Mawby and an unnamed general practitioner, debate whether it was appropriate to show the programmes at 8pm and question the broadcasts’ balance in only including homosexual contributors. The conversation also covers wider issues, including people being blackmailed because of their sexuality, homosexuals working in positions of trust and the consideration that one in 20 people might be gay.

    At the time of this programme’s broadcast, doctors were not allowed to be identified on BBC television in case this was interpreted as an advert for their practice. It is for this reason that the GP is not named here. (1967)

    Love and Hate Crime WATCH NOW

    After complaining for years of homophobic bullying, teenager Abel Cedeno takes a knife to his New York school for the first time “for protection”. Within hours one of his classmates is dead and another seriously wounded. With Abel claiming self-defense, the story causes a sensation in the press and divides the city, pitting the black community against the gay community.

    Filmed with access to the accused and the victim’s family in the run-up to the trial, cameras follow the lawyers as they battle it out in the press and the court of public opinion.

    This fascinating murder mystery challenges our prejudices and asks: when is a killer the victim, and how does the victim become a villain?

    Louis Theroux: America’s Most Hated Family In Crisis WATCH NOW

    Following up on his 2007 documentary, The Most Hated Family in America, Louis Theroux returns to Topeka, Kansas, for a week-long visit with the Westboro Baptist Church.

    He again joins the Phelps family on their controversial pickets where they try to antagonise communities with offensive slogans and anti-gay placards. But four years on from Louis’s last visit, there are signs of disarray in the Phelps clan. A series of defections of family members has shaken up the church.

    Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids WATCH NOW

    Louis Theroux travels to San Francisco where a group of pioneering medical professionals help children who say they were born in the wrong body transition from boy to girl or girl to boy at ever younger ages.

    At the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at UCSF Hospital Louis meets children who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Louis is told that children as young as three can show signs of rejecting the gender they were assigned at birth, leaving parents with a difficult dilemma – do they start transitioning a child who is still developing their own identity or do they wait and risk making the change once their body has gone through the transformations of puberty?

    It is a decision that can be the start of a complex series of medical interventions, from puberty blockers to hormone replacement therapy and eventually gender reassignment surgery. Louis spends time with children and their families as they negotiate their way along this life-changing journey.

    Man Alive WATCH NOW

    In the second part of this Man Alive special report about homosexuality, Angela Huth interviews lesbians about their lives. ‘Stevie’ has been living as a man since her teens, even entering into heterosexual relationships with other women. Julie and Cynthia have lived together for many years and claim they see no difference between their relationship and that of a married couple. In a private club in Chelsea, lesbians can enjoy a safe haven that allows them to be themselves without risking condemnation from society. (1967)

    Misfits Salon WATCH NOW

    Andrew is a 17-year-old student from Glasgow. After years of feeling different to his peers and hiding his sexuality from his family, he recently came out as gay. On the cusp of adulthood and with college life quickly approaching, Andrew wants a new look to reflect the new him.

    In Sophia’s chair, Andrew confesses he’s experimented lots with colour but has never found the perfect shade. Apart from ‘cool and iconic’, Andrew is unsure of exactly what he wants. Luckily colour expert Sophia, is on-hand to curate a new hairstyle in denim blue.

    As his hair goes blue, Andrew reveals that at school he was the ‘fat kid’ and felt isolated. Two years ago he lost a lot of weight but admits to stylist Twinks, that he’s still hiding in oversized clothes. Meanwhile, make-up artist, Paige, shows Andrew how guy liner can enhance his new blue hair.

    Andrew wanted to come out to the world with a look that was truly him. He left Misfits Salon with a sharp blue hair and pinstriped style to build on.

    Panorama Sex Education: The LGBT Debate In Schools WATCH NOW

    Who should decide what our children learn about sex and relationships? Is it parents or the government? From next year, children as young as five will learn about LGBT relationships in lessons designed to promote greater tolerance in society. But in fact such classes have caused division – with conservative religious groups protesting against lessons they say ignore their belief that being gay is not allowed.

    BBC Midlands correspondent Sima Kotecha meets the mainly Muslim protestors in Birmingham on the school gates, and travels across the country to hear from parents and campaigners from other faith communities who believe the secular state is ignoring their right to practice religion.

    Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay WATCH NOW

    Recent figures show that more than 40 per cent of LGBT+ people will experience a significant mental health problem, compared to around 25 per cent of the whole population, and are more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide.

    In this eye-opening film, young pop culture icon Olly Alexander explores why the gay community is more vulnerable to mental health issues, as he opens up about his own long-term battles with depression. As the outspoken frontman of British band Years and Years, Olly is a powerful voice on mental health, bullying and LGBT+ rights. He has broken taboos with music videos that celebrate queer identities and spoken openly about his own sexuality as well as his ongoing struggles with anxiety.

    Queer Britain Series 1 WATCH NOW

    Riyadh Khalaf looks at body image pressures in the gay community. He meets Jamal, who finds himself femme-shamed, and Rye, who has recovered from bulimia, and he also gets his kit off for a naked photo shoot with the Gay Times.

    Storyville The Rise And Fall Of A Porn Star WATCH NOW

    When 23-year-old Israeli Jonathan Agassi arrived with a bang on the gay porn scene in the late 2000s, his rise to fame was stratospheric, revolutionising the industry. After a traumatic childhood growing up gay in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, the man behind the performer claims that porn saved his life, but at a cost.

    The Rise and Fall of a Porn Superstar charts Agassi’s journey from prolific adult superstar to male escort, battling many demons. Filmed over seven years, this unflinching, emotional and at times funny and shocking film explores the deeper and more devastating reasons for Agassi’s self-destructive behaviour with sensitivity and compassion.

    The film also provides a rare and intimate insight into an industry that prioritises hedonism and fantasy above all, but at its core, this rollercoaster tale is a rare portrait of a damaged family and its lasting impact on those who are part of it

    Two Minute Masterpiece: From His Perspective WATCH NOW

    This film is a snapshot of the seemingly normalised and sometimes deliberate transphobia that a young man Matthew has to endure as he transitions in today’s society.

    In this Two Minute Masterpiece film Caleb Roberts showcases the transphobia that young transgender people like himself face on a daily basis and the effect that this has on one of the most vulnerable groups in our society.

    Young, Welsh And Pretty Religious WATCH NOW

    Religious hate crime in Wales has soared by 40% in the past twelve months. Why are we seemingly such an intolerant nation? And what is it like to be on the receiving end of the abuse?

    Niqab-wearing Sahar speaks out about being abused on the streets and how she tackles it head-on, Hannah talks about the rise in antisemitism and the lengths the Jewish community have to go to in order to protect themselves, and bi-sexual Christian Will and a group of his LGBT+ friends share their experiences of being rejected by the church.

    Your World WATCH NOW

    The BBC’s LGBT correspondent Ben Hunte speaks to one man who nearly died trying to achieve the perfect body and to others who have taken risks to achieve the “perfect body”.

    If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, support and advice is available via BBC Action Line.

    LGBT Drama on the BBC

    Pose WATCH NOW

    Blanca takes on a new fight when she insists on being served at a popular gay bar where trans people are denied access. She also finds the time to enter into open competition with Elektra at the Ball, and to give young Damon some sound motherly advice on love and sex, after he is asked on a date for the first time. Meanwhile, Stan’s attraction for Angel becomes ever stronger. But leaving his straight life is not an option

    LGBT comedy on the BBC

    Absolutely Fabulous: Gay WATCH NOW

    Award-winning sitcom set in the world of fashion and PR.

    Patsy is now chief buyer for a new designer shop called Jeremy’s. She goes to New York Fashion Week to find ideas but her plans are subverted by Edina’s search for Serge, Saffy’s long-departed older brother and their encounter with social counsellor Goldie (Whoopi Goldberg).

    Meanwhile, Bo and Marshall are running a Christian TV show and Saffy has been observing the world from inside a cupboard to help her career as a writer.

    Guests stars: Debbie Harry, Graham Norton, Christopher Ryan, Josh Hamilton, Danny Burstein, Mo Gaffney, Rufus Wainwright, Harriet Thorpe and Helen Lederer.

    Drag Race UK WATCH NOW

    RuPaul brings the award-winning global phenomenon to the UK for the first time. Ten of the country’s most fabulous drag queens will compete in the Olympics of drag in the hope that RuPaul, queen of queens, will crown them as the UK’s first Drag Race superstar.

    LGBT Arts on the BBC

    New Creatives – Wink WATCH NOW

    A small group of queer punks find safety and comfort in their local pub, but their world is turned upside down. A group of normative heterosexuals have obnoxiously taken over the pub. Tate and Bunny lead a mission to take it back.

    New Creatives is supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts.

    A film by Abel Rubinstein Produced by Ludwig Meslet Production Designer – Ashton Attzs Director of Photography – Izzie Jones

    Cast – Sukey Willis

    Music by – Pxssy Liquor

  • Mel and Sue to bring back the Generation Game

    Mel and Sue are to present one of the most anticipated reboots of Saturday evening television.

    Bigger and better than ever before, the much-loved family gameshow The Generation Game is returning to our screens for a four episode run with Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins running proceedings.

    This classic show, from BBC Studios, combines elements everyone knows and loves from the original series, whilst being brought up to date with a hilarious selection of brand new games and challenges for families of all ages to play in studio and enjoy watching at home.

    Pairs of family members across generations will battle it out in a series of fun performance and task based games with the ultimate goal of facing the legendary conveyor belt, and taking home an array of fabulous prizes.

    All our family pairs will start the show in the studio audience and only find out which game they’re playing when Mel and Sue get them from their seats. There’s no time for rehearsals in this game show, so anything could happen on the night.

    Mel and Sue are joined by a panel of star judges, there to score our family pairs after each game and ultimately decide which pair faces the conveyor belt.

    Furthermore, special celebrity guests will be getting involved in the action along the way.

    Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins say,

    “It’s a cuddly toy, it’s a toaster, it’s a circular power saw, no it’s MEL AND SUE DOING THE GENERATION GAME! We can’t believe it, we are so excited!”

     

    LGBT PAY GAP at BBC

    There was a remarkable lack of lesbian, bisexual and trans personalities featured when the BBC revealed its annual report, which, in-turn revealed the salaries of 96 of the best-paid talents at the BBC. However, the list only covered talent that is directly paid for by the BBC and not by independent production companies.

    Mel and Sue were hosts of one of the BBC’s most popular formats, Great British Bake Off, but as the show is made by Love Productions the salaries of presenters and contributors like Mary Berry were left off the annual report.

    The Great British Bake Off was sold to Channel 4 earlier this year, but the new show will not be hosted by Mel and Sue. The Channel 4 show will be co-hosted by Sandi Toksvig.

     

    Bringing Back An Icon

    Charlotte Moore, Director of Content, says

    “The Generation Game is an iconic BBC One show, so to be able to bring it back for today’s audience with Mel and Sue overseeing things is a wonderful moment for the channel.”

    Kate Phillips, Controller Entertainment Commissioning, said,

    “We’re so thrilled to be bringing back this much loved show to BBC One. With the marvellous Mel and Sue at the helm, it promises to be a real treat for all generations.”

    Guy Freeman, Editor, Special Events and Formats BBC Studios, says,

    “When asked, this is the TV show that viewers most wanted to see back on their screens and so we are thrilled to be able to make that happen with Mel and Sue, who I know will have just as much fun hosting it as contestants will playing it.”

    The show has been co-commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director of Content, and Kate Phillips, Controller, Entertainment Commissioning and is made by BBC Studios’, the BBC’s main commercial production arm. Nic McNeilis is the Executive Producer for BBC Studios.

    The Generation Game began on BBC One in 1971 and its longest-serving host was Sir Bruce Forsyth.

     

  • Handful of gay and lesbian talent in BBC’s highest paid staff

    Just over a handful of openly LGB stars are paid more than £150,000 per year the BBC’s annual report reveals.

    Graham Norton, who hosts the Eurovision and his own show on the BBC takes the top slot earning somewhere between £850,000 and £899,999 after the BBC released its annual report today. For the first time it includes the salaries taken by some of its biggest stars. Graham was followed by Radio 1 host Nick Grimshaw who earns between £350,000 and £399,999 per year. His fellow presenter Scott Mills earns £100,000 less.

    The BBC used multiples of £50,000 to denote its staff’s salary rather than give accurate figures.

    Elsewhere, Strictly Come Dancing‘s judges Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood are not equally compensated for their stints on the show. Horwood takes home up to £199,999 whilst Bruno trumps with a take home of up to £299,999.

    There are no openly trans stars paid over £150,000 on the BBC’s books.

    Clare Balding was the only openly lesbian to be featured on the list and she takes home up to £199,999.

    Overall 96 on-air stars were featured in the new annual report from the corporation.

     

  • Ben Whishaw, Russell Tovey and Alan Cumming join stellar cast for Gay Britannia

    A stellar cast is to appear in BBC Four’s Queers. Ben Whishaw, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Front, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan and Fionn Whitehead will star in eight 15 minute monologues.

    Curated and directed by Mark Gatiss, Queers sees eight new and established writers respond to the 50th anniversary of The Sexual Offences Act which partially decriminalised homosexual acts between men. The series will be broadcast as part of the BBC’s Gay Britannia season this summer.

    Taking in 1957’s Wolfenden Report, the HIV crisis and the 1967 Sexual Offence Act itself, the monologues will explore some of the most poignant, funny, tragic and riotous moments of British gay history and the very personal rites-of-passage of British gay men through the last one hundred years.

    In ‘The Man on the Platform’, Ben Whishaw (London Spy, Spectre) returns from the trenches of the First World War, whilst a hundred years later, Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) reflects on gay marriage in ‘Something Borrowed’.

    ‘More Anger’ finds Russell Tovey (Him & Her, Being Human) playing a gay actor in the 1980s, and Rebecca Front (War and Peace, Humans) contemplates her very particular marriage in ‘Missing Alice’.

    Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones, Decline and Fall), Kadiff Kirwan (Black Mirror, Chewing Gum), Ian Gelder (Snatch, Game of Thrones) and Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk, HIM) appear respectively in ‘A Perfect Gentleman’, ‘Safest Spot in Town’, ‘I Miss the War’ and ‘A Grand Day Out’, each examining the very different attitudes and social changes in gay men’s lives over the century.

    The plays are written by Matthew Baldwin, Jon Bradfield, Michael Dennis, Keith Jarrett, and Gareth McLean, who are writing for television for the first time, alongside established screenwriters Jackie Clune, Brian Fillis and Gatiss himself.

    The 8×15 mins series was commissioned by Cassian Harrison and Mark Bell, Head of Commissioning, Arts and is made by BBC Studios. The Executive Producer is Pauline Law.

    Queers is being produced in partnership with The Old Vic theatre who will stage all eight of the monologues in July, in the run up to the television transmission. Tickets for the live staging are on sale now, with casting to be announced.

  • Gay Britannia to rule the airwaves as BBC announces a raft of LGBT programming

    The BBC have announced that they are to broadcast a season of programming to mark the 50 years since homosexuality was partially decriminalised in the UK.

    CREDIT: BBC

    Led by programming on BBC Two and Four, with other content across BBC radio and online, the Gay Britannia season will feature bold and provocative stories, celebrating the LGBTQ community as well as challenging existing preconceptions and prejudices. The season will also cast a fresh light on the history of gay Britain, as well as highlighting just what it means to be gay in Britain today. Contributors announced today include Andrew Scott, Val McDermid, Olly Alexander, Sandi Toksvig, Susan Calman, Stephen K Amos, and Simon Callow.

    On BBC Two, the season ranges from the compelling dramas Against the Law, starring Daniel Mays as journalist Peter Wildeblood who was found guilty of homosexuality in the 1950s in the explosive Montagu Trial and the first screen drama from best-selling British novelist Patrick Gale: Man in an Orange Shirt starring Vanessa Redgrave to important and timely documentaries such as Is It Safe to be Gay in the UK? which uses testimony and found footage to explore the rise of attacks on lesbian, gay and transgender people.

    What Gay Did for Art celebrates the contribution lesbian and gay people have made to popular culture, the visual arts, literature, theatre and film on BBC Two whilst Prejudice and Pride: The People’s History of LGBTQ Britain, presented by Susan Calman and Stephen K Amos on BBC Four, reveals the precious mementos and memorabilia that have the changed the lives of LGBTQ people over the last 50 years. Also on BBC Four, Gluck charts the modern British history of female homosexuality and its representation in culture, literature, fashion and art through the untold story of the celebrated artist Gluck who defied the gender and sexuality definitions of her time; and Mark Gatiss offers his and other writers’ responses to the 50th anniversary of The Sexual Offences Act in Queers.

    On BBC Three, Olly Alexander, lead singer of Years and Years and a powerful voice on LGBTQ rights, explores why the gay community is more vulnerable to mental health issues, as he opens up about his own long-term battles with depression in Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay.

    Highlights on BBC Radio include Val McDermid presenting Queer Britain on Radio 4, exploring the many ways that the LGBTQ community was accepted, tolerated, despised and ostracised and how this was reflected across culture, society and politics. On Radio 2, a two-part series will celebrate out and proud LGBTQ performers who utilised their sexuality to push boundaries, defining the sound of their generation. On Radio 3, the drama Victim will trace the bravery behind the 1961 film of the same name that was the first English language film to use the word ‘homosexual’.

    Patrick Holland, BBC Two Channel Controller, says

    “This is a rich and compelling set of programmes that challenge us all. From the heart-breaking testimony of the men who lived through the years before partial decriminalisation in Against the Law and Patrick Gale’s intensely personal Man in an Orange Shirt to a documentary revealing the experience of people facing discrimination in the UK today, this season is a powerful examination of how far we have come whilst also exploring how much further we have to travel.”