Photo: Ross Ferguson / HBO Max
“Any sense of strangeness, any sense of otherness is still very new as a society,” Russel T. Davies once told BBC Radio 4. “There are things that we say, things that we feel, emotions in our hearts that did not exist on the screen yet, or on the page, or in fiction. ”Since the incorporation of a lesbian vicar in Revelations – a forgotten soap opera that briefly graced Britain’s evening programs in the mid-1990s – the BAFTA winner was on a one-man mission to rectify this situation.
In addition to disturbing some insomniac Englishmen from the center, his first openly gay character may not have made a particularly remarkable impression. But over the next quarter of a century, the showrunner of force of nature would create some of the most memorable, authentic and innovative LGBTQ + representations that have ever appeared on the small screen, as well as the most provocative. And it is not just the self-appointed moral arbitrators of the press that he has unleashed. Davies’ harshest criticisms often come from his own community, particularly from activists who struggle to see themselves reflected in his work.
Of course, Davies was never afraid of a little controversy. Don’t forget, this is the man who added a same-sex kiss to Shakespeare, revitalized a sleeping science fiction franchise with the help of a promiscuous bisexual (and then gave him a decidedly queer spinoff) and introduced the dial-up generation to the previously taboo rimming act. And all this from the son of two conservative classical teachers.
Even Davies’ creative process is inextricably linked to his experiences as a proud man. The end of the first season of the interwar period drama The big, for example, was written during a drunken walk on Canal Street, the heart of Manchester Gay Village that also served as the basis for his first – and much more explicit – seminal work, Queer as Folk.
These offers undoubtedly helped to change the public’s attitudes towards sexuality. However, Davies’ recent calls for more LGBTQ + visibility at Disney + and the casting process prove that he is aware that the battle is not over. In fact, his new series, an unwavering view of the AIDS pandemic that has already broken audience records in the UK, is his most urgent call to arms so far.
With It is sin Debuting on HBO today, here’s a look at ten shows that helped establish Davies as the king of queer TV.
Forget the most brilliant and long-lasting adaptation of Showtime. The original Queer As Folk it was the first LGBTQ + drama to break boundaries that previously seemed unshakable. Certainly on national TV, at least. Inspired by an almost fatal accidental overdose, Davies largely ignored all the depressing “bury his gays” tropes that became de rigueur and instead offered a commemorative look at the Manchester pre-Grindr gay scene he often frequented. . Full of sex, drugs and strangely prescient Doctor who references, QAF it is Davies in its purest state – extremely funny, emotionally raw and admittedly impetuous. (Available in Amazon Prime.)
Despite smoothing things out dramatically for this dramatic primetime comedy, Davies still managed to accumulate complaints. Here, it was certain LGBTQ + activists who opposed his story of a gay man (played by independent comedian Alan Davies) falling in love with someone who happens to be a woman. Davies was even classified as a traitor to his community by this setback Chasing Amy scenario, although it was based on a friend’s relationship in real life. If she does streaming services in the United States (currently only on BritBox UK), you’ll find a charming and unlikely novel that, in its nuanced exploration of sexual fluidity, was well ahead of its time.
Having introduced the concept of casual gay sex to Doctor who in the 1996 novel Damaged goods, Davies then had a chance to further turn the British science fiction phenomenon into a showrunner on its triumphant reboot in the mid-’00s. The superfan wasted little time doing this: the word “gay” was pronounced for the first time in the series’ 42-year history during its comeback episode. The trans character Lady Cassandra arrived the following week and, on the 9th, the pansexual pioneer, Captain Jack. Since then, the adventures of the Lord of Time have taken much greater leaps in LGBTQ + representation – in 2017, he even won a lesbian companion. But Davies’ smaller steps paved the way undeniably. (Available on HBO Max.)
Billed as “Doctor who for adults ”by the slightly condescending press, the system is consistently fun Torchwood allowed the first non-heterosexual character in the franchise to take center stage and “fuck anything with a hole” in doing so. Still, Captain Jack Harkness’s brazen hint (John Barrowman playing hard to type) was not the only extraterrestrial hunter to fit the LGBTQ + spectrum. Yes, each lead actor was written as blatantly weird, a move that, even 15 years later, would seem quite revolutionary for a BBC teatime spinoff. The sanctuary of Cardiff Bay to Jack’s ill-fated boyfriend, Ianto Jones, shows how much Davies has invested fans. (Available on HBO Max.)
Excruciating monologues about Ryan Reynolds’ masculinity. Uncles filming their teenage nephews becoming homosexuals for payment. Davies’ middle-aged return to Canal Street was a dark and bitter affair that basically revolved around a man’s seemingly unfathomable aversion to anal sex. Succession proved that unbearable characters can still provide a totally attractive TV, but CucumberThe parade of one-dimensional narcissists, unfortunately, was not even able to play Boar on the Floor. Davies’ first major failure has a saving grace: the climax of the punch in the stomach for episode six, which took the idea of life blinking before his eyes to new heights on the Eurovision soundtrack. It remains one of his most moving and beautifully composed scenes. (Available in Amazon Prime.)
Fortunately, Davies rediscovered his mojo to Banana, a series of companions more focused on young people to Cucumber which joined the anthological trend with eight half-hour LGBTQ + short stories. The Welshman wrote three himself, skillfully subverting the debutante’s tortured story before exploring unrequited love with Black PantherLetitia Wright’s and handing over a moving hand centered on illegal immigration. Elsewhere, Davies handed the reins of the script to other gay talents, including The End of the Fucking Worldis Charlie Covell and once Great British Baking Show presenter Sue Perkins – with the contribution of the first breaking new ground by casting Bethany Black as the first trans actor to play a trans character on UK television. (Available on Amazon Prime.)
Davies changed course for his return to BBC prime time, infusing his strange sensibility into the Shakespeare play that one day opened his eyes to the possibilities of drama. Little BritainMatt Lucas took on the role of Bottom that the screenwriter himself had played in a school production. But it was Eleanor Matsuura’s Hippolyta and Maxine Peake’s Titania that made the headlines thanks to a lesbian kiss that was definitely not in the original material. Unsurprisingly, Frank Davies had no time for any Bard purist who opposed this addition (“only idiots would be in trouble”). Fortunately, the sheer joy that this new interpretation exuded meant that few did.
Davies won a bona fide A-lister for this absorbing dramatization of a bizarre chapter in British political history involving failed murder plots, illicit cases and dead dogs. Believing that his distinctly gay narrative had been guided entirely by heterosexual men, the writer gave the accused and the accuser a more sympathetic edition than the homophobic tabloids of the 1970s. Meanwhile, the best performances of Hugh Grant’s career (even more inclined) for his masterful reinvention as a slippery villain) as unfortunate party leader Jeremy Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as his would-be rejected lover also helped Davies catch the attention of Emmy voters, notably for the first time in his career. (Available in Amazon Prime.)
Years and years it is undeniably Davies’ most audacious project to date, a dystopian decade-long family science fiction drama that predicts a near future wiped out by global warming, unscrupulous career politicians and man’s overconfidence in technology. The BBC / HBO joint production also somehow finds time to point its lens at the LGBTQ community: the ban on homosexuality in Ukraine forms the backdrop to a multicultural love triangle that ends in heart-breaking circumstances, albeit in its fast until 2024, newly elected President Mike Pence revokes same-sex marriage. As with much of Davies’s discursive work, Years and years it’s not exactly subtle. But his nightmare predictions about where society is headed seem worryingly credible. (Available in HBO Max.)
Davies openly admits that he buried his head in the sand for much of the AIDS epidemic to which several friends succumbed. But It is sin allowed him to accept and celebrate this lost generation. The five parter initially resembles a spiritual prequel to QAF like a gang of misfit parties like in 1981 in a run-down apartment dubbed Pink Palace. But as the decade progresses, hedonism gives way to stressful check-ups, tearful hospital visits and the overwhelming fear of a deadly disease that the government seems too eager to ignore. The term “must-see” is often used, but this vital part of the narrative should be a must-see. (Available in HBO Max.)