The first known discussion of LGBTQ+ issues on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ was in 1955. ‘Homosexuality and Christianity’ was a radio discussion programme, and followed a reading of Dr. Sherwin Bailey's book ‘Homosexuality and the Western Christian Tradition’. This marked the start of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s understanding of its LGBTQ+ audience as Â鶹ԼÅÄ History discovers.
Homosexuality and Christianity, was broadcast at 7.30 on a Tuesday evening on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Third Programme, the modern day equivalent of Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3.
Although there may have been earlier examples, this appears to be the first programme on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ to directly address what was then generally thought of as the ‘problem’ of homosexuality.
The programme indicates an approach to serving the LGBTQ+ audience that was to last for some time.
Looking in
One of the earliest attempts on Â鶹ԼÅÄ TV to investigate LGBTQ+ lives was Man Alive, Consenting Adults 1: The Men.
The approach in this documentary was not to offer a platform for LGBTQ+ people to discuss their own lives, rather it ‘looks in’ and ‘comments on’ LGBTQ+ people from a heterosexual perspective.
A follow up programme, ‘looking in at’ the lives of lesbians came next...
Backlash
Even by the 1980s, it is hard to find LGBTQ+ programming that set a positive context for gay lives, let alone one that celebrated the diversity of this part of the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s audience.
The LGBTQ+ community experienced a public backlash in the latter part of the decade following the first outbreak of the AIDS virus.
Â鶹ԼÅÄ TV turned to discussion programmes to thrash out issues such as Section 28 legislation, gay marriage equality, and the equal age of consent – all issues facing LGBTQ+ people at the end of that decade.
Day to Day, and later Kilroy (1986-2004), Â鶹ԼÅÄ One’s weekday discussion programme, covered the topic of the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in schools in the wake of the Section 28 legislation, and is typical of the period.
Presenter Robert Kilroy Silk hosts a discussion that reflects the highly polarised views of the time.
The first gay kiss
A few months before the Kilroy discussion, Eastenders had addressed its LGBTQ+ audience for the first time.
The Â鶹ԼÅÄ One soap which was regularly achieving between 10 and 15 million viewers every week in 1987, saw characters Colin and Barry kiss.
There was a mixed public reaction. Some older viewers were appalled, tabloid newspapers were highly critical, yet for LGBTQ+ viewers and their supporters, the short scene was something of a breakthrough.
For actor Michael Cashman, who played Colin, the storyline had huge personal repercussions. In this edition of Byline, a series of authored one-off documentaries, he explains why.
Liberation
By 1995 Â鶹ԼÅÄ Two’s Gaytime TV had hit the screens. Warm, exciting and celebratory with a ‘come and join the party’ sensibility, this was an LGBTQ+ programme for gay people by gay people.
The former worthiness was gone, no longer were there items looking in at LGBTQ+ people with a heterosexual gaze.
for the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s Oral History Collection, takes a closer look at the people who made the show, and why it turned LGBTQ+ programming on its head.
Do we still need more LGBTQ+ representation?
Some sobering statistics. found that 68% of LGBTQ+ people would not hold hands with a partner in public for fear of negative reactions and/or violence.
The same survey found that 56% of LGBTQ+ employees are also not out at work.
Campaign group Stonewall found that 2 in 5 trans people have experienced a hate crime or incident due to their identity in the last 12 months.
These three statistics may come as a surprise. Haven’t attitudes moved on? Why should people in 2020 hide who they are? Surely, public reaction to TV depiction of LGBTQ+ life is not nearly as negative or divided as it was in the past?
In January 2020, more than 100 people complained to the Â鶹ԼÅÄ that they found a scene in Casualty, where Marty (Shaheen Jafargholi) and Jack (Jack Hardwick) kiss, to be ‘offensive’.
Both men were fully clothed, and the kiss was broadcast well after the 21.00 watershed.
Casualty and Holby City have included a number of LGBTQ+ characters in recent years, resulting in a number of complaints.
Oliver Kent, the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s head of continuing drama revealed in 2017 that there had been a number of complaints that Holby City had contained ‘too many gay characters’.
With only four gay characters out of 17 at the time, was that excessive?
Strictly
A same-sex dance routine on Strictly Come Dancing also attracted complaints – 300 in all.
Johannes Radebe and Graziano Di Prima performed together at the end of 2019 to much acclaim, but series producers were surprised there were still complaints - none upheld by the Â鶹ԼÅÄ.
However, complaints were down to 16 for Matt Evers and Ian ‘H’ Watking performance on Strictly‘s rival Dancing On Ice in January 2020. All those complaints were rejected by Ofcom.
Into the future
It is unlikely broadcasters will return to the ‘ghetto’ broadcasting approach of old, where individual minority groups got their own specific programme.
Across all UK TV output, producers are more aware of their LGBTQ+ audience and want to serve them just as well as anyone else.
With Ben Hunte now on air as the Â鶹ԼÅÄ’s first LGBTQ+ news reporter, a dedicated LGBTQ+ space on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ News webpages and continued visibility across Â鶹ԼÅÄ drama and other genres, the LGBTQ+ community no longer suffers marginalisation or invisibility on air.
Programme makers have come a long way since 1955, but could they go further?