Catch up TV: Homophobia in the UK and Boy George Biopic

In case you missed them:

Last week, as part of it's Tonight series of programmes, ITV1 broadcast a show highlighting the true face of homophobia in the UK today. Presented by LGBT History Month patron and rugby star Gareth Thomas, the broadcast included filming public reaction to a gay couple walking through Wigan high street holding hands and asking football fans attending a Man. City v. Stoke match how they would feel about a gay player on their team. Gareth also talked to school pupils about the negative connotations of the generalised use of the word to mean dysfunctional and challenged them to think about what it's like to be gay or to have a gay friend in school.

In more harrowing scenes, a victim of homophobic bullying was interviewed anonymously and the mother of gay hate murder victim Jody Dubrowski talked about the attack. It also included footage of an interview with the late John Fashanu.
Although the transmission was focussed on gay men and created a grim picture of what it is like to be young and gay, it clearly busted the myth that young LGB people have true equality and that our lives are just fine now. The programme is available online here for the next month or so.

On Sunday, BBC2 showed Worried about the Boy, a bio-pic of George O' Dowde's career with Culture Club, starting from 1982. The programme, which focusses on Boy George's affair with drummer John Moss, revives the queer culture of '80's London, with Stevie Strange's Blitz nightclub and the infamous Malcolm McLaren and Marilyn, as well as the onslaught of AIDS and the casual use of hard drugs.

The programme is available on iPlayer here until Sunday.