Christopher and His Kind

Kevin Elyot's film adaptation of writer Christopher Isherwood's 1976 memoir, will be aired on Saturday 19th March, between 9:30pm and 11:00pm on BBC2.

The drama, which had a premier showing during LGBT History Month, stars Matt Smith as Isherwood

More info on Wikipedia

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 7th - 13th August

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.
Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites

Listings (times given are pm unless otherwise stated)

Enjoy!

• Saturday

Terrestrial
BBC1
8.20 Tonight’s the Night. John Barrowman turns the Jim’ll Fix It formula into a whole variety show. Barry Manilow is in there too
ITV1
7.35 Odd One In. Julian Clary participates
9.30 Years of an Audience with. 4 of 5 features Dame Shirley, Take That and others
C4
3.55 Come Dine with Me Down Under
7 Elizabeth. The “Virgin Queen” gets the Starkey treatment
9 Big Bro
10 Misfits
Five
12.30 & 8.05 Don’t Stop Believers. Talent show with Duncan James on the panel

Freeview
CNN
12.30 Martina: My Toughest Opponent. Film chronicling Martina Navratilova’s battle against breast cancer
BBC3
10.50 Family Guy
11.35 American Dad
BBC4
11 Frankie Howerd: Rather You the Me. No holds barred bio of Frankie Howerd, who is played by David Walliams
ITV2
6 & 11am Corrie Omnibus. Sophie and Sian deceive Sally
Dave
8.20 QI

Satellite and cable
Sky 1
8am Pineapple Dance Studios
Comedy Central
9am Frasier
FX
8 and 12midnight American Dad

• Sunday

Terrestrial
ITV1
9.25am Corrie Omnibus. Sophie and Sian deceive Sally
C4
3.40 Just My Luck. Film with Lindsay Lohan
9 Big Bro
10 Alan Carr: Chatty Man
Five
8 Don’t Stop Believers. Duncan James judges
9.30 The Panic Room. Thriller with Jodie Foster

Freeview
BBC3
10 Family Guy
BBC4
11.40 Scissor Sisters at Glastonbury
Dave
7.40, 9 &11.30 QI
E4
6 Glee
More4
4.35 Come Dine with Me

Satellite and Cable
Film4
1.25am Rocky Horror Picture Show. Do you want her to see you...like this?
Sky1
3 Modern Family
9 Pineapple Dance Studios
Gold
7.15 Carry On Regardless
Discovery Real time
12noon Come Dine with Me

Film
9 Mamma Mia!

• Monday

Terrestrial
BBC2
10 Grandma’s House. Gay comic Simon Amstell stars in a sit-com he wrote himself. In reality he left a successful game show he presented. In the sit-com he plays a man who left a successful game show he presented. Interesting idea
C4
12.05 Brothers and Sisters
12.55 Come Dine with Me
10 Big Bro
11.10 Alan Carr: Chatty Man (rpt)

Freeview
BBC3
11 Family Guy
BBC HD
9 Dragons Den. Evan Davis presents
E4
10pm the Sex Education Show vs Pornography (rpt)
11.05 Shameless
Fiver
7.30 Don’t Stop Believing

Satellite and Cable
Sky1
10am Pineapple Dance Studios
Sky2
2 Pineapple Dance Studios; Best bits
FX
9.15 Family Guy
Discovery Real Time
2 Come Dine with Me

Film
Modern Greats
8 Thelma and Louise
Indie
11.40 Milk

• Tuesday

Terrestrial
BBC2
5.15 escape to the Country. Presented by Alistair Appleton
C4
12.05 Brothers and Sisters
12.55 Come Dine with Me
10 Big Bro
11.10 The Inbetweeners
Five
6.25 Don’t Stop Believers

Freeview
BBC3
11 Family Guy
BBC4
8.30 Britain by Bike. Clare Balding in Lancashire and West Yorkshire

Satellite and cable
Gold
Sky1
10am Pineapple Dance Studios
Sky2
11am Pineapple Dance Studios
FX
11 True Blood
Discovery Real Time
2 Come Dine with Me

Film
TCM
6.10 The Trials of Oscar Wilde. 1960 film with Peter Finch

• Wednesday

Terrestrial
BBC2
10 QI (rpt)
C4
8.40amFrasier
12.05 Brothers and Sisters
12.55 Come Dine with Me
8 How to Look Good Naked
10 Big Bro
Five
6.25 Don’t Stop Believers

Freeview
BBC3
10.50 Family Guy
11.35 American Dad
BBC HD
10.30 Grandma’s House
E4
9 Ugly Betty
10 Film: My Best Friend’s Wedding. Comedy with Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett
Fiver
11.15 Californication

Satellite and Cable
Sky1
10am Pineapple Dance Studios
Sky Arts1
7am Rufus Wainwright
Sky2
11 Pineapple Dance Studios
Comedy Central
9am and 8pm Frasier
FX
9.15 Family Guy
Discovery Real Time
2 Come Dine with Me

Film
Drama/Romance
8 Mamma Mia!
Classics
7.05 The Wizard of Oz
TCM
10am The Trials of Oscar Wilde

• Thursday

Terrestrial
BBC2
3 Swimming from Hungary. Presented by Clare Balding
7 The Culture Show from Edinburgh. Presented by Sue Perkins
11.20 Nurse Jackie (rpt)
ITV1
8 Emmerdale. Aaron meets the in-laws. Pauline Quirke in cameo role
C4
8.40am Frasier
12.05 Brothers and Sisters
12.55 Come Dine with Me
10 Big Bro

Freeview
BBC3
11 Family Guy
E4
10.35 Alan Carr: Chatty Man. Rpt.
More4
10 Southland

Satellite and Cable
FX
10 American Dad
9 & 11.05 Family Guy
Discovery Real Time
2 & 8 Come Dine with Me

Film
Classics
11.20am Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Camp
5.50 Spartacus. Camper
11 Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Campissimo!

• Friday

Terrestrial
C4
8.35am Frasier
12.05 Brothers and Sisters
12.55 Come Dine with Me
9 & 10.30 Big Bro

Freeview
BBC3
11.30 Family Guy
Dave
9 & 9.40 QI
E4
10 Supersize vs. Superskinny
More4
2.20 Come Dine with Me

Satellite and Cable
Sky1
10am Pineapple Dance Studios
Sky2
11am Pineapple Dance Studios
Watch
9 Little Shop of Horrors. Camp horror musical
Discovery Real Time
2 Come Dine with Me

Film
Classics
10.50 Cleopatra. Camp

Radio

• Saturday

2
10 Patrick Kielty. Interview with Jonathan Harvey
1 Pick of the Pops. Dale Winton
6 Going Out with Alan Carr
8 Paul Gambaccini
10.30 And the Winner Is...Matt Lucas presents (rpt)
4
10 Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig
4 Weekend Woman’s Hour

• Sunday

2
1 Elaine Page. Stage musicals
5 Paul O’Grady
4
7.10 Sunday
12.04 Just a Minute. Graham Norton guests
8.30 Last Word
10.45 What the Papers Say. Andrew Pierce of the Daily Mail

• Monday

4
6.30 Just a Minute. Sue Perkins guests

• Tuesday

4
4.30 Great Lives. Bettany Hughes nominates Sappho. Matthew Parris presents
7
6.30 Daphne du Maurier’s The House on the Strand. Final part

• Wednesday

4
9am and 9.30 Fry’s English Delight. Welcome return of this fascinating stuff. 1 of 4. The Trial of Qwerty. How the keyboard came to be
7
3 Dirk Bogarde on Film

• Thursday

7
3.30 Dirk Bogarde. Jericho

• Friday

4
4 Last Word
9 The History of the World in 100 Objects. Neil McGregor
6
7 Tom Robinson
7
12noon & 7 Round the Horne

South African Lesbian Football Team Offers Sanctuary

Many people see South Africa, with its famously liberal constitution, as a bastion of sexual freedom on the continent.

But in some townships, gay women in particular experience homophobic abuse, rape and murder.

The BBC's Andrew Harding has been finding out how football has given one group of gay women sanctuary in South Africa; watch his 2min11 report here.

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister on BBC2

Next week, BBC2 will broadcast a 90 min drama called The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister. Starring Maxine Peake (Criminal Justice, Little Dorrit), the film evokes the life of Anne Lister (1791–1840), a lesbian who, despite needing to keep her orientation secret from society at large, defied the conventions of her times by living with her female lover.

Anne, a Yorkshire landowner, industrialist, traveller, kept a detailed account of her life, loves and emotions in a fascinating and painfully honest four million word journal. A sizeable portion of the journal was written in code and the recent deciphering of these diaries provides an astonishing insight into the life of the woman who has been called Britain’s first modern lesbian.

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister
Monday 31 May
BBC 2

BBC Airs Documentary on LGB People in Sport

BBC1 is airing a documentary on LGB people - or the lack of them - in sport. The programme, entitled Inside Sport: The Last Taboo? will go out on Monday 24th May at 11.20pm. Presented by Mark Chapman, it includes interviews with Donal Cusack, tennis legend Martina Navratilova, former Wales and Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas and ex-NBA star John Amaechi, all of whom talk about the reactions they received from team-mates and fellow sportsmen following their decision to go public with their sexuality.

Gareth and John are also patrons of LGBT History Month, which will be focussing on sport over the next two years.

Find out more about the programme here.

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.

Channel 4 to Put Back Catalogue Online for Free

Channel 4 is to become the first UK broadcaster to put its back catalogue online completely free of charge - giving viewers the chance to watch homegrown shows such as Queer As Folk or the first lesbian kiss to be shown before the 9pm watershed (in Brookside).

From July, more than 4,000 hours of the channel's archived content – about 10,000 programme titles – will be added to the 4oD catchup service.

Read the full article in The Guardian here.

Sigourney Weaver Breaks Ground in Gay Rights Activist Biobic

Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner Sigourney Weaver stars in this television film based on the true story of a 1970s religious suburban housewife and mother who struggles to accept the homosexuality of her young son Bobby. Bobby's suicide causes Mary Griffith to question her faith; ultimately she changes her views to the point of becoming a gay rights activist.

“Prayers for Bobby”, which is based on the book with the same title by Leroy Aarons, will premier on 24 January on Lifetime.

Trailer:

"Related videos" on the right-hand side of this page offer further material on the film and its making.

Find out more about the film, the book and the family on Lifetime's website here.

Read reviews of the the film on AfterElton here and on Detroit Free Press here.

Notes to Obama: John Waters

As Barack Obama, the 44th and LGBT friendly president of the US is about to take the oath of office, queer filmmaker John Waters, gives him some advice.

View the video on the BBC News website here.

Heinz "Gay Kiss" Advert

Last week, the American food company Heinz decide to pull one of its adverts from the UK television screens after receiving complaints about its content.

"It is our policy to listen to consumers. We recognise that some consumers raised concerns over the content of the ad and this prompted our decision to withdraw it. The advertisement, part of a short-run campaign, was intended to be humorous and we apologize to anyone who felt offended," said Nigel Dickie, Director of Corporate Affairs for Heinz UK.

The advert shows a family in the throws of getting ready in the morning. Mum is in the kitchen, preparing sandwiches for the rest of the family, using the new Heinz mayonnaise. And because the mayo is so wonderful, Mum has been turned into a male New York deli chef. This visual metaphor does not stop Dad from giving Mum a peck on the lips when he leaves the house. You can view the advert below.



Within a week of the advert being broadcast, 200 people had contacted Heinz and or the Advertising Standards Agency to complain about this so-called "gay kiss", saying how outraged they were that homosexual behaviour should be shown on daytime television, apparently forcing these same people to, shock, horror, explain that, yes, dear, there are homosexual relationships in this world. There are suspicions that the campaigns against the advert was started from outside the UK by the notoriously homophobic pressure group, American Family Association.

Heinz's knee-jerk reaction has provoked much discussion in the media, Stonewall has called for a boycott of Heinz products, MPs have signed an Early Day Motion tabled by Diane Abbott for Heinz to reconsider their decision and Nick Clegg, Leader of the Lib Dems, has written to Heinz to express his disappointment. Meanwhile an online petition against Heinz's decision has gathered over 10,000 signatures in less than a week.

To gain a little perspective on the subject, this website presents an overview of advertising with LGBT content and is illustrated with video clips.

Commercial Closet, which provides a global ad library, is also a good resource for those interested in the depiction of LGBT people in advertising.

The picture above has appeared on a Facebook group boasting over 4000 members and calling for boycott of Heinz until they reinstate the advert".

Gay Singer Tells of 'Nightmare'

Singer Ian 'H' Watkins' has told of the "complete nightmare" of growing up gay in the south Wales valleys. The former Steps singer, who is from the Rhondda, filmed a personal account for BBC Wales' Week In Week Out. In the programme, he also looked at schools' treatment of gay issues and admitted he was bullied "relentlessly".

Read the full BBC News article here.

Ian Watkins on wikipedia

Teachers TV Tackles Homophobia

For Tackling Homophobia Week, Teachers TV is airing a series of programmes which look at how schools can effectively support LGBT staff and students. Using personal stories the programmes highlight some of the issues young people and adults encounter at school because they are gay. These programmes and more are available to watch and download online for free from the website: www.teachers.tv

Highlights across the week include:

School Matters – Gay Teachers
In light of new guidance by the DCSF which tackles homophobic bullying of pupils and teachers, this programme investigates what it is really like to be a gay teacher in the UK, and whether there is an endemic culture of homophobia in schools.

Gay to Z
This 5 part series looks at the lives of a range of young people who identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). Each young person leads a very different life and faces different issues, some of which are related to their sexual orientation and others that are just part of growing up. This series talks with young people about how they have coped with homophobic bullying and challenges the assumptions people can make about sexuality.

Gloriously Free
Gloriously Free is the first documentary to explore the world of gay immigration. Follow five men as they desperately search to find a safe home outside their countries of birth where persecution and hatred of alternative lifestyles may lead to torture or death. What they find is Canada, leading the world as the safest haven for persecuted gays and lesbians.

Batty Man
Comedian and actor Stephen K Amos uses his own experiences as a black gay man to explore why homophobia still exists in his own community. This observational documentary follows Amos on a journey from his childhood homes in Brixton and Tooting, South London, all the way to Jamaica, where he tries to discover why prejudice, intimidation and violence against gay men remain so prevalent.

Ellen DeGeneres Discusses The Recent Tragic Death

Online Film Directory

A list of gay-themed films available to view online together with the links to view them can be found here.

The website also offers link to mainstream films, TV shows, music and sport videos, and documentaries.

Rose Venkatesan, India’s First Trans TV Host

Today will see the start of a new chat show on Indian television, ‘Ippadikku Rose’ (Yours, Rose). Nothing extraordinary in this event apart from the fact the host of the show, Rose Venkatesan, is making history by thus becoming the first trans TV host in the subcontinent.

The show will appear on Vijay television (owned by Rupert Murdoch) in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to a potential audience of up to 64 million people and is aiming to challenge social perceptions on a range of "difficult" subjects.

View a clip below:


Neighbouring country, Pakistan already has its own gender-bending TV talk show host in the shape of drag queen Begum Nawazish Ali who recently announced plans to run for parliament.

Found out more:
* Tackling a Society’s Boundaries, on TV and in a Family - New York Times
* A Transgender TV Debut - Washington Post
* Begum Nawazish Ali Running For Parliament - Sepiamutiny
* In Pakistan, the Biggest Star is In Drag - MSNBC

BBC Asks LGBT History Month for Volunteers for Big Restaurant Show

The BBC is in the process of recruiting contributors for the next series of The Restaurant and wants to include the LGBT community.

The series had huge success last year on BBC TWO. Featuring Raymond Blanc and nine couples who battled it out over eight weeks, the show is coming back for a second series.

Raymond Blanc will once again be giving couples the opportunity to try their luck as restaurateurs and seeing if they can rise to the challenges he throws at them. The stakes are high as the successful couple will go into business with Raymond and, as last years winners are finding out, this is an opportunity money just can't buy. After a nail biting final challenge in France in which Jeremy and Jane Hooper emerged the victors, they opened their Oxfordshire restaurant "Eight at The Thatch" in November 2007 and are currently booked up 4 months in advance.

The BBC wants to hear from any couples who think they too could run a restaurant. Married, friends, siblings, relatives, partners, colleagues – anyone over the age of 18 can apply. Experience of a restaurant or catering environment isn't necessary but whether you're a chef or a cleaner, a waiter or writer, Raymond only wants to hear from people who are passionate about food and the dining experience.

Press Release -
How to apply

Batty Man

Comedian and actor Stephen K Amos uses his own experiences as a black gay man to explore why homophobia still exists in his own community.

This observational documentary by Channel 4 learning – the title of which is a derogatory term for homosexuals – follows Amos on a journey from his childhood homes in Brixton and Tooting, South London, all the way to Jamaica, where he tries to discover why prejudice, intimidation and violence against gay men remain so prevalent.

Amos canvasses the opinions of young people in London, and of audiences on the comedy circuit. In Kingston, he talks to several young people who are living in fear of their lives, and to some of the dancehall musicians whose lyrics preach hate and violence against gays.

Will he learn something on this journey about how attitudes might be changed for the benefit of the next generation of young, black gay men?

Outline, background, clips, activities and learning programme notes for the programme can be found here.

The programme is available to view and (for teachers) to download on Teachers TV here.

1967 & All That - Event

40 years ago, the law was changed in England and Wales and homosexual acts between consenting males over 21 were finally decriminalised. The Hall-Carpenter Archives of lesbian and gay activism, based at the London School of Economics, and the Lesbian & Gay Newsmedia Archive, host an afternoon of talks and film screenings to commemorate this landmark in gay history.

Speakers include:

* Dr Matt Cook of Birkbeck College, editor of A Gay History of Britain, on the context of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act and the road to reform
* Rex Batten, author of Rid England of This Plague, on life for gay men during the police campaigns against them in the 1950s
* Robert Thompson of the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive on "Twilight Men and Cake Shop Ladies: Homosexuality in the Press in the 1950s and 1960s”
* Tamsin Bookey, project archivist at LSE, on working with the LGBT community to preserve and make accessible the historical records of the gay rights movement

The afternoon also features rare full-length screenings of two BBC Man Alive documentaries about male and female homosexuals, originally broadcast in 1967. There will also be an opportunity to view the touring exhibition produced for the 1967 & All That project which uses records from the Hall-Carpenter Archives and the Lesbian & Gay Newsmedia Archive to illustrate the story of the Sexual Offences Act.

The event takes place on Saturday October 27th at 1.30pm at LSE Library, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD (nearest tube: Holborn). Tickets cost £5 and are strictly limited in number. Advance purchase is necessary to guarantee admission.

To buy tickets using your credit or debit card, please call LSE Archives on 0207 955 7223.

For more information about the project, email document@lse.ac.uk or visit our website: www.1967andallthat.org.uk

1967 & All That is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund under the Archives 4 All programme.

LGBT on TV: 16th Sept. - 21st Sept.

We are trying a new service on this blog. We have decided to put together and bring you a weekly round up of the upcoming LGBT programmes on television.

Films

Sunday 16th Sept

Sky Movies Comedy -11.00pm - The Birdcage
Sky Movies Classic - 12.45am - A Taste of Honey

Monday 17th Sept
TCM - 7.00pm - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Sky Movies Indie - 10.55pm - Performance

Wednesday 19th Sept
Sky Movies Indie - 7pm - TransAmerica

Thursday 20th Sept
Sky Movies Greats - 2.20pm - La Cage Aux Folles

Friday 21st Sept
Sky Movies Comedy - 9.40pm - Kinky Boots

Drama

Thursday 20th September
BBC4 - 10.00pm - Antony Sher stars in a television adaption of the National Theatre's Primo about Primo Levi, Holocaust survivor and writer.

Comedy

Wednesday 19th September
E4 - 9.00pm - Lucas & Walliams Perfect Night In - Matt Lucas and David Walliams choose their favourite bits of TV.

Friday 21st September
BBC 2 - 10.00pm - QI returns with a new series.

Something very silly!

Monday to Friday
Five Life - 6.00pm -Gay, Straight or Taken - a woman has to decide which of three men are ........ you guessed it!

40 Years Out

Early, this year, Channel 4 broadcast a mini season of programmes marking the 40th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. This included the much talked about and rather controversial for its bleak oulook, Clapham Junction. (see our post here)

The legacy of this season is a microsite entitled 40 Years On and gathering details of the programmes and more general information.

The channel also screened a special debate programme. Hosted by journalist and commentator David Aaronovitch and bringing together a diverse panel, the programme looked at how it feels to be gay in modern Britain, how far attitudes have evolved since 1967, and how gay and bisexual men and women view themselves today. Channel 4 also held a non-televised debate, hosted by Rhona Cameron.

Clips of the televised debate can be viewed from the 40 Years On microsite.

40 Years On (www.channel4.com/gayseason)