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Mark Gatiss's Queers monologues starring Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Front, Russell Tovey and Alan Cumming

14 June 2022

Queers is a collection of eight drama monologues made for Gay Brittania, the BBC season marking the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967. Mark Gatiss curated these powerful stories, now available again on iPlayer and starring the likes of Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Front, Russell Tovey and Alan Cumming; Gatiss reveals here why he “leapt at the chance” of making them.

When the BBC asked me to curate a series of monologues marking the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, I leapt at the chance.

I learned so much from Alan Bennett, acknowledged master of the monologue form.
Mark Gatiss

This was partly because I've always loved the monologue form (and have learned so much from Alan Bennett, the acknowledged master of them), partly because it was an opportunity to bring unheard voices to the screen (five of the eight monologues are by writers new to television) but also because there are so many amazing and unexpected gay stories to be told.

But let me start with a qualification. Queers commemorates an act of Parliament which partially decriminalised sex between "men over 21 in the privacy of their own homes in England and Wales". It would not become law in Scotland until 1980, and in Northern Ireland until 1982.

I have not attempted to cover the entire history of LGBT representation in Britain over the past century.

Rather, I wanted, predominantly, to examine the gay male experience - the world leading up to the 1967 Act and the years which have followed, tracing the extraordinary progress that’s been made but from a variety of unexpected angles.

Ben Whishaw stars as a stretcher-bearer in the trenches of World War One. And a love that almost spoke its name...

Anti-homosexual legislation in the modern era really began with the passing of the Criminal Law amendment Act of 1885, the so-called ‘Labouchere Amendment’, prohibiting “gross indecency between males”.

This became known almost at once as ‘the blackmailer’s charter’ and was the law which ensnared Oscar Wilde.

From this sprang the idea of The Man on the Platform, starring Ben Whishaw as a stretcher-bearer in the trenches of World War One. And a love that almost spoke its name...

Ben Whishaw in The Man on the Platform

The Man on the Platform

A man returns from the First World War recollects a love that dared not speak its name

Though the series, as I’ve said, was to reflect mostly the gay male experience, I did want to include some female perspectives. I discovered the extraordinary story of Lillias Irma Valerie Arkell-Smith - known as Colonel Barker - who had lived as a man, even going so far as to marry a woman.

I thought this could be the basis of a fascinating story and from it, Jackie Clune wove The Perfect Gentleman - starring Gemma Whelan - and its unexpected take on the notion of masculinity.

Gemma Whelan in The Perfect Gentleman

The Perfect Gentleman

Bobby is a swaggering man about town. But Bobby has a secret.

It was astonishing to discover how little is known about black gay sub-culture.
Mark Gatiss

What was it like to be a black gay man in the past? Although there was a thriving ‘queer’ demi-monde in America in the 1920s and '30s, it only seems to have touched the fringes of the jazz scene in this country. It was astonishing, in fact, to discover how little is known about black gay sub-culture at that time.

I re-read the biography of the artist Glyn Philpot and thought there might be something interesting in the notion of being an ‘exotic’ life model at that time. This, together with the story of Patrick Nelson – who was one of Duncan Grant’s lovers – provided Keith Jarrett with the inspiration for Safest Spot in Town starring Kadiff Kirwan.

Kadiff Kirwan in Safest Spot in Town

Safest Spot in Town

As the Blitz hits London, Fredrick is grateful that found a very unlikely place of refuge

In 1957 came the Wolfenden Report. This was the beginning of change, though it would take a further decade for the law to actually pass. But what aspect of this period to examine? Jon Bradfield pitched me Missing Alice – an idea with which I instantly fell in love.

Rebecca Front plays a woman happily married to a gay man who worries that increasing liberalisation might make him leave her. What a lovely, simple notion. A tiny Terence Rattigan play, as it were.

Rebecca Front in Missing Alice

Missing Alice

Alice has a secret but after the Wolfenden Report it may not need to be a secret anymore

It was never the same, you know, dear, after it was legal.
Matthew Baldwin's I Miss the War

When I first moved to London I remember being invited to what seemed to me quite a sophisticated gay party.

What I’ll never forget is chatting to an elderly man, waspish, hilarious and who lapsed into polari at the drop of a feather boa. “It was never the same, you know, dear, after it was legal”, he said. “All the fun went out of it.”

I wanted to use this as a jumping off point, to explore the notion that not everyone saw legalisation as a good thing. Matthew Baldwin, who had already written a fascinating play about ’67 called The Act, was the natural choice to write I Miss the War starring Ian Gelder.

Ian Gelder in I Miss the War

I Miss the War

The Sexual Offences Act will revolutionise everything, won't it? Perhaps not for Jackie

With the '80s, the shadow of AIDS, of course, looms, as monolithic as those tombstone TV ads we grew so used to. This was was the time in which I grew up as a gay man. But how to approach this period and this subject which might feel like it’s prey to cliché?

Happily Brian Fillis came up with More Anger, starring Russell Tovey as a young gay actor who finds the health crisis affecting him in unexpected ways.

Russell Tovey in More Anger

More Anger

It's 1987 and with AIDS in the headlines a new part looks like a game-changer for Phil

By 1994 change was in the air and the House of Commons voted to lower the homosexual age of consent. I was there that night as big crowds gathered to hear the – as it turned out, disappointing – result. Michael Dennis was also there – though we didn’t know each other at the time.

His memories of that experience, and of being a young man enjoying the big city for the first time, became A Grand Day Out starring Fionn Whitehead.

Fionn Whitehead in A Grand Day Out

A Grand Day Out

As the government votes on the age of male consent, 17 year old Andrew comes to London

Something Borrowed with Alan Cumming asks tough questions without providing easy answers.

Finally, Something Borrowed starring Alan Cumming brings us – almost – to the present day and the preparations for a wedding.

I wanted to celebrate this amazing state of affairs, unthinkable just a short time ago, but also to explore what might have got lost along the way.

The notion of being different, an outsider, other. Gareth McLean’s monologue asks some tough questions without providing easy answers.

Alan Cumming in Something Borrowed

Something Borrowed

Steve, a groom to be, anxiously prepares his wedding speech

As we see every day, hard-won victories can be undone with the stroke of a presidential pen. Homosexuality remains illegal in many countries - in some it is punishable by death. But let’s not forget how far we have come. And that we stand on the shoulders of giants.

All eight episodes of Queers are available to watch now on iPlayer.

A version of this article was originally published in July 2017.

Mark Gatiss on the set of Queers

LGBTQ+ voices on the BBC

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