Quick Question: The BBC and LGBTQ+ Characters.

I put the call out on Twitter earlier but, for some context, I’m writing a research report for my MA on the BBC Television and LGTBQ+ on-air representation from 2006 onwards. In between looking at various reports commissioned by the BBC Trust and Stonewall, I want to see if I can gather a list of programmes featuring LGTBQ+ characters  myself. Naturally, it’s not possible for me to see everything the BBC puts out (though I feel like sometimes I must do). The list I’ve got so far includes: The Night Watch, Lip Service, Doctor Who, Torchwood, In The Flesh, Heading Out, Consenting Adults, The Line of Beauty (thanks Tam!).

 If you can remember any others, could you comment below with the name of the programme in question? Remember, it must have aired in 2006 or later (so sadly neither Tipping the Velvet, nor my personal revelation Fingersmith count) and it must have aired in the UK. 

Please feel free to share this around as I’m sure we’re all likely to forget something. Thank you so much!

A Series Of Fortunate Interests: Teen Drama

For the first few some weeks of 2013, I’m going to be doing a series of posts about the things I’m taking with me through adulthood. My no-longer Guilty Pleasures. A Series of Fortunate Interests.

Can we all agree to pretend that this post was posted in timely fashion and not been trapped in my drafts since the 8th February? Fabulous, thank you. The last few months have been buried under a variety of work crises and panicking about academic standards. But, like a chastened and stressed out phoenix, I rise from the ashes of my intentions to begin anew. So basically: sorry. Part of my absence was down to having to write a 5,000 word essay for my Quality TV module. The brief was very open and, seeing as I care an awful lot about television genres that are unfairly derided, I spent those 5,000 words discussing how The O.C deserves a seat at the quality table. So naturally I bring you the first of my Series of Fortunate Interests: Teen Drama

Welcome 2013, I have plans for you.

Hello and a happy new year to you all. 2013 has begun with a slightly inauspicious start but, I have plans folks. Plans that mainly involve posting here regularly. (It’s my one resolution, I’m aiming high.)

If there’s one thing I hate most in the world (aside from war, violence, and the oppression of minorities), it’s the way we as a culture talk about growing up. Whenever I talk to someone at work or friends of my parents, there is this sense of adulthood being staid and stuck and serious, of ‘putting away childish things’ and moving on with your life. Listen, I am as much for adults not having temper tantrums in the aisles of Sainsbury’s and maybe we would all be better off if we actually communicated what we wanted instead of employing the passive aggressive techniques we learned as kids. But I am not up for letting go of the things that make me happy, adult or not.

Like most people I went through that awkward stage of adolescence where the pursuit of ‘cool’ was pretty much your goal. Admittedly, what I considered cool may well have been far from the zeitgeist but, it mattered to me. I wanted to be an adult, a cool adult with an ear to the underground and a thorough understanding of the Shakespearean canon. The things that brought me unadulterated, utterly un-serious joy began to form my list of ‘Guilty Pleasures’. I stopped talking about how much I liked Girls Aloud and how teen movies shaped my core personality because that didn’t seem adult.

Many people cleverer (and funnier) than me have already talked about how the idea of ‘guilty pleasures’ are bullshit. I’m not really here to unpack. What I am here to do is air that list in public. I may have forgotten most of Shakespeare’s history plays, but sometimes I listens to boybands and have a one person dance party in my bedroom. Sometimes I watch sitcoms on endless repeat because I need cheering up. And now, you’re going to hear about it. A lot.

For the first few weeks of 2013, I’m going to be doing a series of posts about the things I’m taking with me through adulthood. My no-longer Guilty Pleasures. A Series of Fortunate Interests.

Because, I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling twenty-two. And quite frankly, that means whatever I want it to mean.