Queer as Folk is a 1999
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
television series that chronicles the lives of three
gayThe term gay was originally used, until well into the mid-20th century, primarily to refer to feelings of being "carefree", "happy", or "bright and showy"; it had also come to acquire some connotations of "immorality" as early as 1637....
men living in
ManchesterManchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the city was estimated to be 458,100...
's
gay villageA gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual people live or frequent...
around
Canal StreetCanal Street, the centre of the Manchester Gay Village, is a street in Manchester city centre in North West England. The street, which runs along the side of the Rochdale Canal, is lined with gay bars and restaurants. At night time, and in daytime in the warmer months, the street is filled with...
. Both
Queer as Folk and
Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies, who was also responsible for a later gay-related drama,
Bob and RoseBob and Rose is a British television drama, originally screened in six one-hour episodes on the ITV network in the UK in the autumn of 2001...
, and the revival of
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
on the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
in 2005. The first series was re-shown on More 4 between 14-18 October 2007 as part of
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
's 25th birthday celebrations.
Queer as Folk was produced by the independent
Red Production CompanyRed Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker. Based in Manchester in the north of England, Red's first production...
for
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
, which had previously shown its openness for gay-themed material with made-for-TV films such as
Beautiful ThingBeautiful Thing is a play written and first performed in 1993 by Jonathan Harvey. A screen adaptation of the play was released in 1996 by Channel 4 Films, with a revised screenplay also by Harvey. Initially, the film was only intended for television broadcast but it was so well-received that it was...
, which was later also given a cinema release. The title of the programme comes from a
dialectThe Yorkshire dialect refers to the varieties of English used in the Northern England historic county of Yorkshire. Those varieties are often referred to as Broad Yorkshire or Tyke. The dialect has roots in older languages such as Old English and Old Norse; it should not be confused with modern...
expression from some parts of
Northern EnglandNorthern England, also known as the North of England, or simply The North is a cultural region or identity of England in the United Kingdom. It is not a government administrative region, but rather an amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the...
, "there's nowt so queer as folk", meaning "there's nothing as strange as people". Davies had originally titled the series this, although at the suggestion of Channel 4 executives for a period during its development and
pre-productionPre-production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance.- Information :In the film industry, pre-production usually only commences once a project has been developed and is greenlit...
it was known as
Queer as Fuck, before it reverted to the former name.
The theme tune and incidental music were composed especially for the show by
Murray GoldMurray Gold is an English composer for stage, film, and television and a dramatist for both theatre and radio.-Television:...
.
Queer as Folk is now available on 4oD Channel 4's online library. It is also featured in the advert, in the freezer next to
BrooksideBrookside was a British soap opera set in Liverpool, England. The series began on the first night of the then-new network Channel 4 on 2 November 1982, and ran for 21 years until 4 November 2003...
.
Characters and plot
The producers say that
Queer as Folk, although superficially a realistic depiction of gay urban life in the 1990s, is meant as a fantasy, and that Stuart, Vince, and Nathan are not so much characters as gay male
archetypeAn archetype is an original model of a person, ideal example, or a prototype after which others are copied, patterned, or emulated; a symbol universally recognized by all...
s.
The main characters are Stuart Alan Jones (
Aidan GillenAidan Gillen is an Irish stage and screen actor, best known in the UK for his role as Stuart Jones in the ground-breaking Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk...
), who is highly sexually active, and successfully so; his long-time friend Vince Tyler (
Craig KellyCraig Kelly is a British actor, best known for his role as Vince Tyler in the Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk and as Luke Strong in Coronation Street.-Biography:...
), who has a crush on Stuart and less luck regarding men; and 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (
Charlie Hunnam-Biography:Charles Matthew Hunnam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 10 April 1980. Discovered while clowning around in a shoe shop by a production manager for the British Children's show Byker Grove, Charlie Hunnam was cast in his first role as the long locked child model Jason in three episodes...
), who is new to the gay scene but is not lacking in self-confidence.
Stuart, an advertising executive, is depicted as possessing intrinsic power, able to bend anything to his will. Stuart's principal characteristic is that he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. He blows up a car belonging to his friend's antagonistic mother, he invites Vince's female work colleague, who has a crush on
closetedThe Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, a reference to homosexuality...
Vince, to Vince's birthday party and then introduces Vince's boyfriend, in order to make Vince hate him so that Vince can fall in love with his boyfriend instead of maintaining his crush on Stuart; and when offered a test drive of a
JeepJeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler. It is the oldest off-road vehicle brand, with Land Rover coming in second. The original vehicle which first appeared as the prototype Bantam BRC became the primary light 4-wheel-drive vehicle of the US Army and allies during the World War II and postwar...
by a car salesman who makes some homophobic comments, Stuart drives the car straight through the large window of the car dealership.
Some of the minor supporting characters, such as Hazel, and Alexander, are given depth as well. Part of the success of the series was due to the way in which the writer deliberately left some things unsaid, allowing the story to continue around them.
In the second series, the tone became somewhat more serious, with each of the main characters having to make hard choices concerning their futures.
Location and production
The show was set and filmed on and around the gay village of Manchester, England. The night club scenes of
Babylon were filmed at
Cruz 101Cruz 101 is a nightclub and music venue situated in Manchester's Gay Village which is centred around Canal Street, England...
. For the filming the signage and lighting of the club was replaced and a phone box added. Following the completion of filming the phone box was removed and Cruz 101 adopted its original name. Some bars had to alter their interiors slightly for scenes of inside some of the venues on Canal Street. 'Manto' bar changed its upstairs slightly for a scene where Stuart and Vince go for lunch.
The foyer areas of
Bridgewater HallThe Bridgewater Hall is an international concert venue in Manchester, England. It cost around £42 million to build and currently hosts over 250 performances a year...
were used for scenes showing Stuart at work; the Bridgewater Hall logo is clearly visible in several scenes, despite supposedly being set in an advertising agency.
The music for the series was produced by
Almighty RecordsAlmighty Records Ltd. is a British recording label and remix production team founded in 1989, releasing their first single in the same year. Producing mainly Dance-Pop and Hi-NRG music, the label is best known for releasing remakes and remixes of mainstream pop songs...
. Because of the TV show, it was the Queer As Folk CD
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized...
which went gold within one month of going on sale in March 1999 in the UK that has become the most successful project the label has ever took on. The release of this CD followed a request from the makers of the TV series,
Red ProductionsRed Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker. Based in Manchester in the north of England, Red's first production...
, after another major record company turned down the opportunity due to poor rating of previous 'music-led' television shows on
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
. Given a list of tracks, Almighty had 1 month to compile the music however some tracks could not be cleared in time for the release mainly due to time scales, including one by
Steps who initially said that the show would be too 'low profile' for them to be associated with. It was the success of this
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
which prompted Channel 4 launch their own music division when the second series of Queer As Folk was made - an international franchise which is still around today.
Cast of Queer as Folk
- Craig Kelly
Craig Kelly is a British actor, best known for his role as Vince Tyler in the Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk and as Luke Strong in Coronation Street.-Biography:...
as Vince Tyler
- Jason Merrells
Jason Merrells is an English actor, who received his big break when he starred in Casualty for three years as receptionist Matt Hawley...
as Phil Delaney
- Aidan Gillen
Aidan Gillen is an Irish stage and screen actor, best known in the UK for his role as Stuart Jones in the ground-breaking Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk...
as Stuart Alan Jones
- Charlie Hunnam
-Biography:Charles Matthew Hunnam was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 10 April 1980. Discovered while clowning around in a shoe shop by a production manager for the British Children's show Byker Grove, Charlie Hunnam was cast in his first role as the long locked child model Jason in three episodes...
as Nathan Maloney
- Andy Devine
Andy Devine is an English actor primarily on television, whose best known role has been Shadrach Dingle on one of ITV's longest-running soap opera, Emmerdale. His credits have occasionally been confused with those of the gravelly-voiced American star character actor Andy Devine .Andy Devine began...
as Bernard Thomas
- Denise Black
Denise Black is an English actress, best known for playing Denise Osbourne in the ITV1 soap Coronation Street and Hazel in Queer As Folk in 1999/2000....
as Hazel Tyler
- Saira Todd as Lisa Levene
- Esther Hall
Esther Hall is an English actress who has had high profile roles in a number of television dramas.Born in Manchester in 1970 and brought up in Cheshire, she took A levels in Manchester before training in classical ballet for five years at the University of Leeds Bretton Hall College where she...
as Romey Sullivan
- Juley McCann as Siobhan Potter
- Alfred Robinson/Olivia K.Critchley as Baby Alfred
- Carla Henry
Carla Henry is a British actress, most famous for her role as Donna in Queer As Folk.Her performances in the stage productions such as Storm and Habitat and On the Shore of the Wide World have seen her tackle a wide variety of roles...
as Donna Clark
- Ben Maguire as Christian Hobbs
- Alison Burrows as Sandra Docherty
- Susan Cookson
Susan Cookson is an English television actress. She lives in Sheffield with her husband, actor Malcolm Scates, and her two children Ruari and Dan. She also has two sisters....
as Marcie Finch
- Caroline Pegg as Rosalie Cotter
- Caroline O'Neill as Janice Maloney
- Jane Cawdon as Helen Maloney
- Antony Cotton
Antony Cotton is an English actor and singer best known for his roles in Coronation Street and the original UK version of Queer as Folk.-Biography:...
as Alexander Perry
- Peter O'Brien
Peter O'Brien is an Australian actor.-Life and career:O'Brien was born at Murray Bridge, South Australia, Australia. He began his career in the 1980s in Australian television drama series. He played a regular role in short-lived soap opera Starting Out , and had a guest role in Carson's Law ...
as Cameron Roberts
- Jonathon Natynczyk as Dazz Collinson
- Maria Doyle Kennedy
Maria Doyle Kennedy is an award-winning Irish actress and singer.- Private life :...
as Marie Jones Threepwood
- John Brobbey as Lance Amponah
- Ger Ryan
Ger Ryan is an Irish film and television actress, whose credits include Queer as Folk , The War of the Buttons , The Van, Moll Flanders, Driftwood, A Love Divided and Intermission....
as Margaret Jones
- Ian McElhinney as Clive Jones
- Paul Copley
Paul Mackriell Copley is an award-winning English actor.-Early life:Copley was born in Denby Dale, West Yorkshire, and grew up beside a dairy farm there. His father, Harold, was involved with local amateur dramatic productions, as were the rest of his family...
as Roy Maloney
- Adam Zane as Dane McAteer
- Kate Fitzgerald as Mrs Delaney
- Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones is a Tony and Obie Award-winning playwright, actress, and poet.Called "a master of the genre" by The New York Times, Jones has written and performed four multi-character solo shows, including the critically acclaimed Bridge & Tunnel, which was produced Off-Broadway in 2004 by...
as Suzie Smith
- Michael Culkin as Martin Brooks
- Andrew Lancel
Andrew Lancel is an English actor. He is best known for his role as DI Neil Manson in The Bill.-Biography:Andrew Lancel was born on 3 August, 1970 in Rufford, Lancashire. He started his acting career in local theatre and as a cabaret singer. He gained fame as the lead role in the groundbreaking...
as Harvey Black
- Jack Deam
Jack Deam is an English actor. His most notable performance is of the pyromaniac, Marty Fisher, who has fictional Tourette syndrome in Channel 4's Shameless...
as Gareth Critchly
- Paul Oldham as "Spike" O’Hagan
- Steve Ramsden as Colin Goodfuk
- David Prosho
Dave Prosho is an English television actor. Dave grew up in Leicestershire, England where he lived for much of his childhood before relocating to Leeds, England where he now resides....
as Muscle Man
- Paul Simpson
Paul Simpson is a musician, vocalist, lyricist and writer from Liverpool, England. His vocal and lyrical styles have been described as "haunting" and "doomed romantic", respectively. Musically, his contributions have crossed the genres of Synthpop, Post-punk, Neo-psychedelia, New wave and Ambient...
as Michael
- Lee Warburton
Lee Warburton is a British actor, known for several ongoing television roles.He appeared in Coronation Street as Tony Horrocks, Natalie Barnes' drug addict son, played gay male nurse Tony Vincent in Casualty and its spin-off Holby City in 2003, and played Melanie Costello's violent boyfriend...
as Piero McCarthy
- Jim Shepley as Jonathan Walker
- Adam Heywood Fogerty as Roger Clements
- Toshi Dokiya as Lee "Kane"
- Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson, Australian politician, is the current South Australian Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Veterans' Affairs, and Minister for Multicultural Affairs in the Rann Government...
as Mr Latham
- Elizabeth Steele as Stuart’s neighbour
- Robert Ashcroft as Gary McGee
- David Williamson
David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...
as Bob Green
- Roxy Hart as Karaoke hostess
- Andrew Mawdsley as Tom Threepwood
- Stuart Mawdsley as Ben Threepwood
- Alan Halsall
Alan David Halsall is an English actor best known for playing Tyrone Dobbs in Coronation Street. A role which he has played for the past 11 years .-Early life:...
as Midge
- Samantha Cunningham as Cathy Mott
Responses
The first series caused controversy in the UK because many
conservativesSocial conservatism is a political or moral ideology that believes government and/or society have a role in encouraging or enforcing traditional values or behaviors based on the belief that these are what keep people civilized and decent. A second meaning of the term social conservatism developed...
were shocked at the frank language as well as the depiction of a 15-year-old engaging in illegal homosexual acts with an older man (the
age of consentWhile the phrase age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes, when used in relation to sexual activity, the age of consent is the minimum age at which a person is considered to be legally competent of consenting to sexual acts. The European Union calls it the legal age for sexual...
for gay men in the UK at the time was 18, though it has since been reduced to 16). The explicit nature of the sex scenes also caused controversy; in particular the first episode featured an extensive sex scene involving
masturbationMasturbation refers to sexual stimulation, especially of one's own genitals , often to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by other types of bodily contact , by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods...
,
rimmingAnal–oral sex, also referred to or described as anal–oral contact or anilingus , also spelled analingus, is a form of oral sex involving contact between the anus or perineum of one person and the mouth or tongue of another...
, and
ejaculationEjaculation is the ejecting of semen from a penis, and is usually accompanied by orgasm. It is usually the final stage and natural objective of sexual stimulation, and an essential component of natural conception. In rare cases ejaculation occurs because of prostatic disease. Ejaculation may also...
. The series became a ratings success despite its late-night timeslot and the withdrawal of its main sponsor,
Beck'sBeck's Brewery is a brewery in the north German city of Bremen. Owned by local families until February 2002, it was then sold to Interbrew for 1.8 billion euros. The brewery was formed under the name Kaiserbrauerei Beck & May o.H.G. on 27 June 1873 by Lüder Rutenberg , Heinrich Beck, and Thomas May...
.
The success led
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
to commission a second series. Although Davies initially intended to write a second full series, he decided that there was not much story left to tell, and instead finished the story with a two-part TV special,
Queer as Folk 2, screened in 2000 to slightly lower viewing figures despite an earlier timeslot. This time the explicit sex scenes were mostly absent, a decision applauded by people who had previously criticised the series. Many fans of the series criticised the ending for the unanswered questions it left and the lack of "conclusion" it gave.
Doctor Who
Russell T Davies is now the executive producer on the science fiction series
Doctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a mysterious alien time-traveller known as "the Doctor" who travels in his space and time-ship, the TARDIS, which normally appears from the exterior to be a blue 1950s police box...
, and
Queer as Folk has many
Doctor Who references. In one episode a model of
K-9K-9, or K9, is the name of several fictional robotic dogs in the long-running British science fiction television series, Doctor Who, and its spin-off series, The Sarah Jane Adventures. There have been at least four separate K-9 units in the series, with the first two being companions of the Fourth...
, the robotic dog, is given to Vince. In 1996 Davies had written a
Doctor Who novel,
Damaged GoodsDamaged Goods is an original Doctor Who novel, released by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who books in 1996...
, a copy of which was included on the set of Vince's bedroom as an in-joke by the set dressers. Series one also includes a sequence in which Vince and a man he picked up are leading up to having sex, when the man becomes excited when he sees a video of
Genesis of the DaleksGenesis of the Daleks is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was originally broadcast in six weekly parts from March 8 to April 12, 1975...
and begs Vince if they could watch it instead. Vince wonders whether to break up with his boyfriend Cameron, and finally decides to, in favour of Stuart, the deciding matter was that Stuart knew him better because he knew all of the actors who had played
The DoctorThe Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and also features in a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
over the years, and Cameron had trouble remembering two, showing that Stuart did (contrary to popular belief) pay attention to Vince's
Doctor Who ramblings.
Spin-offs and remakes
A follow-up, spin-off series,
Misfits, was initially commissioned by Channel 4. The series would have followed the characters of Hazel, Alexander, Donna (who was absent from the 2nd series due to scheduling commitments) and Bernard from the original series, while introducing new characters. Although Davies developed draft scripts for four episodes and storylines for a further twenty-two, the series was cancelled before it went into pre-production, along with
The Second ComingThe Second Coming is a two-part British television drama first screened on ITV in the UK in February 2003. Hailed by some as one of the most thought-provoking dramas to be screened on a mainstream British television channel for several years, it concerns the realisation of Steve Baxter that he is...
, which was later commissioned and broadcast by
ITVITV is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK...
.
As a result of Channel 4's decision, Davies pulled out of a deal that would have seen a series of
Queer as Folk short stories published on the broadcaster's website, and vowed never to work with Channel 4 again.
Driven by the success of the series,
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cableCable television is a system of providing television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional television broadcasting in which a television antenna is required...
channel
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
and
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
cable channel Showcase co-made a North American version set in
Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPittsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the second largest city in the state. Its population was 334,563 at the 2000 census; by 2006, it was estimated to have fallen to 312,819. The population of the seven-county metropolitan area is...
, still under the title
Queer as Folk, although deviating extensively from the originals plot.
The North American (US/Canadian) version was criticised by some fans of the British series who saw the cast as excessively glamourous and who thought the original's quirky comedy had been lost. It was also criticised for toning down the darker elements of the original; for example, Phil (named Ted in the North American version), who died in one of the originals early episodes, does not die in the North American version, and Stuart (named Brian in the North American version) changes from a personification of power, into a personification only of sex, and increasing the age of Nathan (named Justin in the North American version) from 15 to 17 (only one year below the US legal age of consent), reducing the age controversy. In addition, the North American version puts a greater emphasis on the sexual aspects of the plot and, as a result, features numerous sex scenes.
See also
- Queer as Folk (North American TV series)
- The L Word
The L Word is an American and Canadian co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Los Angeles-area city of West Hollywood, California...