Giving Thanks: Russell T. Davies

When we see gay people appear on our television screens many of us may feel a sense of pride or achievement just because we are being represented on television. In all fairness this sense of pride or achievement may not be as strong as it was 10 or 15 years ago, as we now see gay people in all walks of life and we are no longer considered a taboo in the British media, or by a vast number of those in society.

But what we have to ask ourselves is how did this happen? Yes there have been people campaigning for years to allow gay people to have the same rights as straight people, and they fought the battles in courts and in parliament and helped us achieve equality in the workplace, schools and many other areas of our lives where we were once discriminated.

But the mass media, television, film, music also had a significant impact as many believe what they see on TV, and come to find what they are shown to be the norm. So how did we get to have gay characters spring up in film and television? Well that credit has to be given to those behind the scenes.

Over the last few decades countless writers and producers have helped gay men and women make their way onto our screens, and in Britain one of the most well known to do this is Russell .T Davies.

We all know Russell for his revival of the hit Sci-Fi programme Doctor Who and its subsequent spin off shows Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, and even with these shows he’s managed to incorporate LGBT characters in the shape of Captain Jack Harkness the well known bisexual who is played by openly gay actor John Barrowman.

But obviously this probably wouldn’t have been possible if it hadn’t been for his breakout television show Queer as Folk, which centred on gay men living in Manchester. The show broke boundaries and helped gay men get the representation on television that was needed.

However his contributions to the LGBT community on television didn’t just start on Queer as Folk. Whilst working on children’s television show Children’s Ward he wrote a script that challenged the assumption that only gay people could contract HIV, when he featured a teenage boy who had been infected with the virus due to a blood transfusion. And he even incorporated gay characters in other programmes he worked on, such as a lesbian vicar in the late night soap Revelations.

So whilst we are sat watching television and see these gay characters walking around on our television sets, just take a moment to think about the great people working behind the scenes who have helped push us into the mainstream media and into most people’s viewing schedules.