As we celebrate Pride Month at Screen Manchester we also celebrate some of the wonderful projects with an LGBTQIA+ focus that have been Made in Manchester.
Today it is the turn of one of the most iconic Channel 4 series – Queer As Folk – which was of course created by one of the UK’s most celebrated screenwriters Russell T Davies.
Queer as Folk has been heralded as ‘life-changing’ – and even ‘life-saving’. First broadcast 26 years ago it depicted the lives of three characters living in Manchester’s “Gay Village” (a location we at Screen Manchester work in frequently) in a frank, funny and explicit way that had not been seen on UK TV before.
As a result Russell T Davies’ series came to be regarded as a milestone in LGBTQIA+ representation.
It is often said that the series changed people’s lives because for the first time people were seeing gay people as ordinary folk on screen. They were seen as teachers, solicitors and neighbours. Ordinary people living ordinary lives.
The series allowed the LGBTQIA+ Community to actually be viewed as real people and the issues affecting were being seen and crucially understood.
Television allowed many people to stop experiencing loneliness – there was a realization that there was a world out there that is accepting. This Made In Manchester series enabled more people to come out and to feel more comfortable and confident and to be more open about their true self with a lack of shame. It also got people to ask genuine questions and discuss and actually find out what it was like to be LGBTQIA+. It was a game changer.
Manchester is proud to have provided the locations for this iconic TV series and Screen Manchester is happy to be working on Russell’s new series TipToe.
