BBC celebrates Gay Britannia

UK pubcaster the BBC is to run a season of programmes celebrating gay culture in Britain.

The Gay Britannia season comes on the 50^th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the UK.

Programmes will play on BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four, and on BBC radio stations.

Among the highlights is a BBC Three doc from Antidote Productions, Olly Alexander: Growing Up Gay (pictured); and a Daniel Mays-starring drama Against the Law and Patrick Gale-penned scripted effort Man in an Orange Shirt for BBC Three.

Growing Up Gay will follow Years and Years singer Olly Alexander, a powerful voice in the British LBGTQ community, exploring why the gay community is vulnerable to mental health issues and opening up about his own experiences with depression.

Against the Law follows May (Line of Duty) as 1950s journalist Peter Wildebood, who was found guilty of homosexuality in the infamous Montagu Trial. As previously announced, BBC Studios will produce, with Brian Fillis writing.

Man in an Orange Shirt comprises two gay love stories set 60 years apart linked by family. Endemol Shine Group-owned Kudos produces. Vanessa Redgrave stars.

Also for BBC Two is What Gay Did for Art, while Prejudice and Pride: The People’s History of LGBTQ Britain is for arts-focused BBC Four, which is also airing Gluck, a show about the history of female homosexuality.

BBC Two channel controller Patrick Holland said the season would be “a powerful examination of how far we have come, whilst exploring how much further we have to travel”.