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Gay Life (TV series)

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Gay Life
GenreLGBT history and community
Presented byMichael Attwell
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes17
Production
Executive producerBarry Cox
ProducerMichael Attwell
Running time25 minutes
Production companyLondon Minorities Unit
Original release
NetworkLWT
Release10 February 1980 (1980-02-10) –
5 July 1981 (1981-07-05)

Gay Life is a documentary television programme broadcast by London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1980.[1][2] It was produced by Michael Atwell at LWT's London Minorities Unit, and was the United Kingdom's first LGBTQ television series.[3]

Production

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Michael Atwell said programme could claim to be "the first time in the world that a major national TV company has given a whole series to gays". Three members of Gay Life's production team were gay, including Attwell, who said the staff felt that they were "in a sense trying to ride two horses – putting forward the gay viewpoint and relating to non-gay people".[1] This was encapsulated for the production team by the slogan "For and about gays". Gay Life was first broadcast, in the London region, on 10 February 1980 at 11:30 pm.[1] Notable contributors included comedian Graham Chapman, who spoke of his experience as a gay parent in the February 24 episode.[4]

Reception

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The debut episode was reviewed by John Russell Taylor in the following week's issue of Gay News.[1][5] In his essay "Something for Everyone" included in the critical theory book Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics, edited by Glyn Davis and Gary Needham, Gregory Woods wrote Taylor's review had raised "basic but crucial questions that would keep cropping up in relation to gay television programmes for the next two decades". Taylor's questions concerned the visibility of men in drag and leather who because of their frequent appearances as representative of the gay community in news reports "led the straight media to treat gayness as extraordinary, and therefore had to seek out vivid representatives of it in order to confirm their own per-constructed idea of it" and also his belief that the programme may adopt divided aims in an attempt to appeal to both "uncomprehending straights" and its desire to "preach to the converted".[1]

Richard Ingrams negatively reviewed the 10 July 1981 episode of Gay Life as the television critic for The Spectator. In his column he wrote that "I at last managed to catch up with the lesbians on Sunday, and about time too is all that I can say". The episode discussed artificial insemination of which Ingrams wrote that it was a "far more satisfactory method in many lesbian eyes because one can ensure that the donor is a suitable person—presumably a Guardian-reading Gay. Various mournful specimens were wheeled on to hail this Brave New World." Ingrams further criticised Gay Life by saying:

Nothing was said by anyone about the dangers involved in all these experiments in eugenics, the deliberate breeding of children—who are almost bound to grow up as neurotic misfits—simply to gratify the selfish urges of a lot of perverts. There might be someone at London Weekend Television who would see that even in our wonderful new permissive society there were good grounds for not allowing this sort of propaganda to be made without giving some indication of the perils attached […]

and concluded by writing:

A few years ago lesbians were rightly regarded as subjects for humour or else sympathy. Now, if people like LWT have their way, we are expected to treat them as a quasi-political movement with 'rights'. Most of this is the fault of the so-called Women's Movement, of which the lesbian activists are the extreme wing.

Episodes

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Series 1 (1980)

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All episodes were originally broadcast without episode title cards. Episodes rebroadcast in 1981 were given titles.

No.Title [5][2]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [2]
1"Episode 1"Stephen ButcherMichael Attwell10 February 1980 (1980-02-10)
In the wake of the Blunt affair, the programme asks whether gay civil servants are potential spies.
2"Heaven"Nigel WattisMichael Attwell17 February 1980 (1980-02-17)
Take a look at the city's newest gay disco, drag pubs, the leather scene.
3"Episode 3"Nigel WattisMichael Attwell24 February 1980 (1980-02-24)
Should lesbians be mothers, and should they have custody of their children? Should gay men be permitted to adopt?
4"Episode 4"Stephen ButcherMichael Attwell2 March 1980 (1980-03-02)
An investigation into allegations of police harassment of homosexuals in London.
5"Episode 5"Nigel WattisMichael Attwell9 March 1980 (1980-03-09)
Look into aspects of gay relationships including gay dating services and gay marriages.
6"Episode 6"Stephen ButcherMichael Attwell16 March 1980 (1980-03-16)
Gay teachers and how open they should be about their homosexuality in the classroom?
7"Episode 7"Nigel WattisMichael Attwell23 March 1980 (1980-03-23)
How a married person coped after discovering their spouse was gay.
8"Gays in the Media"Stephen ButcherMichael Attwell30 March 1980 (1980-03-30)
How gay people are portrayed in the media.
9"Episode 9"Stephen ButcherMichael Attwell20 April 1980 (1980-04-20)
A look at lesbian teenagers.
10"Episode 10"Nigel WattisMichael Attwell27 April 1980 (1980-04-27)
Gay people in the armed forces.
11"Episode 11"Stephen ButcherMichael Attwell4 May 1980 (1980-05-04)
How gay people exercise influence through political organisation.

Series 2 (1981)

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No.Title [2]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [2]
12"Lesbians"Judy JacksonMichael Attwell31 May 1981 (1981-05-31)
How gay women are challenging their roles as lesbians. A surviving suffragette talks about being a lesbian in the early twentieth century.
13"Being Gay in the Thirties, to Be Gay or Not?"John OvenMichael Attwell7 June 1981 (1981-06-07)
Gay men challenge the use of the word "gay". A gay man in his 70s recalls the London gay scene in London during pre-War period. Former government minister, Ian Harvey who resigned in the 1950s after being arrested for a homosexual offence, comments on gay life in his youth.
14"Parents"Judy JacksonMichael Attwell14 June 1981 (1981-06-14)
The parents of gay people discuss their reactions to finding out that their children are gay. The issue is discussed by a clergyman, his wife, and their lesbian daughter.
15"Sexuality–Is there a Choice?"John OvenMichael Attwell21 June 1981 (1981-06-21)
The phrase 'sexuality is a choice' is debated by gay people, their friends and family.
16"Male Sexuality"Judy JacksonMichael Attwell28 June 1981 (1981-06-28)
Gay men discuss male sexuality. Some men challenge the concept of homosexuality as a modern contrivance.
17"Lesbians As Mothers"John OvenMichael Attwell5 July 1981 (1981-07-05)
A look at the increasing use of artificial insemination by lesbians to achieve pregnancy.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Davis, Glyn; Needham, Gary, eds. (3 December 2008). Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics. London: Routledge. p. 109. ISBN 9781134058563.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Collections Search". British Film Institute. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  3. ^ Benedict, Date (27 November 1995). "Moving into the mainstream". The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  4. ^ MacCall, Douglas (12 November 2013). Monty Python: A Chronology, 1969–2012 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 75. ISBN 9781476613116.
  5. ^ a b Clews, Colin (6 January 2014). "1980. Television: Gay Life". www.gayinthe80s.com. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
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