Queer as Folk | |
---|---|
Genre | Drama |
Created by | Russell T Davies |
Directed by |
|
Starring | |
Composer | Murray Gold |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 10 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer | Nicola Shindler |
Producer | Russell T Davies |
Production locations | Manchester, England United Kingdom |
Cinematography | Nigel Walters |
Editor | Tony Cranstoun |
Running time | 35–50 minutes |
Production company | Red Production Company |
Original release | |
Network | Channel 4 |
Release | 23 February 1999 – 22 February 2000 |
Related | |
Queer as Folk (2000 series) Queer as Folk (2022 series) |
Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Initially running for eight episodes, a two-part follow up was shown in 2000. It was written by Russell T Davies and produced by Red Production Company for Channel 4.
The title of the programme comes from a traditional Northern English saying, "there's nowt so queer as folk", meaning "there's nothing as strange as people", and is a word play on the modern-day English definition of "queer" as homosexual. The script had originally started life with the title Queer as Fuck but Queer as Folk was considered more suitable. [1]
The main characters are Stuart Allen Jones (Aidan Gillen), who is highly sexually active, and successfully so. His long-time friend Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly), who has a crush on Stuart, has less luck with men. 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (Charlie Hunnam) is new to the gay scene but is not lacking in self-confidence.
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 archetypes.
Stuart, an advertising executive, possesses 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 Alexander's antagonistic mother (in the second series). He invites Vince's female colleague, who has a crush on closeted Vince, to Vince's birthday party and then introduces Vince's boyfriend. When offered a test drive of a Jeep by a car salesman who makes some homophobic comments, Stuart drives the car straight through the large window of the car dealership.
At the time, the response was mixed from gay commentators in relation to the portrayal of the characters. [2] [3] The show was criticised by the gay press for not addressing the issue of the AIDS epidemic but the writer said he wanted to show the love and joy of gay life as this had not been shown on TV before. [4] [5] In the wider press and media, a commentator in the Daily Mail called for censorship and made homophobic comments. [6] Twenty years after the show first aired, however, Queer as Folk was generally praised. [7] [8] [9]
The first four episodes were sponsored by Beck's Brewery but the company withdrew their sponsorship halfway through the series. Following a backlash from the gay community, Beck's offered to sponsor the second series, a request which was refused by the producers. [10]
In 2010, The Guardian ranked Queer as Folk at number 13 in their list of "The Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time". [11]
Gillen was nominated for Best Actor at the 2000 British Academy Television Awards for his role, [12] whilst the series was nominated for Best Drama Serial at the 1999 Royal Television Society Awards. [13] Murray Gold won the Best Music - Original Score at the 1999 RTS Craft & Design Awards while Pam Tait was nominated for Best Costume Design - Drama. [14]
The theme song for the series was created by Murray Gold. A soundtrack album was released by Almighty Records for the original series and features tracks by OT Quartet, Ultra Naté, and Blondie. [15] Selling 125,000 copies, it remained popular long after the broadcast of the first series and ended up the 50th biggest selling compilation album of 1999. [16] An album for the second series was released by Channel 4 Music and sold 19,000 copies in its first week to debut at #5 on the UK Compilation Chart. [16]
Series | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | |||
1 | 8 | 23 February 1999 | 13 April 1999 | |
2 | 2 | 15 February 2000 | 22 February 2000 |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Thursday | Charles McDougall | Russell T. Davies | 23 February 1999 | |
Stuart and Vince, stalwarts of the Manchester gay scene, are out on the pull in Canal Street. | ||||||
2 | 2 | Stuart Alan Jones | Charles McDougall | Russell T. Davies | 2 March 1999 | |
Stuart pursues a client, Vince (not 'out' at work) is pursued by the new girl and Nathan, verging on obsession, is desperate to find Stuart again. | ||||||
3 | 3 | A Night Out | Charles McDougall | Russell T. Davies | 9 March 1999 | |
Stuart and Vince, on a wild night out, are pursued by Nathan and Rosalie, and Phil makes a new friend… with deadly consequences. | ||||||
4 | 4 | D.I.S.C.O. | Charles McDougall | Russell T. Davies | 16 March 1999 | |
Stuart and Vince go to Phil’s funeral where they meet up with numerous friends including his accountant Cameron Roberts, and come face to face with his mother’s grief. | ||||||
5 | 5 | The Date | Sarah Harding | Russell T. Davies | 23 March 1999 | |
Stuart makes some new friends, while Nathan’s behaviour makes Hazel furious and Janice desperate. | ||||||
6 | 6 | Meet the Parents | Sarah Harding | Russell T. Davies | 30 March 1999 | |
Stuart and Marie visit their parents, and Vince introduces Cameron to his mum. Meanwhile, Stuart has a violent confrontation with Nathan’s father. | ||||||
7 | 7 | Thirty | Sarah Harding | Russell T. Davies | 6 April 1999 | |
Stuart throws a surprise party for Vince’s 30th birthday, and becomes implicated in a dubious plan to discredit Romey’s potential husband Lance. | ||||||
8 | 8 | Punchline | Sarah Harding | Russell T. Davies | 13 April 1999 | |
Vince is petrified that Rosalie has revealed his secret. Stuart experiences rejection for the first time. And Cameron declares his love to Vince. |
No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
9 | 1 | Out of the Closet... | Menhaj Huda | Russell T. Davies | 15 February 2000 | |
Vince’s love for Stuart remains unrequited, but the sexual buzz between them is becoming irresistible. Stuart is forced to out himself to his parents, when he is blackmailed. Meanwhile, Nathan reappears to celebrate his return from London. | ||||||
10 | 2 | ...Into the Fire | Menhaj Huda | Russell T. Davies | 22 February 2000 | |
When Alexander’s parents turn on him, Stuart’s anger puts him on the wrong side of the law. Vince is up for a promotion at work, while one of Nathan's teachers seems to side with Nathan's bullies. |
Episode no. | Air date | Viewers (millions) | Channel 4 weekly ranking |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 February 1999 | 3.52 | 11 |
2 | 2 March 1999 | 3.60 | 9 |
3 | 9 March 1999 | 2.45 | 23 |
4 | 16 March 1999 | 2.58 | 21 |
5 | 23 March 1999 | 2.78 | 17 |
6 | 30 March 1999 | 3.28 | 9 |
7 | 6 April 1999 | 3.44 | 9 |
8 | 13 April 1999 | 3.34 | 7 |
Episode no. | Air date | Viewers (millions) | Channel 4 weekly ranking |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 15 February 2000 | 2.83 | 19 |
2 | 22 February 2000 | 3.15 | 12 |
A spin-off series, Misfits (no relation to the later E4 series of the same name), 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.
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 not to work with Channel 4 again, unless he has an idea that only works on that channel. [17] However, fifteen years later in 2015, Davies returned to Channel 4 with drama series Cucumber, drama anthology Banana (on E4) and documentary series Tofu (on 4oD). Denise Black makes a cameo appearance as Hazel Tyler's ghost in the sixth episode of Cucumber.
Driven by the success of the series, American cable channel Showtime and Canadian cable channel Showcase co-produced an American version, Queer as Folk . This is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania although was filmed in Toronto, Ontario.
In late 2018, a second American adaptation was in development for Bravo. In April 2021, it received a series order from Peacock, the streaming service it shifted to within the NBCUniversal family. It reimagines this series instead of serving as a reboot of the first American series. [18] Queer as Folk was released on June 9, 2022, on Peacock. [19]
Queer as Folk is a drama television series that ran from December 3, 2000, to August 7, 2005. The series was produced for Showtime and Showcase by Cowlip Productions, Tony Jonas Productions, Temple Street Productions, and Showtime Networks, in association with Crowe Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. It was developed and written by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, who were the showrunners and also the executive producers along with Tony Jonas, former president of Warner Bros. Television.
Stephen Russell Davies, better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for being the original showrunner and head writer of the 2005 revival of the BBC sci-fi series Doctor Who, from 2005 to 2010 and again since 2023. His other notable works include creating the series Queer as Folk (1999–2000), Bob & Rose (2001), The Second Coming (2003), Casanova (2005), Doctor Who spin-offs Torchwood (2006–2011) and The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007–2011), Cucumber (2015), A Very English Scandal (2018), Years and Years (2019), It's a Sin (2021) and Nolly (2023).
Philip Collinson is a British television producer. He was initially an actor, before switching to working behind the cameras in the industry as a script editor and writer on programmes such as Springhill and Emmerdale, later becoming the producer of Peak Practice, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.
Red Production Company Limited is a British independent television production company owned by StudioCanal.
Bob & Rose is a British television drama, originally screened in six one-hour episodes on the ITV network in the UK in Autumn 2001. It was produced by the independent Red Production Company, and was that company's first prime-time drama for the ITV network.
Charles Matthew Hunnam is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Jax Teller in the FX series Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014). His portrayal was nominated twice for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor.
Aidan Murphy, better known as Aidan Gillen, is an Irish actor. He is the recipient of three Irish Film & Television Awards and has been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, and a Tony Award.
Craig Kelly is an English actor and voice-over narrator. He is known for his roles as Vince Tyler in the Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk and as Luke Strong in Coronation Street.
Damaged Goods is an original Doctor Who novel, released by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who books in 1996. It was the first piece of full-length prose fiction to have been published by the television scriptwriter Russell T Davies, who later became the chief writer and executive producer of the Doctor Who television series when it was revived in 2005. Davies's first professionally published fiction, a novelisation of his children's television serial Dark Season, had been released by BBC Books in 1991.
Esther Jane Hall is an English actress who has appeared in a number of television dramas. She is most notable for her performance in Black Mirror “Hated in the Nation”.
Springhill was a British soap opera created by Paul Abbott, produced by Granada Television, and broadcast from 1 October 1996 to 18 June 1997 on the Sky One satellite channel, and later on Channel 4. It consisted of 2 series, each containing 26 episodes.
Denise Black is an English actress. She is best known for her roles in Coronation Street and Emmerdale.
Nicola Shindler is a British television producer and executive, and founder of the independent television drama production company Quay Street Productions, having founded and run Red Production Company from 1998 to 2020. She has won eleven BAFTA TV Awards.
Revelations was a late-night soap opera created by Russell T Davies, Brian B. Thompson, and Tony Wood, produced by Granada and starring Judy Loe and Paul Shelley. It aired in the Granada, Central and Carlton ITV regions between 6 October 1994 and 12 September 1996. The series is family drama about the family of the priest Edward Rattigan (Shelley) and his wife Jessica (Loe). It follows and critiques the organisational structure of the Anglican Church at the turn of the millennium.
Cucumber is a 2015 British comedy drama television series created by Russell T Davies and aired on Channel 4. Exploring 21st-century gay life, the series focuses on middle-aged Henry Best. Following a disastrous date night with his boyfriend of nine years, Lance Sullivan, Henry's old life shatters. He embarks on a new life with unfamiliar rules.
Banana is a 2015 British television series created by Russell T Davies and aired on E4. The sister series to Channel 4's Cucumber and the 4oD documentary series Tofu, Banana is a series focusing on LGBT youth in Manchester, around the narrative of Cucumber. Unlike Cucumber, which is a self-contained serial following the story of one gay man, Banana is an anthology series focusing on the wider LGBT spectrum. The series was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series.
It's a Sin is a British drama television miniseries written by Russell T Davies. Set in London between 1981 and 1991, it depicts the lives of a group of gay men and their friends during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United Kingdom. It's a Sin features a main cast consisting of Olly Alexander, Omari Douglas, Callum Scott Howells, Lydia West, and Nathaniel Curtis. Other actors cast were David Carlyle, Keeley Hawes, Shaun Dooley, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Fry. The series was directed by Peter Hoar, produced by Red Production Company, and premiered in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 22 January 2021.
Queer as Folk is a drama television series created for Peacock by Stephen Dunn. It is a re-imagining of the Channel 4 1999 British TV series Queer as Folk that was created by Russell T. Davies. The series was released on June 9, 2022. The reboot was cancelled after one season on September 23, 2022 due to low ratings and poor critical reception.
Devin Way is an American actor and model. He starred in the Peacock drama series Queer as Folk and in 2024 joined the cast of BET comedy-drama series, Sistas.
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