TV Viewing: Anything But Jeremy Clarkson

"Here's a funny one, dear, they've only gone and given us another series..."

How attractive is Jeremy Clarkson to lesbian, gay and bisexual TV viewers? This question was indirectly raised by a just-published BBC survey, which set out to find the favourite shows of 1,000 members of the Corporation's audience research who identified themselves as (in a definition of the target group that is the BBC's, not the Guardian's) "LGB".

The discoveries included the revelation that 36.6% of the 16-34-year-old males who watched Vicious, the ITV sitcom about two ageing gay men, identified themselves as gay. This was well ahead of interest in the show among the general population, but may be about as surprising as the revelation that the Pope had been caught watching tapes of Songs Of Praise. Other LGB favourites were The Great British Bake-Off and Splash!, although the overall winners exactly matched those among the overall audience: soaps such as EastEnders and Coronation Street.

My blog, my choice of photos.

The subject of sexuality-specific broadcasting is – in common with the related issue of racially targeted shows – sensitive and treacherous, and one which, as a heterosexual white male, I feel some trepidation in entering. But the announcement that gay viewers (or, at least, a section of those who were asked) most enjoy [sic] watching a comedy about two outrageously camp showbiz figures, a series about cake-making and a competition in which Tom Daley and the contestants appear in swimwear risks being counter-productive by perpetuating stereotypes of gay taste, especially as Vicious itself cheerfully trades in cliches of homosexuality.

Admittedly, the fact that the BBC's LGB viewers were disproportionately keen on two of the most widely disliked series among the critical community – both Vicious and Splash! were trashed – does suggest a possible gap between mainstream taste and one section of the audience. But the whole project raises the troubling question of to what extent audiences, performers and programmes should be defined by sexual preference...

Mark Lawson writing for Guardian TV & Radio Blog.

Note this now includes a correction at the end; "The original stated that "36.6% of the sample had watched Vicious". In fact 36.6% of the 16-34-year-old males who watched the show identify themselves as gay."

Fagburn is used to the gay media getting things hilariously and tragically wong - as indeed did both Gay Star News and Pink News with this one - but when I read the earlier version of this Guardian article where the mighty Mark Lawson implied the survey was about gay men's favourite and best-loved TV shows I had to check with the author of the original BBC blog, Adrian Ruth.
Maybe I'd finally flipped or there was some other secret survey I hadn't seen...

Just to check with you before writing about this again - and making a fool of myself if I've got this hopelessly wrong - your survey only showed what share of any programme's audience identified as gay/bisexual, yes, and did not ask about people's favourite programmes or how how much they enjoyed them?
Also was the list of programmes in any chart an actual rundown of shows with the highest LGB audience shares?

"You've understood correctly (unlike many of the journalists until we corrected them!) It was based on an analysis of actual consumption.
"It was indeed a rundown of the highest LGB shares. Note that the shares could also be high because a particular programme was a "turn-off" for straight audiences - by default the LGB share would then get higher.
"We also separately asked our sample a one-off question to get examples of good and bad portrayal. We haven't published this as it's a lot more subjective, and not as comprehensive. 

" Nevertheless it's interesting that several titles (including Vicious) were cited as both a positive and a negative example by different people in our sample."

PS The rest of Lawson's article makes some interesting points about TV viewers and sexuality and that, from the perspective of a very liberal member of the so-called heterosexual community who works in medialand. 

I may return to this later, but the laundrette beckons...