London Spy: A Love Story

Hi, Tom! London Spy is in The Guardian’s Top 10 TV of 2015 – congratulations!

That’s really wonderful. I guess it has been a talking point and it’s full of things that are provocative. I thought a gay love story might not be embraced by everyone, but I was really surprised that Danny and Alex’s sex scene in episode one shocked anyone. It was as mild as I could have made it. I was less surprised by the second one [a chemsex orgy] creating a stir, but the two scenes were narrative counterpoints – you needed to see one to fully understand the other...

You’ve said: “It had to be for TV because, with a gay relationship at the centre of the story, it would have been impossible to fund a movie.”

I’ve heard executives ask what the point is of having a gay relationship when it’s off-putting to so many people. Gay people have been watching straight relationships and been engrossed by them for years. Why would you need to see a mirror version of yourself to connect with a story?

Writer Tom Rob Smith interviewed in The Guardian - SPOILER ALERT!!

PS Note how the journalist adds 'a chemsex orgy', to make it more à la mode.

London Spy: Sun Story Not Reliable Shock

Ofcom says it is yet to launch an investigation – and has received just ONE complaint.
 

Scan from PN.

The Sun and Daily Mail have falsely reported that London Spy is to be investigated says the broadcasting watchdog...
 
Claims that the BBC received thirteen complaints have been rubbished by Ofcom.

The broadcasting watchdog contacted PinkNews to reveal they are yet to launch an investigation – after receiving just a single complaint.

"We’ve received one complaint about London Spy on BBC Two. We will assess this complaint before deciding whether to investigate or not,” an Ofcom spokesman told PinkNews.

Ofcom also clarified that their rules do not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same sex couples...

A Pink News EXCLUSIVE!

Well done Pink News, who, when a tabloid invents an OUTRAGE! after a few people out of millions who watched a programme contacted Ofcom or took to Twitter to complain about some gayers being on TV, usually obediently and unquestioningly repeat such errant nonsense! *

Truly this is an historic day for gay journalism.

PS That's a lovely picture of our Ben, isn't it? Like something by Caravaggio...

Update: The online version of The Sun story has now been 'updated'.

* Type 'Ofcom' into PN's search engine to see these zingers - or on Gay Star News'.

Update: An eagle-eyed viewer has pointed out Pink News did originally just regurgitate the Sun's nonsense story unchallenged as per!

LOL! etc. xxx

London Spy: When Danny Met Alex

A Daily Mail review of a new spy thriller series has been widely criticised for obsessing over the sexuality of the lead characters.

London Spy, a new BBC2 series, is described by the corporation as follows: 'A romance between an MI6 code genius and an ordinary man promises happiness. But tragedy strikes when the spy dies in suspicious circumstances, forcing his lover to pursue the truth behind his death.'

Daily Mail TV critic Christopher Stevens opened his review, on a rather different tack: 'Believe it or not, BBC execs reckon there is not enough gay drama on the Beeb. You might think that it's become impossible to switch the telly on without seeing two men locked in a naked clinch, or in drag, or snogging.'

He continued:  'The story wasn't merely gay: it was as exclusively all-male as an old-fashioned gentlemen's club. Ben Whishaw (Q in the Bond movies) played Danny, a lost soul desperate for love who spent every spare hour doing drugs in nightclubs. We were left in no doubt about his sexuality from the start, because he was dancing down the street to Donna Summer's I Feel Love.'

One sentence in particular, read:  'Then they got down to being gay, which involved smouldering in profile, lying around with their shirts off in sepia light, having baths and mumbling a lot.'

The review has been roundly criticised for the reviewer's perceived obsession with the sexuality of the characters, otherwise widely regarded as only a small facet of the plot.

The top-rated comments on the article at the time of writing, read:  'It's not a gay spy drama. It's a spy drama and some of the characters happen to be gay.' [WTF!!?]

i100.

Though the Mail did give it just one star - mainly it seems as if merely having gay characters was an example of the BBC's POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD - this piece seems like a bit of an over-reaction to an over-reaction, cos the journo wants to show he's TOTES DOWN WITH THE GAYS, thus it's textbook i100.

And anyone who can write this line after watching last night's episode is clearly an idiot; 'The review has been roundly criticised for the reviewer's perceived obsession with the sexuality of the characters, otherwise widely regarded as only a small facet of the plot.'

Everyone else seemed to like it, 'bare bottoms' and all, bar the Telegraph who gave it a measly two stars; 'a plodding old carthorse lacking intrigue, charm or plausibility.' 

Their review also noted; 'This was a first script by the novelist Tom Rob Smith (Child 44) who, it says here, lives with Ben Stephenson, until recently the controller of drama commissioning at the BBC. I spy with my little eye. Something beginning with Q. (Quota.)'

Fagburn thought it was okay, if a little ponderous, and with many gaping holes; Danny's unbelievable opening line 'are you out?, the first eight months of their relationship passing in a second, then we have 11 days vanishing after Alex goes missing, how and why was Danny sent those keys, and how and why did Alex keep his secret life (and sex dungeon) secret, and what and why was Danny taking from his flat?

I was somewhat surprised to not have it revealed that ice-cold Alex was some sort of replicant, and boy-on-boy, they better have some epic plot twists to spin this out for another four hours.

London Spy: Stuff Happens

Twenty years ago, I stood on the dangerous and decrepit former incarnation of the Hungerford pedestrian bridge that connects the north and south banks of the River Thames. The old bridge was afflicted with crime and it wasn’t a place to linger. But that night, I looked out over the city skyline and asked – as though London were a wise mentor capable of answering back – whether life got any easier.

I don’t recall another occasion when I’ve seriously contemplated suicide. But standing there, I realised that death would be the end of everything good, as well as everything bad. My life, which had been a largely happy one, full of love and potential, would have been rewritten in those troubled hours, as one of perpetual despair leading to that act. I would have wound up as a statistic, engulfed by a much wider narrative about a society in which many young gay people, such as me, struggle to cope...

Herein lies the premise for my first television drama series London Spy, a thriller which opens with my character, Danny (played by the Bafta-winning actor Ben Whishaw) standing on Lambeth Bridge, feeling low and asking the London skyline whether life gets any easier.

London answers him with a chance encounter, an early morning runner who stops to ask if he’s OK. Introducing himself as Alex, an unusual connection forms between these men who are opposites in many ways. It’s unusual in the sense that it’s special to both parties, but it’s also unusual for mainstream drama on the BBC, which rarely places gay relationships at the heart of stories.

Alex claims to be working in the financial services: he’s successful and wealthy. He’s also anti-social and profoundly shy, doesn’t do drugs or hang out in clubs. A love story begins that promises happiness for both. However, [SPOILER ALERT!!!] eight months into their relationship Alex is found dead in a sex room designed for multiple anonymous encounters, littered with drugs and extreme bondage gear... 

Tim Rob Smith, the writer of London Spy, which starts on BBC2 this evening, writing for the Telegraph.

Apparently, it's 'quite good'.

After Alex vanishes, the main relationship we follow is between Danny and Scottie, Jim Broadbent’s character. An elderly, wise but wounded figure, Scottie used to work in the secret services, and acts as a kind of mentor to Danny. For writer Smith, Scottie represents someone he never had growing up: “I really envied people who had that figure,” he says. “So this is my version.”

There are also hints of unrequited love between the pair, an original set-up for the typically macho world of the spy thriller. But although these gay relationships are at the heart of it, Broadbent stresses “it’s not a gay story” as he stares me down with his quizzical blue eyes. “It’s not about that. It’s about these particular guys, who happen to be gay, who are in the midst of this maelstrom of an unfolding tale.” ...

Jim Broadbent, quoted in The Guardian.

Note Broadbent appears to be talking about the relationship between his character and Whishaw's - not our two star-crossed young gay lovers, as The Guardian headline implies.

Whatever, 'happens to be gay', is such a braindead and banal cliche - and the three main characters sexuality hardly seems incidental to this story - so can we just not?

Ben Whishaw: The Spy Who Loved D

London Spy is the story of a chance romance between two people from very different worlds, one from the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess.

Whishaw plays Danny – gregarious, hedonistic, romantic and adrift, who falls for the anti-social enigmatic and brilliant Alex (played by [Edward] Holcroft). Just as the two of them realise that they're perfect for each other, Alex is found dead. Danny, utterly ill-equipped to take on the complex and codified world of British espionage, must decide whether he's prepared to fight for the truth...

BBC blurb.

The first screenplay by acclaimed thriller writer Tom Rob Smith, London Spy stars Whishaw as Danny, an openly gay drifter who falls in love with the enigmatic Alex, a closeted investment banker (or so he claims). It would be wrong of me to give too much away, suffice to say that the story would seem to be inspired in part by the real-life case of Gareth Williams, the M16 agent whose corpse was found locked in a holdall in 2010.

For Whishaw, who has played so many vacillating characters over the years – from Shakespeare’s ultimate ditherer, Hamlet, to the bisexual John in Mike Bartlett’s Royal Court play Cock – Danny’s unambiguous sexuality makes a welcome change. “That’s one thing he’s very clear about and very strongly embodies and no problem,” says Whishaw, who himself came out as a gay man in 2013, after the Daily Mail started digging around in his private life...

While Whishaw delved into the history of M16 for his role in Spectre, he says he deliberately avoided research for London Spy. “Because Danny is not from the world that he finds himself thrust into, it was very important to that he doesn’t know he’s in a spy drama,” he says of a character that reminds him of many people he knows. “He has never found a path really, I suppose… lots of potential that’s never been realised or properly tapped into. Yeah, he’s lost in a way that’s so easy to happen in London.”

Independent, October 23rd.

PS It looks like the Freddie Mercury biopic, somewhat inexplicably set to star gentle Ben, is 'trapped in development hell'.

Showbusiness: In The Absence Of News

Roger Moore, who please bear in mind is 88, says that James Bond, who please bear in mind is an entirely fictional character, can not be gay or 'a lady Bond' * A 'really adorable gay couple' (barf!) didn't make it to the X Factor final * Sir Tim Rice makes a completely unconvincing case that the 'baffling lyrics' to Bohemian Rhapsody was 'Freddie's coming out song'; '"I see a little silhouetto of a man” – that’s him, still being haunted by what he’s done, and what he is.'" An interpretation of the next line 'Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?' is sadly omitted * Will 'Nice But Dim' Young says in 2012 he checked into a clinic and was told he had post-fame PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). 'I must admit I am baffled. I thought PTSD was linked to single events — a bomb explosion in Iraq, say, or a car crash,' notes The Times' journalist wrily * Mark Feehily, he was the gay one in Westlife you may just recall, has made his first solo album. He has written some songs about his ex-boyfriends. Expected sales: 27 * Everybody loves 'impish star' Ben Whishaw, 'the delicate frame and gentle voice of... MI6’s resident geek, Q...' * Vincent Price might have been bisexual * Casey Conway, another retired rugby player you've never heard of before is gay, he's now pushing over-priced swimwear * Nobody has a clue who those two gay footballers could be, or indeed if they exist * More boring showiz gossip when we hear it...

Gareth Williams: Questions To Which The Answer Is No

More utter nonsense in the Daily Mail.

PS 'The first screenplay by acclaimed thriller writer Tom Rob Smith, London Spy stars [Ben] Whishaw as Danny, an openly gay drifter who falls in love with the enigmatic Alex, a closeted investment banker (or so he claims). It would be wrong of me to give too much away, suffice to say that the story would seem to be inspired in part by the real-life case of Gareth Williams, the M16 agent whose corpse was found locked in a holdall in 2010...' The Independent.

Thought For The Day: Ben Whishaw

"With gay characters being played by straight people, straight characters being played by gay people, come on, we're actors.

"I do not understand what the problem is. Actors play all sorts of things. I've played murderers, journalists and kings - I'm not any of them. The whole thing is a fiction, it's about imagination, it's play. I am baffled to why it's such a big thing.

"And also, I'm baffled because it feels like we're in a time where there are lots of gay people, not just actors but in all walks of life, and let's be where we are. We're human beings and I don't understand why it's really a discussion now.
 
"The Matt Damon thing, it has probably been taken out of context but I don't understand the heat around it. It feels like a story that's trying to be drummed up, even though there are more important things we should be talking about."

Press Association.

Fagburn now retracts his statement about Ben being boring and dim-witted.

Ben Whishaw: How Very Interesting

So, people say you are boring...

'Erm, yes, I guess so, yes.'

Fuck, this interview is absolute torture.

'Yes, I guess it must be, yes.'

Bye.

The Sunday Times.

PS Note to subs, Ben's a gayer, so can we give this a random title by top comedy gay Freddie Mercury of Queen fame or something?

The Independent: Question

Yes.

Anything else I can help you with, you thick fuck?

Ben Whishaw: Not Graphic

Ben Whishaw is profiled in The Sunday Times Magazine.
'Whishaw hasn't talked about his sexuality... UNTIL NOW!'
He talks about coming out!
'It takes courage and people have to do it in their own time,' apparently.
WOW!
And playing a gay in new boo-hoo film, Lilting!
And is asked can gay actors play straight men!??
Hey, it's all acting.
Albeit all very briefly.
He doesn't talk about his boyfriend, composer Mark Bradshaw.
It's not very revealing, but that's what happens when you ask obvious and dull questions, so here's a pointless graphic.

Click to enlarge etc!

Update: Here she is being interviewed on Front Row - it's actually quite painful listening. The poor lamb.

Years & Years: Real

Crap dancing, Ben

Ben Whishaw: Yes, He Is A Big Gay!

And he's got gay married, we learn.
Exciting times!

PS The Mail's "exclusive" seems to have come about by badgering/bullying his publicist, who commented; "Ben has never hidden his sexuality, but like many actors he prefers not to discuss his family or life outside of his work. Due to speculation, I can confirm that Ben and Mark [the composer, Mark Bradshaw] entered into a civil partnership in August 2012. They were proud to do so and are very happy."
Another outing then?