Gay Vicar Watch: Coronation Street

Daniel Brocklebank plays a gay vicar Billy in Coronation Street and hopes that the latest development in his storyline will highlight issues.

Anthony Cotton, who plays Sean Tully on the soap, joined Daniel on the This Morning couch to talk about how the soaps' writers used real life as inspiration.

Eamonn caused everyone to burst out laughing when he started to introduce the pair before being cut off by wife Ruth: "What do you get when you cross a knicker-maker... Well you get a soap romance from heaven."

Daniel said about the storyline: "It's been quite interesting. I knew very little about the Church of England's stance on gay clergy or anything of that nature.

"That's what soap is for, to highlight issues. It's predominantly about entertainment but if we can educate and broaden people's horizons."

The storyline sees Daniel and Anthony's characters go to a B&B to stay but are refused.

Daniel said it something similar like that happened to him several years back when he and an ex-partner of his experienced the similar situation where he was refused a room to live in.

Daniel recently shared he has faced a backlash from the soap’s fans and churchgoers over his gay vicar role.

He revealed viewers have given him verbal abuse off screen while others have hit out at the Street’s producers.

But defiant Daniel, gay in real life, doesn’t care – and hopes his storyline will change attitudes.

He says: “We’re here to cause some sort of stir and you’re never going to please everyone. Some of the religious viewers so far have not been too happy.

“A woman came up to me in a supermarket three days ago telling me I was going to go to hell playing a gay vicar. The show itself has had a backlash.” ...

Mirror.

Fagburn presumes Jonathan Harvey is behind this storyline.

PS Can't embed the video, but it is here.

Update: Coronation Street should clear out the dead wood and Antony Cotton is one example, Mirror. Sean and Billy story 'poorly handled'. 'The whole storyline – borrowed lock, stock from a real-life news story, by the way – felt far too shoehorned in. As if Corrie was playing for maximum outrage at the expense of credibility...'

Beautiful Thing: The History Boys

“When it first went out on tour a few people made repulsed noises when the boys kissed,” Harvey says. “I also remember a woman in Leeds saying very loudly to her neighbour, ‘They’ve got the same carpet as you, Joan.’ ” 

Jonathan Harvey recalls some early reactions to his play, Beautiful Thing, in a lovely article by Tim Teeman in The Times.
A twentieth anniversary production is currently on at the Arts Theatre, London, then touring.
But you probably knew that. 

Just like Armistead Maupin’s equally, defiantly untragic novel cycle, Tales of The City — the TV version of the first novel also debuted in 1993 — Beautiful Thing is a modern gay classic. When it was first performed there was no equal age of consent (it was 21 for gays, 16 for heterosexuals) or civil partnerships. There was a ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, “queers” were bashed and killed on the streets, Section 28, forbidding the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools, was in force, making the isolated gay teenager’s lot that much worse. Tabloids frothed with homophobia. There was fledgeling visibility in pop culture, but gays were still the bullseye on intolerance’s dartboard. 

Is it worth pointing out the obvious; that this was the (gay) world Thatcher created - and promoted?
After the last week, sadly it's clear some gay men need reminding.
The beautiful thing about Beautiful Thing is it's about people like us breaking free from all that.

“The changes have been massive,” Harvey says. “Some Tories have even turned pro-gay. You have to remember this play was written when there weren’t many gay characters on TV, and mostly gay characters died or they were kicked out of their house and sold their arses for 20 Woodbines. Visibility is immeasurably better. But, of course, homophobia hasn’t gone away.” 

Update: Jonathan Harvey was interviewed by HomoLab and talked about the inspiration for Beautiful Thing; "It was growing up under Thatcher with her Section 28. I had been a teacher and was very aware you couldn’t talk about being gay with kids.
"It seemed that any discussion about being gay was all about sex, or anal sex. That’s not how we define ourselves, so for me it was about readdressing that balance.
"I just wanted to tell a simple story about two young lads who fell in love."

Gay Men Don't Get Fat: The Queen Of New York

The Independent's gone large with this and a glowing profile of Simon Doonan; 'New York's Favourite Gay Man'.
He even gets a cover splash with the line; 'Is Sushi Gay Or Straight? Ask The Expert'.
Note to idiots: Mr Doonan's argument that there are two food groups, gay and straight, is, like the title of his new book ("Gay men are French women... with penises"), rather obviously a joke.
Doonan is a high-class window dresser in real life - well, they're so creative, aren't they?
The media do tend to love this kind of superfag, don't they?*
Well, they're so entertaining, aren't they?
Jonathan Harvey turned Doonan's memoirs of growing up as the gayest kid in Reading, Nasty, into Beautiful People - one of Fagburn's favourite TV programmes of recent years, so he must have something going for him.
(It's on YouTube, incidentally - Ssh!)

* Except for Aunty Tom Andrew Pierce, obvs.