in the arts
from September 2007

To mark the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality between consenting men, over 21, in private, Channel 4 has returned to its original remit to challenge and provoke by showing a mini-festival of gay themed programmes.

The key message in Clapham Junction was to warn us about being too complacent about the achievement of gay rights. The focus of the play centres around a horrific example of gay bashing on Clapham Common which ends in the death of an innocent waiter from Ludlow. The play interlinks a disparate group of middle class, well-heeled queers who meet at a civil commitment ceremony and subsequent, fairly ghastly dinner party in a house overlooking the Common. It has to be said that gay stereotyping is alive and kicking as promiscuity and cottaging (but don’t tell the wife!) dominate these men’s lives. The newly married groom shags the Shropshire lad at the reception, a psychopath who cruises the clubs, luring his victims back home to be beaten up. There is a suspect paedophile whose flat has been torched. Meanwhile the whining wives complain about the dangers of paedophiles at loose in the community and moan that gay rights are now too much in the public domain. Only a camp TV writer is level-headed enough to advise his coterie that they have a moral obligation to report any suspect bashers they notice whilst they cottage. But his attempt to pitch for a commission for a gay-themed play is brushed off by a world-weary producer who says: ‘It’s been done, it’s been accepted.’ Kevin Elyot, the writer of Clapham Junction is saying that, au contraire, there is still much to do to convince middle England that queers are here to stay. This is a play with the bleak message that good, gay relationships are almost impossible to achieve. Nobody has a truly happy time, sex-wise. The most poignant strand relates to the adolescent longings of Theo, played with mature, self assured expertise by Luke Treadaway, whose nice home overlooks the council flat of the suspect paedophile. He spends his evenings lusting after this man whose curtains are always open as he relaxes topless. Finally, when his parents are out at the dinner party, Theo plucks up courage to go round to return a pen which has been dropped in the library where the two of them are doing their history homework. He begs for sexual contact and assertively plays the dominant role after the older man fights, but fails, to succumb to his seduction. The last scene shows Theo, standing fully naked framed by his window as the man shuts the curtains, effectively ending further contact. We can assume that Theo’s anguish over his sexuality will continue.

A number of criticisms can be voiced. The setting is middle class London and we are not encouraged to sympathise much with these rather briefly drawn characters. The fears about paedophiles grates somewhat as we hear the standard denunciations based on vague rumours. The reasonably explicit scenes of sexual nudity make the point that all gay men are interested in quick shag. Their conversation shows that gay innuendo, the staple of camp comics everywhere, is alive and well. There is plenty here to outrage Daily Mail-reading homophobes. But there is little to educate public opinion in order to combat the consequences of prejudice. A few pious comments by the women about the awfulness of a murder on their doorstep doesn’t take the campaign against gay bashing very far. Clapham Junction lacks the cheeky self-confidence of Queer as Folk which showed it was fun to be gay and who cares about moral outrage.

Queer as Old Folk on the other hand was a documentary designed to show that men who were gay during the era when homosexuality was illegal continued to be true to themselves and had a good time. Today they are able to reflect on how their lives had improved over the last 40 years. The positive message was that men in their 50s, 60s and 70s can continue to enjoy being queer. The focus was on Alan and Jimmy, now in their 70s, preparing for a sentimental civil partnership ceremony in Tenerife. They were in love and fully aware their relationships mean more than just sex. They ruefully remembered how many of their closeted friends had committee suicide in the years before decriminalisation. This was not a mocking documentary. Roger, aged 64, is now civil partnered with an ex-pupil, Ian who works as a stripper with Roger as his manager. They encounter cheers, not prejudice at the clubs. But Clive, recently out to himself, does illustrate the stereotype of the self-centered promiscuous gay man, keeping quiet about an STD infection with potential partners and boasting about having 1000 sexual conquests over the last two years.

Channel 4 was of course deliberately raising questions about the perceptions of queer couplings and the range of life styles enjoyed by gay men. Alan and Jimmy could be seen as the most successful role models out of the selection offered by these two programmes. But the gay themes programmes can be a double-edged sword - you get the attention of the general public but you put off the nervous by showing sexually explicit activities and human frailties. Confused teenagers probably won’t be much reassured. However the programmes do act as a kind of mirror prompting us to face some difficult questions: how do we confront bullying and violence; are long term relationships either possible or desirable; how do we react to paedophilia; is it better to have gay-focused themes or should we examine plays about every sort of relationship? Do we want stories about boringly safe, conventional lives in northern suburbia rather than metropolitan violence?

It is probably best to discuss these points in the safety of your own home rather than with strangers on Clapham Common. Channel 4 is right to celebrate decriminalisation but there is more to do before queers are properly integrated into our diverse communities. Watching TV is not always easy and relaxing.

Nick Tyldesley