BBC Culture’s 100 greatest TV series of past 20 years – here are the top LGBTQ-themed shows
Looking was robbed! And Pose should've been higher!
Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: FX/BBC
Pose, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Orange Is the New Black are among the top-ranking LGBTQ-themed TV shows on BBC Culture’s 100 greatest series of the past 20 years poll.
Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, which ran from 2013-2019, was placed at number 65, while Drag Race, which launched in 2009 and is still running today, came in at number 67.
Pose, meanwhile, is at number 62.
The ‘in no way definitive’ list also includes countless shows with memorable LGBTQ characters like Fleabag at four and I May Destroy You at six.
Other shows loved by LGBTQ audiences and featuring LGBTQ characters include Schitt’s Creek (at 41) and Girls (30).
“Two voters were non-binary”
According to a BBC Culture rep, “460 different series were voted for by 206 TV experts – critics, journalists, academics and industry figures – who came from 43 countries, from Albania to Uruguay.”
They added: “Of these voters, 100 were women, 104 were men, and two were non-binary. Each voter listed their 10 favourite TV series of the 21st century, which we scored and ranked to produce the top 100.”
The top 10
1 The Wire (2002-2008)
2 Mad Men (2007-2015)
3 Breaking Bad (2008-2013)
4 Fleabag (2016-2019)
5 Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
6 I May Destroy You (2020)
7 The Leftovers (2014-2017)
8 The Americans (2013-2018)
9 The Office (UK) (2001-2003)
10 Succession (2018-)
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