Russell T Davies on gays on TV: ‘There’s still a long way to go’

Russell T Davies has insisted “there is still a long way to go” before LGBT people are represented properly on TV.

Davies, the creator of Queer as Folk and Channel 4 and E4’s forthcoming gay-themed dramas Cucumber and Banana, argues that gay characters on TV are few and far between when you remove high-profile soaps like Hollyoaks and Coronation Street from the equation.

“We’re gay, so we tend to notice the gay stuff, which means that we can miss the fact that whole nights of TV can sail past without a single gay person in sight,” Davies explains in the latest issue of Attitude. “If you took away the soaps, then the schedules would be even more empty.”

“Don’t just look at we are, look at where we’re not,” he continues. “There are whole vast empires where we don’t exist – there’s not a single gay person in Star Wars, in Star Trek, in Disney, in Pixar, and this stuff isn’t old, it remains current. There’s still a long way to do.”

During the interview, Davies goes on to argue that soaps like Hollyoaks and Coronation Street – which traditionally attract high ratings – are now in decline, which will have a knock-on effect for gay representation on the small screen.

“I actually think soaps are in trouble, and we need to be careful – as ratings slide slowly downwards, you can now see a landscape in ten-years-time where they won’t exist any more, or they will be substantially reduced,” Davies says.

“And they contain a vast amount of our gay characters. Without the soaps, you’ll find those stats that count gay visibility on screen will plummet. So I wouldn’t take them for granted.”

The full interview with Russell T Davies appears in the latest issue of Attitude, featuring rugby hunk Thom Evans on the cover. The issue is available to pick up in the shops now, as well as to download to your iPad or tablet.

> Click here to download the digital version of ‘Attitude’ with Thom Evans on the cover to your iPad or tablet
> Click here to have the physical copy conveniently delivered to the door

Meanwhile, the cast for Russell T Davies’s forthcoming gay-themed E4 drama Banana – the sister show to his forthcoming Channel 4 gay-themed drama Cucumber – has recently been announced and includes regular Attitude contributor Andrew Hayden-Smith. Click here to find out more.

Andrew Hayden-Smith has since shared the first picture from the set of Banana and you check it out here.