The BBC's First Homosexual

Inkbrew Production is a theatre company based in the North West specialising in creating history plays.  Their Artistic Director is Stephen M Hornby, National Playwright in Residence to LGBT History Month in the UK.

Inkbrew Productions

Lost since its first broadcast in 1957, this new play reveals the hidden story of the BBC's first documentary on homosexuality for BBC100.

New Adelphi

In 1953 the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) made its first ever documentary about male homosexuality. At the time, the topic was so taboo that the finished radio programme sat on the shelves for four years, with a heavily edited version finally broadcast in 1957. Then it was lost. All that survives is a transcript of the original programme. This is now being bought to life again by a new dramatisation for the stage commissioned as part of the BBC 100 celebrations. Inkbrew Productions will present “The BBC First Homosexual” in the New Adelphi Studio at the University of Salford on 1st December 2022 as a script-in-hand performance.The play is written by multiple award-winner Stephen M Hornby. He has had unique access to archive materials held by the BBC including the full transcript to the original recording. Stephen said:“I’ve mixed up fragments from the BBC archive with the fictional story of a young man exploring his sexuality in the 1950s. Through him we get a window into being gay in the 1950s and we see the impact of the documentary has upon him. It’s been hard to read some of the material at times, but it always been an honour to get this amazing insight into this lost programme and it’s view of homosexuality.”The director of the play is Oliver Hurst, artistic director of Redbrick Theatre. Oliver said:“It’s a great challenge to bring this documentary and this period to life. I’m relishing it and with the wonderful script and the stellar cast that we have managed to secure, we’ve got something truly special to offer our audience.”The play has been commissioned by Marcus Collins, Reader in Contemporary History at Loughborough University and AHRC &amp; BBC 100 Fellow. Marcus said: “This brilliantly insightful play illustrates why LGBTQ+ issues created any number of dilemmas for the BBC in the 1950s. The messy compromise the BBC came up with was instrumental in starting to shape how lesbian, gay and trans people perceived themselves and how they were perceived by the wider British public.”T﻿he cast includes Jordan Tweddle, Emily Heyworth and Jordan Tweddle.#﻿bbcfirsthomo

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The BBC's First Homosexual

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