Queer as Folk Series 1 DVD Cover

Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men let loose in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T. Davies, who was also responsible for a later gay-related drama, Bob and Rose. Image File history File links QAF1. ... Image File history File links QAF1. ... DVD-R writing/reading side, based on Photo DVD.jpg. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... Castro Street in San Francisco Look up gay in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Manchester is a city in the North West of England. ... Torontos Church and Wellesley district, one of the largest gay villages in North America Rainbow flags are displayed in the Castro area of San Francisco as a symbol of gay pride The entrance to Chueca metro station in the Plaza de Chueca (Chueca square) in Madrid (Spain), during gay... Canal Street may refer to: Canal Street, Manchester – a street in Manchester, England Canal Street, New Orleans – a street in New Orleans Canal Street, Manhattan – a street in New York City This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Russell T. Davies, pictured in 2003. ... Bob and Rose is a British television drama, originally screened in six one-hour episodes on the ITV network in the UK in the autumn of 2001. ...

Queer as Folk was produced by the independent Red Production Company for Channel Four, which had previously shown its openness for gay-themed material with made-for-TV movies like Beautiful Thing, which was later also given a cinema release. The title of the programme comes from a dialect expression from some parts of Northern England, "there's nought [colloquially pronounced 'nowt'] so queer as folk", meaning "there's nothing as strange as people". Davies had originally titled the series this, although at the suggestion of Channel 4 executives for a period during its development and pre-production it was known as Queer as Fuck, before it reverted to the former name. Red Production Company is a British independent television production company, formed in 1998 by Nicola Shindler, an experienced television producer who had worked on such prestige dramas as Our Friends in the North and Cracker. ... Channel 4 is a television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Arguably the first movie to show a realistic same-sex romance between two gay teens, Beautiful Thing is based on the play by Jonathan Harvey, who also wrote the screenplay for this 1996 Channel Four production. ... Wikimedia Commons has media related to: England Travel guide to England from Wikitravel English language English law English (people) List of monarchs of England – Kings of England family tree List of English people Angeln (region in northern Germany, presumably the origin of the Angles for whom England is named) UK...

Characters and plot

The producers say that Queer as Folk, although superficially a realistic depiction of gay urban life in the 1990s, is meant as a fantasy, and that Stuart, Vince, and Nathan are not so much characters as gay male archetypes. The 1990s refers to the years 1990 to 1999; the last decade of the 20th Century, but in an economical sense The Nineties is often considered to span from the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 to the September 11 attacks in 2001. ... Archetype is defined as an original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated. ...

The main characters are Stuart Alan Jones (Aidan Gillen), who is apparently trying to have sex with every male in Greater Manchester (and appears to be succeeding), his long-time friend Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly), who has a bit of a crush on Stuart and less luck regarding men, and finally 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (Charlie Hunnam), who is new to the gay scene but not exactly lacking in self-confidence. Aidan Gillen (real Name: Aidan Murphy) was born in 1968 in Ireland. ... Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in England established in 1974 which covers an area roughly encompassing the conurbation surrounding the City of Manchester. ... Craig Kelly (born in 1973, in Lancashire) is a British actor, best known for his role as Vince Tyler in the Channel 4 television series Queer as Folk. ... Charlie Hunnam (born 10 April 1980 in Newcastle, England) is an English actor. ...

Stuart, an advertising executive, is depicted as possessing intrinsic power, able to bend anything to his will (via non-supernatural means), even able to prematurely ejaculate to dissuade Nathan from thinking he is worthy of worship. Stuart's principal characteristic is that he does whatever he wants, detonating a car belonging to his friend's mother (after the mother does something particularly evil to her son), inviting Vince's female work colleague (who has a crush on Vince, who isn't out) to Vince's party and then introducing Vince's boyfriend (in order to make Vince hate him so that Vince can fall in love with his boyfriend), and test driving a car through a showroom window (when the car dealer makes a homophobic remark). Wiktionary has a definition of: Out Out has several meanings: Out has many dictionary definitions, such as away from inside or away from the middle. ...

Some of the minor supporting characters, such as Hazel, and Alexander, are given depth as well, Hazel getting all the best lines. Part of the success of the series was due to the way in which the writer deliberately left some things unsaid, allowing the story to continue around them.

In the second series, the tone became somewhat more serious, with each of the main characters having to make hard choices concerning their future. But in the end, things turn out fine for everyone: Nathan is left behind as the future "king" of Canal Street, while Vince gets to ride off with his beloved Stuart into the sunset, inexplicably ending up in America. The ending was unpopular with those who wanted a more concrete and conventional resolution to the central love story.

Responses

The first series caused controversy in the UK because many conservatives were shocked at the depiction of a 15 year old engaging in homosexual acts. The explicit nature of the sex scenes also caused controversy; in particular the first episode featured an extensive sex scene involving masturbation, rimming, and semen. However, the first series became a triumphant ratings success, despite its late-night timeslot and the withdrawal of its main sponsor Beck's. Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... Masturbation is the manual excitation of the sexual organs, most often to the point of orgasm. ... 14th century manuscript illustration of the accusations of sodomy against the Knights Templar Anal-oral contact (commonly referred to as anilingus and colloquially known as rimming or tossing salad) is sexual activity involving contact between the anus or perianal areas of one person and the mouth of another. ... Semen or sperm is a fluid that contains spermatozoa. ... Becks is a beer brewery in the north German city of Bremen, Germany. ...

The huge success of the first series led Channel 4 to commission a second. Although Davies initially intended to write a second full series, he decided that there was not much story left to tell, and instead finished the story with a two-part TV special, Queer as Folk 2 (tagline: 'Same Men. New Tricks'), screened in 2000 to slightly lower viewing figures despite an earlier timeslot. This time, the explicit sex scenes were mostly absent, a decision applauded by people who had previously criticized the series. A tagline is a variant of an advertising slogan typically used in movie marketing, commercials, and websites. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Style

The screenplay is notable for its well-written monologues, including some that are commonly regarded as among the best scenes in television. For example, when at his parents house, and threatened by his nephew (Thomas) with being outed, Stuart says, in response to his father's request for help with DIY (to pass some nails)

Stuart: We don't do hammers, or nails, or saws. We do joints and screws, but that's different.

Stuart's mother: Who does?

Stuart: Queers. Because I'm queer. I'm gay. I'm homosexual. I'm a poof, I'm a poofter, I'm a ponce. I'm a bumboy, battyboy, backside artist, bugger, I'm bent. I am that arsebandit. I lift those shirts. I'm a faggot-ass, fudge-packing, shit-stabbing uphill gardener. I dine at the downstairs restaurant, I dance at the other end of the ballroom. I'm Moses and the parting of the red cheeks. I fuck and am fucked. I suck and am sucked. I rim them and wank them, and every single man's had the fucking time of his life. And I am not a pervert. If there's one twisted bastard in this family, it's this little blackmailer here. So congratulations, Thomas. I've just officially outed you.

In another example, Stuart remarks about Canal Street: Canal Street may refer to: Canal Street, Manchester – a street in Manchester, England Canal Street, New Orleans – a street in New Orleans Canal Street, Manhattan – a street in New York City This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

What, come back to this? The ghetto: alleyways stinking of piss, beggars in every doorway, straights and students coming to look at the freak show, and all the idiots saving all week, saving their stupid money from their stupid idiot jobs so they can come and shoot their load with some stranger. And just you look after it, this stupid little street. It's the middle of the world. Cos on a street like this, every single night, anyone can meet anyone. And every single night, someone meets someone.

Russell T. Davies is now the executive producer on the science fiction series Doctor Who, and Queer as Folk has many Doctor Who references. In one episode a model of K-9, the robotic dog, is given to Vince. Russell T. Davies, pictured in 2003. ... Main article: History of Doctor Who Doctor Who first appeared on BBC television at 5:15 p. ... K-9, or K9 is the name of several robot dogs in the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. ...

Spin-offs and remakes

A follow-up, spin-off series, Misfits, was initially commissioned by Channel 4. The series would have followed the characters of Hazel, Alexander, Donna (who was absent from the 2nd series due to scheduling commitments) and Bernard from the original series, while introducing new characters. Although Davies developed draft scripts for four episodes and storylines for a further twenty-two, the series was cancelled before it went into production. This experience led Davies to vow never to work with Channel 4 again.

Driven by the success of the British version, American cable channel Showtime made a version set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, still under the title Queer as Folk, although deviating from the original's plot extensively. Coaxial cable is often used to transmit cable television into the house Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed optical... Showtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States. ... Skyline of downtown Pittsburgh Pittsburgh is a city in Western Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. ... Queer as Folk was an American television series produced by Showtime, which was based on the British series of the same name created by Russell T. Davies. ...

The US version was also criticized by some fans of the British series for its excessively glamorous cast and for the loss of the original's quirky comedy. It was also criticized for toning down the darker elements of the original; for example, Phil (named Ted in the US version), who died in one of the original's early episodes, does not die in the US version, and Stuart changes from a personification of power, into a personification only of sex. In addition, the US version emphasises more the sexual aspects of the plot (including numerous sex scenes), in an apparent appeal to ratings.

See also

• Queer As Folk (US)
• The L Word
• UK topics

Queer as Folk was an American television series produced by Showtime, which was based on the British series of the same name created by Russell T. Davies. ... The L Word is a television drama series airing on Showcase Television and Showtime. ... This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ...

External links

• Queer as Folk at the Internet Movie Database.
• TV Tome program profile and episode guide