Giving Thanks: Jonathan Harvey

Originally posted on www.biggaypictureshow.com

Once again I’m giving thanks to those working behind the scenes in film and television who have helped gay people gain a prominent place on the screen. Last week I looked across the pond at American director and producer Angela Robinson. This week I’m returning to the UK to take a look at one of the best known people who has helped LGBT characters burst into the mainstream – Jonathan Harvey.

Harvey began writing plays in his teens and garnered much success after writing The Cherry Blossom Tree, Mohair, Wildfire and Babies in the late 80s and early 90s. These works also won him several awards, including the George Devine Award. However, it was his 1993 play Beautiful Thing that garnered him huge attention and helped bring a new side of the LGBT community to the public. Unsurprisingly, the play has been staged numerous times since its debut.

Beautiful Thing tells the tale of two teenage boys coming to terms with their sexuality in a beautiful coming of age story. It was turned into an excellent film in 1996, which was very well received and has become a gay flick fave around the world.

Not content with staying in the world of theatre and film, Harvey also moved into television and achieved huge recognition when he wrote the laugh out loud comedy, Gimme Gimme Gimme. The show stars James Dreyfus and Kathy Burke and focuses on two mismatched flatmates in London, both desperately searching for a man. The lead character of Tom was one of the first openly gay (and outspokenly gay) leading characters on British TV. Despite some negative reaction towards the character because of perception about his overt stereotyping, the character was a very important step in television recognition for the gay community.

Since the final episode of Gimme Gimme Gimme premiered during the early 2000s, Harvey has continued working in the television world. He created the TV series Beautiful People, which is based on the memoirs of Simon Doonan and tells the story of him coming to terms with his sexuality in another laugh out loud situation comedy.

He has also worked as a writer since 2004 for one of the most popular soaps on British television, Coronation Street. Since he took the job, we’ve seen the introduction of a number of gay characters such as Shaun Tulley and seen a number of gay storylines like, such as Todd Grimshaw and Sophie Webster realising they were gay. How much input he had in this I don’t know, but I’m sure he lent a helping hand in moulding the story.

So as we can see Jonathan Harvey has been proving since the 1980s that he’s not just a great playwright, script writer and producer, but a triple threat in the world of the arts with successful films, television shows and plays, who has helped get gay people the screen and stage time they rightly deserve.

Giving Thanks: Angela Robinson

Originally posted on www.biggaypictureshow.com

Last week, I gave thanks to one of the most prolific LGBT writers in the UK, Russell T. Davies, and this week I’m not only looking across the pond at our American counterparts, but I’m also looking at the lovely lady gays. First on this list to give thanks to is film and television director, screenwriter and producer Angela Robinson.

Many of you out there may not have heard of Miss Robinson, but I can be pretty certain that you’ve heard of her work.

In the UK and America, Queer as Folk helped gay men burst into the mainstream and also made them the central characters of their own TV show, but for lesbians this didn’t really happen until the hit show The L Word came on the scene in 2004. In the midst of all the cast and creators, Angela Robinson was there working away acting as a director, writer and producer for the show, which helped lesbian characters break out onto American television like they never had before.

Aside from this, the show gave gay women a show of their own, instead of having to tune into Queer as Folk USA, where there were lesbian characters but they didn’t really balance out against their gay male counterparts.

This isn’t the only thing that she has done, she was also the director, writer and editor of the film D.E.B.S, an action comedy that was a slight parody of Charlie’s Angels and revolved around a lesbian love story. The film was an expansion on a short film of the same name, which was created by Robinson and won a clutch of awards back in 2003.

Luckily for everyone, Angela has continued to work in television and film through the last decade and has directed films such as Herbie: Fully Loaded, starring Lindsay Lohan. She has also worked as a writer on programmes such as True Blood, which itself can be viewed as an allegory for gay rights and has recently seen a few lesbian twists coming into it (whether she had anything to do with this is anyone’s guess).

As we can see, gay people working behind the scenes are helping us gain mainstream recognition in TV and film across the globe in an array of different shows. I mean, how many of you thought you’d see lesbians in a vampire programme (who aren’t just there for the titillation of straight male viewers)? But luckily for us these gay filmmakers, writers and producer are here, and hopefully here to stay.