Queer as Folk (UK TV series)

Queer as Folk
Series 1 DVD cover
Genre	Drama
Created by	Russell T Davies
Directed by	Charles McDougall Sarah Harding Menhaj Huda
Starring	Aidan Gillen Craig Kelly Charlie Hunnam
Composer(s)	Murray Gold
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	10 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Nicola Shindler
Producer(s)	Russell T Davies
Editor(s)	Tony Cranstoun
Location(s)	Manchester, England
Cinematography	Nigel Walters
Running time	35–50 Minutes
Production company(s)	Red Production Company
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4
Original run	23 February 1999 (1999-02-23) – 22 February 2000 (2000-02-22)
Chronology
Related shows	Queer as Folk (US)

Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies. The first series was re-shown on More 4 between 14 and 18 October 2007, as part of Channel 4's 25th-birthday celebrations.

Queer as Folk was produced by the Red Production Company for Channel 4. The title of the programme comes from a dialect expression from some parts of Northern England, "there's nowt so queer as folk", meaning "there's nothing as strange as people"; which plays on the modern day English synonym of "queer", meaning homosexual. 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.^[1]

Characters and plot

The main characters are Stuart Alan Jones (Aidan Gillen), who is highly sexually active, and successfully so. His long-time friend Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly), who has a crush on Stuart, has less luck regarding men. 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (Charlie Hunnam) is new to the gay scene but is not lacking in self-confidence.

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.

Stuart, an advertising executive, possesses intrinsic power, able to bend anything to his will. Stuart's principal characteristic is that he does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants. He blows up a car belonging to his friend Alexander's antagonistic mother (in the second series). He invites Vince's female work colleague, who has a crush on closeted Vince, to Vince's birthday party and then introduces Vince's boyfriend. When offered a test drive of a Jeep by a car salesman who makes some homophobic comments, Stuart drives the car straight through the large window of the car dealership.

In the second series, the tone became somewhat more serious, with each of the main characters having to make hard choices concerning their futures.

A recurrent theme through out the series is Vince's fandom of Doctor Who, with various scenes from the classic series being played (in one instance an awkward situation with a guy Vince brings home.) This is a small, yet significant piece to the series, as six years later Russell T Davies revived Doctor Who.

Location and production

The music for the series was produced by Almighty Records. Because of the TV show, it was the Queer As Folk CD soundtrack, which went gold within one month of going on sale in March 1999 in the UK, that has become the most successful project the label has ever taken on. The release of this CD followed a request from the makers of the TV series, Red Productions, after another major record company turned down the opportunity due to poor rating of previous 'music-led' television shows on Channel 4.

Given a list of tracks, Almighty had 1 month to compile the music. However, some tracks could not be cleared in time for the release mainly due to time scales, including one by Steps who initially said that the show would be too 'low profile' for them to be associated with.^[2] It was the success of this album that prompted Channel 4 launch their own music division when the second series of Queer As Folk was made^[3] — an international franchise that is still around today.

Cast

• Craig Kelly as Vince Tyler
• Jason Merrells as Phil Delaney
• Aidan Gillen as Stuart Alan Jones
• Charlie Hunnam as Nathan Maloney
• Andy Devine as Bernard Thomas
• Denise Black as Hazel Tyler
• Saira Todd as Lisa Levene
• Esther Hall as Romey Sullivan
• Juley McCann as Siobhan Potter
• Alfred Robinson/Olivia K.Critchley as Baby Alfred
• Carla Henry as Donna Clark
• Ben Maguire as Christian Hobbs
• Alison Burrows as Sandra Docherty
• Susan Cookson as Marcie Finch
• Caroline Pegg as Rosalie Cotter
• Caroline O'Neill as Janice Maloney
• Jane Cawdon as Helen Maloney
• Antony Cotton as Alexander Perry
• Peter O'Brien as Cameron Roberts
• Jonathon Natynczyk as Dazz Collinson
• Maria Doyle Kennedy as Marie Jones Threepwood
• John Brobbey as Lance Amponah
• Ger Ryan as Margaret Jones
• Ian McElhinney as Clive Jones
• Paul Copley as Roy Maloney
• Adam Zane as Dane McAteer
• Kate Fitzgerald as Mrs Delaney
• Sarah Jones as Suzie Smith
• Michael Culkin as Martin Brooks
• Andrew Lancel as Harvey Black
• Michael Biffen as Gareth Critchly
• Paul Oldham as "Spike" O’Hagan
• Steve Ramsden as Colin Goodfuk
• David Prosho as Muscle Man
• Paul Simpson as Michael
• Lee Warburton as Piero McCarthy
• Jim Shepley as Jonathan Walker
• Adam Heywood Fogerty as Roger Clements
• Toshi Dokiya as Lee "Kane"
• Michael Atkinson as Mr Latham
• Elizabeth Steele as Stuart’s neighbour
• Robert Ashcroft as Gary McGee
• David Williamson as Bob Green
• Roxy Hart as Karaoke hostess
• Andrew Mawdsley as Tom Threepwood
• Stuart Mawdsley as Ben Threepwood
• Alan Halsall as Midge
• Samantha Cunningham as Cathy Mott

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 pre-production.

As a result of Channel 4's decision, Davies pulled out of a deal that would have seen a series of Queer as Folk short stories published on the broadcaster's website, and vowed never to work with Channel 4 again.^[4]

Driven by the success of the series, American cable channel Showtime and Canadian cable channel Showcase co-made a North American version set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, still under the title Queer as Folk, closely following the original's plot and storylines, but then moving onto new storylines since it continued for four additional seasons.

The North American version covered more social issues such as AIDS, gay parental rights, and gay marriage.

See also

LGBT portal

• Queer as Folk (North American TV series)
• The L Word

References

1. ^ Davies, Russell T Audio commentary on the 2003 "Definitive Collector's Edition" DVD boxed set of Queer as Folk. (VCD0308).
2. ^ "Almighty Records – Info – Queer As Folk". http://www.almightyrecords.com/info/1069/. Retrieved 2008-10-02. 
3. ^ "Almighty Records.com – Trivia". http://www.almightyrecords.com/bonus/trivia/. Retrieved 2008-04-22. 
4. ^ Matthewman, Scott (30 November 2000). "Folk off to America – an interview with Russell T Davies". http://uk.gay.com/article/245. Retrieved 2006-04-18.  (online copy archived here as of 26 March 2008).

External links

• Queer as Folk at the Internet Movie Database
• Queer as Folk at TV.com