''Banana'' is a 2015 British television series created by Russell T Davies and aired on E4. The sister series to
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's ''
Cucumber
Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.4oD documentary series ''
Tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...
'', ''Banana'' is a series focusing on LGBT youth in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
, around the narrative of ''Cucumber''. Unlike ''Cucumber'', which is a self-contained serial following the story of one gay man, ''Banana'' is an
anthology series
An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a dif ...
focusing on the wider LGBT spectrum. The series was nominated for the
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series is one of the annual GLAAD Media Awards which is offered to the best LGBT-related television limited series or movie. At the 31st GLAAD Media Awards, the award was split and honored ...
.
''Banana'' develops some of the storylines of characters featured in ''Cucumber'' as well as introducing many new characters. ''Banana'' is primarily a self-contained series, occasional overlapping with the ''Cucumber'' narrative. ''Cucumber'', ''Banana'', and ''Tofu'' are all named after the same scale of erection hardness, with ''Banana'' symbolising the middle of the scale from the flaccid ''Tofu'' to the fully erect ''Cucumber''.
Development
''Banana'' was commissioned in 2013 as a sister show to Davies' long-developed project ''Cucumber'', along with the online documentary series ''Tofu''. The three series refer to a urological scale of erection hardness, which consists of ''tofu'', ''peeled banana'', ''banana'', and ''cucumber''. Unlike ''Cucumber'', which focuses primarily on middle-aged
gay men
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, includin ...
, ''Banana'' focuses on LGBT youth in Manchester that are on the periphery of the ''Cucumber'' narrative. The two series are primarily linked through the crossover character of Dean Monroe (Fisayo Akinade), who appears as a major character in both series, and are contrasted by social acceptance of the characters; whereas Akinade's character is more "open and confident" about his sexuality, the characters of ''Cucumber'' are former activists whose sexuality had to be less open.
Whereas Davies' 1999–2000 series ''
Queer as Folk
''Queer as Folk'' may refer to:
* ''Queer as Folk'' (British TV series), 1999–2000
* ''Queer as Folk'' (American TV series), a 2000–2005 American and Canadian version of the UK series
** ''Queer as Folk'' soundtracks, soundtrack albums from ...
'' focused on gay men in the Canal Street club scene, ''Cucumber'' is a self-contained serial following the story of one middle-aged gay man, Henry Best (
Vincent Franklin
Vincent Warren Franklin (born 3 November 1966) is an English actor from Haworth, Keighley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. He is best known for his roles in comedy television programmes. He has appeared in a number of feature films including ...
), ''Banana'' is an anthology series focusing on young characters across the LGBT spectrum. The show notably casts the first transgender actor in a transgender role in a UK television series, with comedian Bethany Black portraying Helen, a transgender woman. Davies insisted that a transgender actor be cast as Helen, going so far as to alter the script until Black was cast at the eleventh hour; Black was vocal in her praise for this, contrasting the decision with the casting of Jared Leto as a trans woman in the recent film '' Dallas Buyers Club'', which she described as "a cisgender guy trying to play what he thought a trans woman would be like", and compared cisgender actors playing transgender roles to
blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person.
In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...
portrayals in shows such as '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum''. Helen's episode also features ''Cucumber'' character Cleo Wilkinson (
Julie Hesmondhalgh
Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh (born 25 February 1970) is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her role as Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' between 1998 and 2014. For this role, she won Best Serial Drama Perf ...
), in a scene that symbolises a "passing of the baton" between Hesmondhalgh—the cisgender actress who portrayed the transgender woman
Hayley Cropper
Hayley Cropper (also Hayley Patterson) is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. The character first appeared in the episode first broadcast on 26 January 1998. Hayley was the ...
in ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford.
Orig ...
'' between 1998 and 2014—and Black and the wider trans community.
Production
Filming took place from June to September 2014.
Episodes
International broadcast
The series premiered on
Logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
on 13 April 2015 to a very low 24,000 viewers, which was less than half the viewership that had watched ''Cucumber'' before it.
The series airs on SBS Two in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...
and on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...