''Gay Life'' is a documentary television programme broadcast by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

(LWT) in 1980. It was produced by Michael Atwell at LWT's London Minorities Unit, and was the United Kingdom's first

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

television series.

Production

Michael Atwell said programme could claim to be "the first time in the world that a major national TV company has given a whole series to gays". Three members of ''Gay Life'' production team were gay, including Attwell, who said the staff felt that they were "in a sense trying to ride two horsesputting forward the gay viewpoint and relating to non-gay people". This was encapsulated for the production team by the slogan "For and about gays". ''Gay Life'' was first broadcast late on a Sunday evening in the London region, on 10 February 1980 at 11:30 pm. Notable contributors included comedian

Graham Chapman Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the surreal comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel and the lead role in two P ...

, who spoke of his experience as a gay parent in the February 24 episode.

Reception

The debut episode was reviewed by John Russell Taylor in the following week's issue of '' Gay News''. In his essay "Something for Everyone" included in the critical theory book ''Queer TV: Theories, Histories, Politics'', edited by Glyn Davis and Gary Needham, Gregory Woods wrote Taylor's review had raised "basic but crucial questions that would keep cropping up in relation to gay television programmes for the next two decades". Taylor's questions concerned the visibility of men in drag and leather who because of their frequent appearances as representative of the gay community in news reports "led the straight media to treat gayness as extraordinary, and therefore had to seek out vivid representatives of it in order to confirm their own per-constructed idea of it" and also his belief that the programme may adopt divided aims in an attempt to appeal to both "uncomprehending straights" and its desire to "preach to the converted".

Richard Ingrams Richard Reid Ingrams (born 19 August 1937 in Chelsea, London) is an English journalist, a co-founder and second editor of the British satirical magazine ''Private Eye'', and founding editor of '' The Oldie'' magazine. He left the latter job at ...

negatively reviewed the 10 July 1981 episode of ''Gay Life'' as the television critic for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''Th ...

''. In his column he wrote that "I at last managed to catch up with the lesbians on Sunday, and about time too is all that I can say". The episode discussed

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

of which Ingrams wrote that it was a "far more satisfactory method in many lesbian eyes because one can ensure that the donor is a suitable person—presumably a Guardian-reading Gay. Various mournful specimens were wheeled on to hail this Brave New World." Ingrams further criticised ''Gay Life'' by saying: and concluded by writing:

Episodes

Series 1 (1980)

All episodes were originally broadcast without title cards. Episodes rebroadcast in 1981 were given titles.

Series 2 (1981)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gay Life (TV series) 1980 British television series debuts 1981 British television series endings 1980s British LGBT-related television series 1980 in LGBT history English-language television shows London Weekend Television shows