Comic Liz Carr in new C4 series

Stephen Fry and Liz Carr are among the celebrities investigating ‘Britain’s Great Gay Buildings’ in a new Channel 4 series.

Fry is to present the series, looking at buildings that have helped define Britain’s gay history.

Carr, pictured, travels to Bletchley Park to visit the site of the codebreaking operation that fostered one of Britain’s greatest scientists, Alan Turing, who was persecuted for his sexuality – a story told in the Benedict Cumberbatch movie The Imitation Game.

In another episode, Craig Revel Horwood tells the story of Britain’s drag scene at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, where Hinge and Bracket were regular performers and Paul O’Grady held court as Lily Savage for eight years. According to Cleo Rocos, Princes Diana visited the RVT in the late 1980s, disguised as a man and accompanied by Freddie Mercury and Kenny Everett.

In the other episodes, The Reverend Richard Cole revisits Heaven Nightclub to reveal its hedonistic past; Mary Portas visits Shibden Hall in Yorkshire, home of diarist Anne Lister who as been dubbed ‘the first modern lesbian’; Simon Callow tells the story of Oscar Wilde’s downfall at the Old Bailey; Rikki Beadle Blair visits the Theatre Royal Haymarket to discover how the British public showed their support for Sir John Gielgud after his arrest for cottaging; and Lord Waheed Alli tells the story of the Houses of Parliament’s recent battle for gay rights.

Britain’s Great Gay Buildings has been announced as part of a season of Channel 4 programmes marking the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality, entitled 50 Shades of Gay. 

Published: 8 Jun 2017