12/05/2022
Channel Four has long been regarded as “our” television station. Long before specialist LGBTQIA+ channels opened on satellite and cable platforms, Channel Four in the UK trailblazed its way through the homophobic eighties and more enlightened nineties with programmes and films by and for minority communities, with its first director general, Jeremy Isaacs memorably remarking that if a broadcasting station was not annoying Daily Mail readers regularly, then it was not doing its job properly. Now, in Channel Four’s fortieth year, a special season is planned to coincide with the half century anniversary of the very first Pride Parade in London, which took place on July 1st 1972. The cohosts for the special season will be popular television personality Rylan Clarke and BBC Radio One legend Nick Grimshaw. Documentaries planned, according to the Metro Newspaper, include “Fifty Year of Pride”, a celebration of the life of transgender trailblazer April Ashley and a look at George Michael and other celebrities who were outed by the ribald British newspapers. Channel 4 said its line-up will ‘reflect on the incredible achievements and challenges of advancing LGBTQ+ rights and visibility over the last half century, while also platforming the diversity of identity and sexuality in the 2020s’.
