BBC celebrates 50th anniversary of Wolfenden report
The BBC is due to screen a week-long series of LGBT programmes to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Wolfenden report.
The season is called Hidden Lives Week and programmes range from documentaries to drama.
The BBC say the programmes are intended to raise awareness of the landmark report that led to the legalisation of homosexuality in the UK.
The Wolfenden report was commissioned 50 years ago this coming Monday (3rd September).
The Hidden Lives series will be shown on BBC4 from Saturday 1st September.
A spokesperson for Lion Television Scotland, the producers of Consenting Adults, which forms part of the series, told PinkNews.co.uk:
“The 75 minute special is set against the deliberations of the Wolfenden Committee, established by the then Home Secretary to look into the law relating to Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in September 1954.
“Consenting Adults, the transmission of which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the report’s publication, follows the diverse members of the committee as they struggle towards their radical conclusions.”
Other programmes in the Hidden Lives series include a profile of Frankie Howard from his early days in South London and early acting jobs, through radio stardom to TV triumphs, depression, money problems and his sex life; Andrew and Jeremy get married: Don Boyd’s acclaimed film follows the lives of a middle-aged English gay couple from wildly different backgrounds as they prepare to get hitched and Gay MPs – Pride and Prejudice in Politics: in which Eddie Mair takes a look at the history of homosexuality in the Houses of Parliament.
Also on offer is an exploration of the life of outrageous Australian fashion designer Leigh Bowery with contributions from Damien Hirst and Boy George and Breaking the Code, with Derek Jacobi starring as Alan Turing, the mathematical genius who cracked the Enigma Code, but who was persecuted for being homosexual.
