While we have a lot of TV series from the US here, there’s a surprising amount going on across the pond.
Gentleman Jack
A period drama from BBC 1 (and HBO), set in 1832, it’s based on the real life of Anne Lister, a diarist, mountaineer and traveller. Oh and a totally open lesbian landowner. Her diaries contain more than 4,000,000 words and about a sixth of them—those concerning the intimate details of her romantic and sexual relationships—were written in a code she invented. After a lot of travel, she came home to take over her ancestral home in West Yorkshire. And get a wife. Because that’s what you do.
Anne (aka Gentleman Jack as the ladies called her) will be played by Suranne Jones, from Doctor Foster fame. The series is expected to be released this year (initial reports said Autumn). Based on the subject being a lesbian, we’re tentatively giving it a hearty thumbs up.
Cheat
A four part police drama miniseries from ITV, Cheat is about a case of academic deception that very quickly goes totally out of control. Doesn’t sound super queer until I tell you it’s a relationship between Professor Leah and her student Rose. The series purports to end with ‘fatal consequences’ so I predict a Bury Your Gays and a creepy student/teacher romance (sorry LezRepresent).
It looks like a story that could be fun, but also would be pretty depressing. It all comes down to how they play it. The show starts filming later this year, so an early 2019 airdate seems likely.
A Discovery of Witches
Okay, I’m super excited here. From Sky 1 we have Alex Kingston playing Sarah Bishop, a powerful lesbian witch. She and her partner (Em) raise Sarah’s niece, Diana, teaching her how to be a kick-ass witch and battle the forces of supernatural thingies. Sadly, the story is more about Diana than Sara and Em (boooo) but I can’t imagine they’d be so foolish as to waste a gift like Alex Kingston.
The show will air later this year in the UK, but they’ve made it clear it’ll be internationally aired. Medium gay levels expected. However it’s about a supernatural war, so I have a feeling that Em dies.
