It’s LGBTQ+ History month, marking four weeks to make an extra special effort to remember the trailblazers who paved the way for gays, theys and everything in between.
Over the last 30 years alone, television has gone from having next to zero LGBTQ+ representation to having an abundance of queer shows, which have steadily become more and more progressive, teaching that being LGBTQ+ is a joy.
It’s easier than ever to inject a bit of queerness into your life through the medium of television, with all the major streaming services now equipped with endless LGBTQ+ content.
Metro.co.uk has compiled a list of the best LGBTQ+ shows to binge throughout February and beyond.
Queer As Folk
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When Queer As Folk crashed onto Channel 4 in 1999, it was the most thrilling television experience of mine and so many LGBTQ+ people’s lives. Russell T Davies managed to get a completely unfiltered and unapologetic story about love and sex in Manchester’s Canal Street on terrestrial television which felt like an impossible dream for so long.
It follows the endlessly horny Stuart and his friend Vince, who’s secretly in love with Stuart, torturing himself watching his crush take home a different man every night. One night Stuart picks up Nathan, unaware he’s a 15-year-old schoolboy, whose world turns upside down when he’s introduced to Manchester’s gay scene and suddenly sees the potential of being a gay man through a new lens.
It’s hard to imagine what a list of the best LGBTQ television series would even look like if Queer As Folk hadn’t paved the way 26 years ago.
Queer As Folk is available to stream on All4.
Heartstopper
Heartstopper hits differently depending on your birth certificate.
For those of us old enough to remember Queer As Folk when it came out, Heartstopper was the show we could have only dreamed of when we were younger, filled with pure joy and unproblematic young love.
For anyone who discovered Christina Aguilera through her Sabrina Carpenter duet, it’s a gentle hug for LGBTQ+ Gen Zers to know they’re not alone.
Adapted from the graphic novels by Alice Oseman, Heartstopper follows Nick and Charlie falling in love, surrounded by their confidant queer friends, exploring all the perils and wonders that come with being part of each corner of the LGBTQ+ community.
It’s by far the most uplifting queer television I’ve ever seen and few shows have made me wept with both joy and melancholy in equal measure.
Heartstopper is available to stream on Netflix now.
Gentleman Jack
LGBTQ+ inclusion in historical dramas can go a number of perilous ways: characters that feel artificially imbued with modern sensibilities; characters defined solely by their “inversion” and generally die in the end, or; no inclusion at all.
Gentleman Jack managed to avoid all of these. Drawn largely from the real-life diaries of assertive, energetic, masculine-presenting lesbian Anne Lister (played by Suranne Jones) as she takes over her father’s estate and searches for love, adventure, and respect in rural Yorkshire in the 1930s.
She’s a formidable figure who won’t compromise in order to live as she wishes, in a way that feels as authentic as the lusciously period-accurate costumes and pretzel hairstyles. Anne hasn’t been updated for the 2020s, because she was already uniquely radical.
With debate over who should write and play whom, Gentleman Jack stands proudly as an example of how close research and production-wide commitment to character can reveal the past’s hidden figures as brightly and complexly as they were when they were still strutting around the moors looking for a wife also called Ann.
Gentleman Jack is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
Broad City
Broad City is one of the few shows to accurately depict the chaos of being in your 20s and living in a big city with zero ambition other than getting high and having care-free sex.
Ilana is a bisexual queen of chaos, who regularly tries it on with her best friend Abbi, totally unbothered by her constant rejections.
Their unbreakable bond is everything friendship should be when you’re an adult with no responsibility other than paying back your weed dealer on time.
Alongside Friends, Sex and the City, and Girls, it’s one of the only comedies I can go back to again and again still belly-laughing like watching it for the very first time.
Broad City is available to stream on Paramount Plus.
Black Doves
Ben Whishaw has become the pioneer of gay spy thrillers, first starring in 2015’s excellent London Spy and then he made our Christmas in Netflix’s Black Doves.
In the latter, Whishaw stars as Sam, a gun-loving assassin hired to protect his old friend and a former spy Helen. Helen also happens to be the wife of the Secretary for Defence and looks likely to get the keys to Downing Street in the not-too-distant future.
Sam’s temperamental job is one big cock-block, his love life is in tatters and the only man he’s ever loved is terrified of him after discovering he’s a professional killer. Fair.
It’s the bloodiest festive fun since Die Hard and while it’s absurdly far-fetched, Black Doves was by far one of the most enjoyable Netflix thrillers of 2024.
Black Doves is available to stream on Netflix.
Drag Race UK
I can’t think of another show that has the power to change the lives of both its contestants and viewers in the same way as RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Since its inception in 2009, Drag Race has aired countless conversations that have helped millions of people in the LGBTQ+ community, its contestants are so brave and open about their trauma in ways we’ve never seen on such a huge scale before.
The landscape of drag has been completely transformed by Drag Race, once confined to gay bars and cruise ships – now the whole anti-conservative world is enthralled by drag.
Impact aside though, Drag Race’s success is dependent on being the naughtiest show on TV and often the most innovative with looks that could be lifted from a Vivienne Westwood runway.
Drag Race UK is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
The English Teacher
The English Teacher felt like it came out of nowhere when suddenly every gay with a Disney Plus subscription was raving about it on social media but it absolutely lives up to the hype.
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Brian Jordan Alverez stars as gay teacher Evan Marquez, who is passionate about LGBTQ rights in a school that tries its best to support the LGBTQ community, even if it doesn’t always get it right.
It’s warm, and authentic and for someone who struggles with sitcoms, it is one of the few that is genuinely funny.
The English Teacher is available to stream on Disney Plus UK.
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