British TV icon Russell T. Davies is a big fan of hit hockey drama “Heated Rivalry.”
“I love it, it’s hot,” he said, speaking at a special screen talk on Monday as part of London’s queer-focused BFI Flare film festival. But one thing Davies is less sure about is where “Heated Rivalry” sits in the pantheon of groundbreaking LGBT TV shows, especially compared to his.
“To be honest, when people go, ‘Oh, it’s this revolutionary gay show,’ I go ‘er, hello!”
The series he’s referring to is, of course, “Queer as Folk,” his late 90s drama about a group of gay men in Manchester credited with redefining gay representation on screen and paving the way for numerous other series.
Davies noted that he’d read people post messages on social saying that “‘Queer as Folk’ walked so that ‘Heated Rivalry’ could run,” to which he responded: “We were fucking running from the start!”
Alongside discussing “Queer as Folk,” plus other early shows in his career including “The Grand,” and later successes, such as “Cucumber,” “It’s a Sin” and “Years and Years,” Davies also offered the audience at the BFI Southbank in London an exclusive clip of his next drama “Tip Toe,” which launches on Channel 4 later this year.
The 5-part miniseries was, he said, “a bit like ‘Years and Years’ meets ‘Queer as Folk,” set in Manchester and following a gay bar owner (Alan Cumming) while also dealing with the rising far right politics and threats to LGBT rights.
In the six-minute clip, Cumming’s character Leo is seen talking about the state of the world to his friend Melba, an aging drag queen played by Paul Rhys. It’s a poignant and highly contemporary bit of dialog, one referencing the current president of the U.S.
“What if this never swings back? What if Trump just keeps on winning forever and ever?,” Melba asks. “How far will it go? How much will they hate us, because they hate us, they really hate us. And you know what, I think they’ve always hated us, only now they don’t have to pretend anymore.”
As he later notes, after discussing the online criticism the bar has come under for reportedly hiring trans staff: “The president of America has given these men permission to attack us. Leo, you’re queer in 2026, you’re a political act.”
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