Queer as Folk

1 9 9 9 – 2 0 0 0 (UK)
10 x 50 minute episodes

Set among the community in Manchester’s Gay Village, Queer as Folk focussed on the exploits of arrogant and sexually promiscuous advertising executive Stuart Jones (Aidan Gillen) and shy and reliable supermarket manager Vince Tyler (Craig Kelly) – not lovers, but best pals for sixteen years who lived on a cocktail of sex, drugs and clubbing – and 15-year-old Nathan Maloney (Charlie Hunnam) who, in the sexually explicit first programme of the original series, lost his virginity to Stuart.

Queer As Folk did far better than anyone imagined, mainly because it didn’t take itself too seriously. After the deliberate shock tactics of the opening episode, there were some genuinely funny moments and priceless lines.

The two episodes in the second series lacked the humour of the first series, as the complex Stuart grew more troubled and his character more unappealing. Take away the many double entendres, and there was little left.

Driven by the series’ success, American cable channel Showtime and Canadian cable channel Showcase co-produced an inferior version of the series set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It ran for five seasons between 2000 and 2005.

Stuart Jones
Aidan Gillen
Vince Tyler
Craig Kelly
Nathan Maloney
Charlie Hunnam
Hazel Tyler
Denise Black
Bernard Thomas
Andy Devine
Romey Sullivan
Esther Hall

Episodes

Thursday | Stuart Alan Jones | A Night Out | D.I.S.C.O. | The Date | Meet the Parents | Thirty | Punchline || Out of the Closet | Into the Fire