Hearing Our Stories: LGBTQ+ Lives and the BBC

Matthew Linfoot

This short series of podcasts explores the relationship between the BBC and the LGBTQ+ audience over the past 50 years. Dr Matthew Linfoot delves into the archive for features, documentaries and current affairs showing BBC coverage of key events in the queer chronology, from the early days of gay and lesbian liberation to marriage equality. In partnership with two community organisations, Opening Doors and London Friend, older LGBTQ+ people and younger Millennial/Gen Z participants come together to reflect on their relationship with the BBC. They watch and listen to the archive programmes and share their thoughts about portrayal and representation and how they compare with their own lives and experiences. These podcasts capture these cross-generational exchanges, and reveal how the changing experiences and identities of LGBT+ lives have been viewed through the lens of the BBC.

Episodes

  1. 03/08/2023

    Episode 3

    In this episode of ‘Hearing Our Stories’, Matthew Linfoot is joined by volunteers who span the generations, from both community groups, Opening Doors and London Friend. We hear how they compare and contrast their responses to the archive clips with their own life stories. What can these two generations learn from each other’s experiences and how do they feel about the BBC’s role in LGBTQ+ representation in the future? BBC TV and radio programmes featured in this episode: Advice Shop ‘Coming Out’ (1991); ‘Archive on 4’ The End of Coming Out? (2020); Esther ‘HIV Stigma’ (1995); It’s My Story ‘Getting Bi’ (2011); Gay Rights: Tying the Knot (2014).

    1 hr

  2. 03/01/2023

    Episode 2

    This episode features contributors in their twenties, from London Friend, an organisation working with the LGBTQ+ community in London. Matthew Linfoot plays clips spanning the past 45 years, from a documentary about Scottish gays and lesbians in the era before decriminalisation, to the experience of early Pride marches, and more recent reporting of casual racism in the queer community. As you’ll hear, the London Friend participants are sometimes surprised, amused and shocked by what they’re shown, but can they relate their own experiences to the portrayal of LGBT+ people from past decades? Extracts featured in this episode: Open Door ‘Scottish Minorities Group’ (1978); Inside Story ‘Coming Out’ (1980); Horizon ‘AIDS: Killer in the Village’ (1983); Brass Tacks ‘As Good As You’ (1988); Gaytime TV ‘Gay Conversion Therapy’ (1999); Queer Britain ‘Preference or Pride’ (2017).

    52 min

  3. 02/22/2023

    Episode 1

    In this podcast, Dr Matthew Linfoot is joined by volunteers from Opening Doors, a national charity that connects LGBTQ+ people over the age of 50. Together, they watch and discuss a selection of clips from programmes from the 1970s and 80s, including the BBC’s reporting of the early Gay Liberation movement, a fly-on-the-wall documentary about a pioneering trans woman, and coverage of HIV/AIDS and Section 28. Some of our contributors remember these programmes when they were first broadcast, but how will they react on seeing them again, and do they view them differently in the light of their own lives and experiences since? BBC TV programmes featured in this episode: Panorama ‘Gay Liberation Front’ (1971); Inside Story ‘The Big Decision’ (1979); Open Door ‘Scottish Minorities Group’ (1978); Horizon ‘AIDS: Killer in the Village’ (1983); Brass Tacks ‘As Good As You’ (1988).

    46 min
  • 3 Episodes

About

This short series of podcasts explores the relationship between the BBC and the LGBTQ+ audience over the past 50 years. Dr Matthew Linfoot delves into the archive for features, documentaries and current affairs showing BBC coverage of key events in the queer chronology, from the early days of gay and lesbian liberation to marriage equality. In partnership with two community organisations, Opening Doors and London Friend, older LGBTQ+ people and younger Millennial/Gen Z participants come together to reflect on their relationship with the BBC. They watch and listen to the archive programmes and share their thoughts about portrayal and representation and how they compare with their own lives and experiences. These podcasts capture these cross-generational exchanges, and reveal how the changing experiences and identities of LGBT+ lives have been viewed through the lens of the BBC.

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