Rupert Everett’s documentary 50 Shades of Gay will air on SBS Viceland this week, but can be watched now on their On-Demand service.

In the documentary, Rupert meets a cast of LGBT men and women to chart some of the changes that have taken place in gay life and gay culture over the last fifty years.

From the men in their eighties who frequented the underground gay clubs of Soho and cottaged with palace guards, to young transgender people coming out as the ‘only trans in the village’ in rural Britain.

The journey sees him meeting people who exemplify something about the gay experience in the different eras of LGBT visibility, from gay bashing to the AIDS crisis to the first ‘gaybies’.

The documentary was made last year as part of Britain’s celebrations that marked 50 years since the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

While the documentary covers the major milestones of gay liberation but also asks if the LGBTIQ community has lost its close community in the process.

“Have we sacrificed community and the spirit of the outsider for the rather conservative values of the straight world?” Everett asks.

Everett meets a wide range of people, including Roger a now retired police office who used to work undercover in men’s toilets, he revisits old cruising grounds from his youth and heads on to the set of one of Britain’s most popular soap operas and chats to actors who play gay characters.

50 Shades of Gay will air Tuesday, 8 May at 10.20pm on SBS VICELAND

OIP Staff