# Did any radio or TV crime dramas ever go after gay people for being gay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496 "2015-12-15T03:37:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/41 "2015-12-22T02:08:07Z")
I read someplace that Liberace, while gay, did not actually HAVE relations with an actual man until after 1980, the year his mother died. After she died, he kind of went wild. So when he sued that paper, he may have been gay but did not actually act out on it. Technically: not gay! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/42 "2015-12-22T14:36:26Z")
"What Makes A Man, " an episode of the 1970’s show Room 222 had the students ragging on a guy suspected of being gay. The principal asks “Do we have one or two problems? Is the boy really a homosexual?” In the reruns, that scene was totally cut. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/43 "2015-12-24T01:41:29Z")
> [@nofloyd](#): > > In the Marty episodes the arrests were always about mugging/pickpocketing - not being gay - and he and then gay officer were treated well. > > Which is maybe why I was so surprised at the arrest over cross-dressing. Took a hard line on that. They were respectful but followed the law and booked him - they did not let him go on that charge. As I recall it was (of course) Wojo who arrested him. Wojo was not a bad cop, but he was very uncomfortable with gays. But he didn’t arrest the cross-dresser because he thought he was homosexual, more because he thought he was doing some kind of soliciting/mugging scam. Having gotten in trouble for false arrests before Wojo looks up a statute that says something resembling that as being illegal, so Barney just says, “Ok, book him…” > [@MsRobyn](#): > > As for _Barney Miller_, Inspector Luger, who was a racist asshole, instructed Barney to fire the gay cop. Barney didn’t care about the cop’s sexuality, and ISTR that the only detective in the squad room who was uncomfortable was Wojo. I think that reflected the changing attitudes about gays in society at that point. Don’t wanna start a GD but no, Luger was old-school but he was _not_ a racist asshole. Besides, it wasn’t Luger who told Barney to fire Zitelli (the gay cop), it was Lt. Scanlon, the Internal Affairs cop (who was a racist asshole). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/44 "2018-07-29T21:11:31Z")
I just listened to an old (1952) episode of Dragnet (radio) titled “The Big Almost No-Show” (all Dragnet titles were “The Big” something), and the show seemed clearly to be implying that the case involved a homosexual couple. But there was nothing direct about it - it just involved a missing man, who was an interior decorator, kept his apartment extremely neat (the cops called in the landlady to ask her if there was maid service in the apartment house, but there wasn’t) and whose best friend was an old Navy buddy, to whom the missing man frequently lent money, clothing and his car (yes, the Navy buddy was the murderer). You can listen to it here [http://www.greatdetectives.net/detectives/dragnet-big-show/](http://www.greatdetectives.net/detectives/dragnet-big-show/) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/45 "2018-07-29T21:31:10Z")
Hail Ants wrote: “They even listed a ‘Gay Relations Technical Consultant’ in the end credits of these episodes.” I gotta admit, I giggled a little at that. (Thinking that the “consultant” would explain the mechanics.) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/46 "2018-07-29T22:35:25Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Not exactly what you’re looking for, but in the [series finale of Adam-12,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSWXAdQq1_8) Reed & Malloy raid a “chicken farm”, i.e. a house where young boys were being exploited to film child pornography. Bizarrely, after the bust, the vice cop says the kids would be taken to juvenile hall. 😕 There’s a bizarre 1960’s anti-pedophile instructional film called Boys Beware that states all homosexuals are also pedophiles. [In one section](https://youtu.be/s-WE9HBqL5g?t=4m47s) a teenage who was molested by a gay man is stated to have been given “probation” after the gay man was arrested which makes me wonder if they tagged victims as “accomplices” back then too. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/47 "2018-07-29T23:12:43Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > My parents would echo **Lemur866**. You might have someone who is effeminate, a simpering dandy, a fancy lad, a sissy or pansy, a confirmed bachelor, or a pianist who talked about his mother and wore a pompadour and a cape. What he did NOT do was have sex with men. > > Or, as my father once notably said about a drama teacher he met, “He’s not queer, he’s just _theatrical_.” Which can complicate things in the other direction as well - I really DO fit the entire description your father gave, but (harmless) mistakes have been made from time to time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/48 "2018-07-29T23:24:56Z")
It’s really obvious (in today’s world, at least) that Brandon and Phillip, the main characters in “Rope”, were a gay couple. > **[Rope (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_(film))** > > Rope is a 1948 American psychological crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the 1929 play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton. The film was adapted by Hume Cronyn with a screenplay by Arthur Laurents. > The film was produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein as the first of their Transatlantic Pictures productions. Starring James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger, this is the first of Hitchcock's Technicolor films, and is notable for taking place in real time and being ... ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2018, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/49 "2018-07-29T23:42:18Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > On British TV there’s the striking episode of _The Professionals_ - hardly ever the most PC of cop series - called “In the Public Interest” from 1978. Since the thread’s been bumped, I may as well note that just within the last few weeks it’s been [officially revealed](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jul/21/private-documents-reveal-the-secret-life-of-thatchers-teddy-bears) that _The Professionals_ was one of Margaret Thatcher’s favourite TV series. Along with (famously) _Yes Minister_ and (altogether more obliquely) _Cannon_. But no word on what she made of that particular episode. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/50 "2018-07-30T03:27:34Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > There’s a bizarre 1960’s anti-pedophile instructional film called Boys Beware that states all homosexuals are also pedophiles. [In one section](https://youtu.be/s-WE9HBqL5g?t=4m47s) a teenage who was molested by a gay man is stated to have been given “probation” after the gay man was arrested which makes me wonder if they tagged victims as “accomplices” back then too. From the files of _Nick Danger, Third Eye_: > [@the Firesign Theatre](#): > > LT (_Bradshaw_: CAPTAIN!) Bradshaw: Don’t get smart with me, Danger! You still ain’t off the hook for the Anselmo pederasty case! > > NICK DANGER: Look, you caught the guy, didn’t you? > > BRADSHAW: Yeah, but the punk got away, no thanks to you. I trust I do not need to explain the definition of “punk” in this context. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/51 "2018-07-30T05:52:17Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > As I recall it was (of course) Wojo who arrested him. Wojo was not a bad cop, but he was very uncomfortable with gays. But he didn’t arrest the cross-dresser because he thought he was homosexual, more because he thought he was doing some kind of soliciting/mugging scam. Having gotten in trouble for false arrests before Wojo looks up a statute that says something resembling that as being illegal, so Barney just says, “Ok, book him…” And wasn’t there an episode where Marty gets busted by Wojo, nominally for marijuana possession, while a Russian defector from the USSR is seeking asylum to escape persecution? And Barney explains that defectors can’t be granted asylum for a frivolous reason, and the Russian doesn’t understand “frivolous”, and Barney gives the example of, say, wanting to marry an American woman, and the defector laughs and says no, he’s not “freevolos”, he’s homosexual? And Marty in the lockup starts singing “My Country 'Tis Of Thee”, with satirical intent? And later in the episode an embarrassed Wojo is making clear to the Russian that he “likes girls”, and the Russian laughs and says “Ah, you are freevolos”? So IIRC, while _Barney Miller_ definitely portrayed homophobic attitudes, the portrayal was frequently accompanied by a rather strong subtext that homophobic attitudes are bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/52 "2018-07-30T08:19:26Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > The 1961 adaptation titled _The Children’s Hour_ did preserve the lesbian element that was present in the play, but that was (barely) after the 1950s. Toned down, though, to the point of spoiling the movie, or so MacLaine felt in one of her memoirs. In the play, there are some subtle hints of Shirley being in love with Audrey; little things like baking cookies for her or giving back rubs, or some such. Minor, but her babbling confession at the end doesn’t just come out of nowhere as it did in the movie, and the evil little girl didn’t spin something from whole cloth and then turn out to be right, or sort of right, completely by accident. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/53 "2018-07-30T09:39:02Z")
The only American movie I could find by doing some Googling that had a relatively sympathetic gay character before the 1970 film _The Boys in the Band_ was the 1965 film _Inside Daisy Clover_ (where the character was played by Robert Redford): > **[History of homosexuality in American film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_homosexuality_in_American_film)** > > Since the transition into the modern-day gay rights movement, homosexuality has appeared more frequently in American film and cinema. > One of the current challenges in LGBTQ cinema is ensuring that LGBTQ actors are employed to play queer roles; roles that have been historically almost exclusively been portrayed by straight actors, complicating real representation for gay people among fictional characters. > The first notable suggestion of homosexuality on film was in 1895, when two men were sho... > **[Inside Daisy Clover](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Daisy_Clover)** > > Inside Daisy Clover is a 1965 American drama film based on Gavin Lambert's 1963 novel of the same name, directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Natalie Wood. It follows a tomboy becoming a Hollywood actress and singer. > In 1936 Santa Monica, Daisy Clover is a tomboy, living with her eccentric mother in a ramshackle trailer. Wishing to become an actress, Daisy submits a recorded song to studio owner Raymond Swan. > Swan puts her under contract for five years and makes arrangements to hide her moth... But that’s only American films, which seems to be what is being discussed here. Was the same true in the rest of the world? I found the following list, also by Googling. Most of them I never even heard of before. Does anyone know about the treatment of homosexuality in them?: > **[chronological list of LGBT-themed films, 1916-1989, with notes - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls056361892/)** > > chronological list of LGBT-themed films, 1916-1989, with notes ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/54 "2018-07-30T12:24:27Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And wasn’t there an episode where Marty gets busted by Wojo, nominally for marijuana possession, while a Russian defector from the USSR is seeking asylum to escape persecution? And Barney explains that defectors can’t be granted asylum for a frivolous reason, and the Russian doesn’t understand “frivolous”, and Barney gives the example of, say, wanting to marry an American woman, and the defector laughs and says no, he’s not “freevolos”, he’s homosexual? And Marty in the lockup starts singing “My Country 'Tis Of Thee”, with satirical intent? And later in the episode an embarrassed Wojo is making clear to the Russian that he “likes girls”, and the Russian laughs and says “Ah, you are freevolos”? > > So IIRC, while _Barney Miller_ definitely portrayed homophobic attitudes, the portrayal was frequently accompanied by a rather strong subtext that homophobic attitudes are bullshit. _Barney Miller_ is definitely of its time, and there are some aspects that are kind of cringe-inducing these days (their episode dealing with marital rape is a stand-out in this regard). But their portrayal of gay issues, while indulging in some stereoptypes for comic effect, was mostly nuanced and sympathetic. At least as far as I’m able to judge as a straight guy. Very early on (possibly the first or second episode featuring Marty), while Wojo was openly flustered and threatened by the existence of gay men, Yemana’s responses were things like “It’s none of my business,” and “It takes all kinds of people to make a world.” Even that early, there was the subtext that Wojo’s attitude was old-fashioned and foolish. Marty’s partner, Darryl Driscoll, who was much less stereotyped and more grounded, had problems with his ex-wife not allowing him to see their son. That episode included an awkward but largely respectful conversation in which Wojo tried to grapple with the idea of a gay man having a child. As mentioned, Officer Zatelli was a closeted gay policeman. He confided his orientation to Barney, but no one else, until that same episode with Driscoll’s ex-wife, where, in response to hearing a homophobic diatribe about how gay men were weird and couldn’t be trusted, finally lost it and burst out with “I’m gay!” (Marty’s reaction: “That took guts!”). He was later accidentally outed by Wojo, and Barney stood up for him when Lt. Scanlon wanted him fired. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/55 "2018-07-31T15:00:00Z")
Not a crime drama, but medical drama 'Marcus Welby" had a few episodes that depicted homosexuality negatively. In the 1973 episode [The Other Martin Loring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Other_Martin_Loring) had a character confess to being a homosexual, and good Dr. Welby assuring him that with treatment and therapy, he could become normal (i.e., heterosexual) and lead a normal, hetero life. The episode got a lot of flack from gay rights groups about the message it sent. Around the same time period, the Angie Dickinson’s series “Police Woman” also had a few eeeevil lesbians in an episode, [Flowers of Evil](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowers_of_Evil_(Police_Woman)). In this case, the women in question weren’t arrested for being gay, but they were running an old-age home where they were fleecing the elderly people in their care. However, the women were depicted as such stereotypically cartoonish lesbians that it also sparked some protests as well. In general, homosexuality wasn’t overtly referenced in television shows, but at least in the 70s, cop/detective shows would hint that a character (almost always a bad guy) was gay to drive home the point of home amoral and twisted a character really was. We TV has lately been re-rujnning episodes of “Charlie’s Angels” and it’s almost astonishing how many episodes feature criminal women making veiled come-ons to the Angels. One of the most blatant is the infamous “Angels in Chains” episode - the Angels get themselves arrested to investigate a prison facility. As they are being processed, they are instructed to shower and a prison matron is shown openly leering at the (offscreen) women as they shower. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/56 "2018-07-31T18:07:51Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > … There was a fairly obvious gay reference regarding Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon, so it was not unheard of back then. When Cairo first sees Spade, he has a lilac scented business card, which I took to indicate gayness. Gardenia, actually. I can always hear Lee Patrick’s voice saying that word. > [@RealityChuck](#): > > And Wilmer is identified as a “gunsel”: i.e., a young gay man attached to an older one. Gutman thus is also gay. > > But few in the audience – including the censors – got the reference. There was a scene later in the movie where Brigid says something to Joel about how he could “get around him like you did that guy in Istanbul” (paraphrasing) which infuriated Joel. This was in the scene with the two of them and Sam, just before the police arrived, in the middle of the night. Also, near the end Gutman tells Wilmer that he is like a son to him, “but, well, you can always get another son.” Implications are pretty clear without being so obvious as to require censorship. To get back to the OP, I think the answer is no, cop shows did not show cops arresting men for being gay or for illegal gay behavior, not because they were being kind and sensitive, but because they didn’t want to talk openly about such things. Someone mentioned the movie _The Detective_, which came out in 1968. A big part of the plot is the fact that William Windom’s character was a gay man who had fought his inclinations until he gave in and went down to the piers in New York, and saw (horrors!) men sitting close together and maybe touching each other affectionately. He didn’t want to be one of those men! So he killed someone or something. Societal attitudes had a lot to answer for in those days. How many suicides due to self-loathing or fear of exposure or both? \*Boys in the Band \*has also been mentioned, and as sympathetic. I didn’t find it so. It was unflinching, but was there a single person in that party who was actually happy or at least comfortable with himself? I don’t remember that, although it’s been a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/57 "2018-07-31T20:18:48Z")
It appears that, relative to their times, _The Detective_, _The Boys in the Band_, _Inside Daisy Clover_, _Victim_, and _Barney Miller_ were sympathetic to homosexuals. Attitudes to homosexuality have been slowly and steadily changing for at least the past sixty years. (And it was before then too, but it was hinted at rather than mentioned, so it’s harder to tell.) You have to judge things by the time when they were released. Wait till you see how weird our attitudes today towards various things look like sixty years from now. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/58 "2018-08-04T19:30:40Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > _Barney Miller_ is definitely of its time, and there are some aspects that are kind of cringe-inducing these days (their episode dealing with marital rape is a stand-out in this regard). But their portrayal of gay issues, while indulging in some stereoptypes for comic effect, was mostly nuanced and sympathetic. At least as far as I’m able to judge as a straight guy. > > Very early on (possibly the first or second episode featuring Marty), while Wojo was openly flustered and threatened by the existence of gay men, Yemana’s responses were things like “It’s none of my business,” and “It takes all kinds of people to make a world.” Even that early, there was the subtext that Wojo’s attitude was old-fashioned and foolish. > > Marty’s partner, Darryl Driscoll, who was much less stereotyped and more grounded, had problems with his ex-wife not allowing him to see their son. That episode included an awkward but largely respectful conversation in which Wojo tried to grapple with the idea of a gay man having a child. > > As mentioned, Officer Zatelli was a closeted gay policeman. He confided his orientation to Barney, but no one else, until that same episode with Driscoll’s ex-wife, where, in response to hearing a homophobic diatribe about how gay men were weird and couldn’t be trusted, finally lost it and burst out with “I’m gay!” (Marty’s reaction: “That took guts!”). He was later accidentally outed by Wojo, and Barney stood up for him when Lt. Scanlon wanted him fired. Wasn’t there another episode (or maybe the same one where Zatelli’s story is told), where an undercover cop busts someone in a gay bar for some crime or other, and it’s revealed the officer was undercover at the bar. Wojo makes the remark to the guy along the lines of “I can’t believe anyone would think you were gay,” and the undercover cop, who isn’t displaying any open signs of being gay like Marty, just looks at Wojo and says, “Que sara sara” and exits, leaving Wojo with a “Wait, what?” look on his face as he realizes not all gay people are flaming. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496/59 "2018-08-05T13:03:37Z")
Slightly off subject (as they were simply entertainments) but the radio shows\*\* Round The Horne\*\* and **Beyond Our Ken** (both titles referencing the host Kenneth Horne) were huge comedy shows in the UK (1958 - 68, which was, at least at the beginning, pre-TV for most people). They had massive audiences and prime time family listening spots, and featured Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick as a pair of (sorry but there really isn’t another phrase) screaming queens,\*\* Julian and Sandy\*\*, with double entendres and sexual innuendo throughout and, inexplicably, Polari words and phrases used extensively ([Julian and Sandy - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_and_Sandy)). For example, from the sketch Bona Law (Bona = good) where Julian and Sandy are running a legal firm: HORNE: Will you take my case? JULIAN: Well, it depends on what it is. We’ve got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time. HORNE: Yes, but apart from that, I need legal advice. SANDY: Ooh, isn’t he bold? (In case the reference isn’t obvious, homosexual acts were indeed a criminal practice in the UK at the time). It was so openly (and joyously) gay in a non-gay world, it’s had to imagine anything similarly discordant happening today. Bless them. So really, it’s the polar opposite of “go after gay people for being gay.” Re crime dramas (back on point), an episode of **Minder** from 1980 is described thus: “Terry guards an antique shop owned by Alex, a friend of Arthur, after two men demand protection money. He isn’t keen on the job as he has to share a flat with Jim, a gay man, Alex’s partner. He soon discovers that the story of the protection racket is a fabrication, that Alex is also gay and that his ex-wife Gloria set up the ‘accident’ that has put Alex in hospital. (Episode title spoofs the 1972 television play Whose Life is it Anyway?)” - and while the handling was gauche (“You’ll like him, he’s a real man’s man” and so on) it wasn’t nasty. j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-radio-or-tv-crime-dramas-ever-go-after-gay-people-for-being-gay/740496.md?page=2)