EntertainmentStreamingFrom It’s a Sin to The Last of Us: the best shows to stream for LGBT+ History MonthCelebrate the rainbow with these unmissable shows: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll start saying “Laaaaaa!” againWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
EntertainmentStreamingFrom It’s a Sin to The Last of Us: the best shows to stream for LGBT+ History MonthCelebrate the rainbow with these unmissable shows: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll start saying “Laaaaaa!” againWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Celebrate the rainbow with these unmissable shows: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll start saying “Laaaaaa!” again
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: HBO)
(Image credit: HBO)
It’s LGBT+ History Month this month, and that means it’s a great time to stream some of the best shows on TV featuring LGBT+ characters. Some of them are life-affirming; others, desperately sad. Some will make you rightly furious, and others will make you want to punch the air. Not all of them are focused exclusively on LGBT+ people or themes, but they all have great LGBT+ characters. Here are some of my favourites. It’s not an exclusive list – there are far too many great shows to cover them all here, and that’s before I get on to rental and buy-to-own series – but no matter what you want to watch I think you’ll find something to love here.
(Image credit: Netflix)
(Image credit: Netflix)
Heartstopper (Netflix)
Based on the hugely popular and genuinely lovely web comic, Heartstopper is a wonderful coming of age story featuring two teen boys trying to make sense of everything. As USA Today put it, “it’s a simple story that feels vital in today’s climate… Heartstopper is one of the best teen seriesNetflixhas ever offered.” Pretty much everyone agrees: Heartstopper currently has a 100% critic and 96% audience rating on IMDb.
(Image credit: Channel 4)
(Image credit: Channel 4)
It’s a Sin (All4)
It’s A Sin is heartbreaking, life-affirming, desperately sad and very funny, sometimes all at once. Russell T Davies' drama follows a group of friends through ten years of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the UK, and its vivid recreation of the attitudes of the time is more horrific than any film you’ll find on Shudder. It’s must-see TV.
(Image credit: Apple)
(Image credit: Apple)
For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
Apple’s space exploration epic is a must-watch for all kinds of reasons – the writing, the effects, the fights on the moon – but it also features a powerful storyline reflecting the real-life experiences of LGBT+ people in the Lavender Scare of the mid-20th century, a moral panic that saw people pushed out of their jobs because of who they loved. It’s one of many story strands that intertwine in this superb series, and while it gets a bit daft sometimes the queer relationships are superbly written and beautifully acted.
Gentleman Jack (BBC iPlayer)
Suranne Jones is magnificent in this historical drama about Anne Lister, a landowner and industrialist whose diaries documented a lifetime of lesbian loves. It’s one of the best period dramas in recent memory, and Jones' Lister is never anything less than magnetic – in lesser hands you could imagine the whole thing teetering over the edge and falling into sheer ridiculousness, but Jones is too good to let that happen. She’s a joy to watch.
(Image credit: BBC)
(Image credit: BBC)
Our Flag Means Death (BBC iPlayer)
Our Flag Means Death answers the crucial question: What if What We Do In The Shadows, but with pirates? And it’s a very funny answer indeed, with Taika Waititi having a ball as Blackbeard and some of the best LGBT+ representation in modern comedy. We’ve got multiple queer relationships, a non-binary character and a central will-they-won’t-they romance that’s handled beautifully.
Sign up to the T3 newsletter for smarter living straight to your inbox
Get all the latest news, reviews, deals and buying guides on gorgeous tech, home and active products from the T3 experts
(Image credit: All 4)
(Image credit: All 4)
Queer As Folk (All 4 / Netflix)
Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Disney+)
For LGBT+ people of a certain age, this was THE show: a million people crushed on Willow (Allyson Hannigan), welled up when she came out and felt all kinds of funny when Vampire Willow turned up encased in very tight leather. Buffy was never as lightweight as some critics sneered: the “Family” episode in season 5 was clearly about conversion therapy, a real-world horror more terrible than any undead creature.
(Image credit: Amazon)
(Image credit: Amazon)
A League of Their Own (Prime Video)
Dragula (Shudder)
Dragula is deeply silly, which is why it’s so great. In its search to find “the world’s next drag supermonster” it’s a much more edgy and alternative take on the Drag Race format, with competitors hoping to outdo each other in challenges featuring costume creation, special effects makeup, acting and live performance. It draws heavily from horror tropes, which is why Shudder is the perfect home for its over-the-top outrageousness.
(Image credit: ABC)
(Image credit: ABC)
Modern Family (Disney+)
If you haven’t watched this well-loved series, you should. And if you have, you should watch it again. This is American sitcom writing and acting at its very best, and in Cam and Mitchell it has one of the great TV couples, gay or otherwise. Cam and Mitchell were there from the very first episode in 2009, and their marriage plans helped show huge audiences that gay people were just as excited, happy, nervous and occasionally crazy about getting married as anybody else – something that really mattered given the often vicious “debate” around marriage equality in the early 2010s. Cam and Mitch have been credited with helping influence the national conversation, a conversation that led to equal marriage becoming law in 2015.
POSE (Netflix)
The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson (Netflix)
Marsha P Johnson was a fascinating person and one of the iconic figures in the LGBT+ rights movement. This documentary investigates her death in 1992, a death that many people believe wasn’t the suicide it purported to be, and features great footage of Johnson in her prime alongside fellow activist Silvia Rivera. It’s not always an easy watch, however: the LGBT+ people of her day experienced horrific police brutality and the film suggests that for many people in the community, things haven’t improved very much.
(Image credit: Apple)
(Image credit: Apple)
Visible: Out on Television (Apple TV+)
This excellent documentary explores the history of the LGBT+ rights movement through the eyes of US TV, and that means it features a more diverse group of people and a lot more time spent with Ellen Degeneres than you might get if the focus were just on the UK. With a line-up that includes Janet Mock, Margaret Cho, Wilson Cruz, Lena Waithe and Anderson Cooper it’s a star-studded affair, and while it’s perhaps a little too self-congratulatory in parts – it was filmed before the US Republicans' war on trans and other LGBT+ people really kicked into high gear – it’s a compelling mix of news footage and new interviews.
(Image credit: Netflix)
(Image credit: Netflix)
The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix)
This is the sequel to the equally great The Haunting of Hill House, and while like its predecessor it delivers lots of tension, did-you-see-that? moments and jump scares it also adds a love story. There’s a really lovely relationship at the heart of it between au pair Dani (a luminous Victoria Pedretti) and groundskeeper Jamie (the enormously likeable Amelia Eve) and the ending will have you weeping happy tears.
Ring announces first ever smart smoke alarms in collaboration with KiddeRing partners with Kidde on smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
Ring partners with Kidde on smart smoke and carbon monoxide alarms
This E Ink notebook can replace your Kindle and Chromebook in oneBOOX’s new E Ink tablet can turn into an Android-powered laptop too
BOOX’s new E Ink tablet can turn into an Android-powered laptop too
