Delivered at Pippi to Ripley: Gender, Sexuality and Popular Culture, 21st – 22nd April 2023, Virtual Conference.

Lesbian period dramas have been a staple of the British Broadcasting Company’s catalogue since Tipping the Velvet in 2002. From Daphne to Gentleman Jack, the BBC’s historical lesbians often fare better than their contemporaries in both viewership and in avoiding the ‘fridging’ fate which still plagues queer or female characters on television. With every new drama that premieres, however, comes familiar criticism: complaints that the content shown is too explicitly sexual to be broadcast.

There is still some merit to the complaint that ‘lesbians are the invisible minorities of British TV drama’. BBC Three – home to a number of shows featuring LGBT+ characters such as Lip Service and In the Flesh – has been an online-only service since 2016 due to budget cuts. While this could be simply due to the channel being aimed towards a younger and more tech-literate generation, it has had the effect of making it a ‘genre television’ channel, restricting a whole range of queer content to those who possess both technology and a BBC license fee.

In light of this, the fact that four period dramas with lesbian protagonists have made it to prime- time slots on the mainstream BBC One is remarkable. Certain similarities between them, however, are illuminating. From blink-and-you-miss-it scenes of explicit lesbian sex to period- typical homophobia and heartbreak, each ‘groundbreaking’ series seems to break very familiar ground. This paper will explore the influence of the male gaze and Section 28 on the BBC’s lesbian historical dramas, criticising recurrent tropes which feel – ironically – outdated.