49 Fun Facts About Queer as Folk

The original 1999 Queer as Folk was set and filmed in which English city?

Manchester's gay village around Canal Street was both setting and location; the series was made by a Manchester-based production company and first aired in February 1999.

Who wrote the original British Queer as Folk?

Russell T Davies wrote every episode of the 1999 series; he went on to revive Doctor Who in 2005 and to write the AIDS-era drama It's a Sin in 2021.

What is the name of Stuart's baby son, born in the first episode?

Alfred is born in the first episode to Stuart's lesbian friend Romey Sullivan, who asked him to father her child; Stuart takes Nathan along to the hospital.

Which British broadcaster aired the original series?

Channel 4 aired the series from 23 February 1999; the writer then fell out with the channel over a shelved spin-off and did not work with it again until Cucumber, sixteen years later.

Who played the sexually voracious advertising executive Stuart Alan Jones in the UK series?

Aidan Gillen earned a BAFTA Best Actor nomination for Stuart and later played Tommy Carcetti in The Wire and Littlefinger in Game of Thrones.

Which actor, the writer's first choice for Stuart, declined over his age and suggested a friend?

He would later be the first Doctor when Doctor Who returned in 2005.

Vince Tyler, Stuart's long-suffering best friend with a crush on him, was played by whom?

Craig Kelly plays Vince Tyler, the Doctor Who-obsessed supermarket manager who has loved Stuart since their schooldays; Vince's mother Hazel is played by Denise Black.

How old is Charlie Hunnam's schoolboy character Nathan Maloney supposed to be?

Nathan is 15, a schoolboy, while Charlie Hunnam was 18 when he filmed the role; the opening episode's sex scene between Nathan and Stuart drew complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

How many episodes did the first British series run for?

Eight episodes made up the first series, beginning on 23 February 1999; a two-part sequel, Queer as Folk 2, closed the story in February 2000.

Which firm, then owned by the writer's friend Nicola Shindler, made the UK series?

Red Production Company, founded by Nicola Shindler in 1998, made the series as its first production; StudioCanal later bought the company.

After a car salesman makes homophobic remarks during a test drive, Stuart does what with the Jeep?

Drives it through the showroom window — that is what Stuart does with the Jeep, smashing the dealership's glass frontage rather than swallow the salesman's remarks; later he also blows up Alexander's mother's car.

Which brewery sponsored the first four episodes and then pulled out halfway through the run?

Beck's, the German lager brand, withdrew its sponsorship partway through the first series amid the controversy over the opening episodes' sex scenes.

Which composer wrote the UK theme and won an RTS craft award for the score?

Murray Gold composed the UK series' music; he later scored the revived Doctor Who from 2005 to 2017, writing its new arrangements of the theme.

The soundtrack album to the first UK series sold about how many copies?

It ended up the 50th biggest-selling compilation of 1999 and features OT Quartet, Ultra Nate and Blondie.

Antony Cotton, who played Alexander Perry, went on to play a gay character in which soap?

Antony Cotton joined Coronation Street in 2003 as gay character Sean Tully, a knicker-factory machinist and Rovers Return barman.

The 2000 sequel Queer as Folk 2 was driven by which family event?

It ends with Stuart and Vince leaving for another gay scene in a pastiche of Grease, with Nathan inheriting the scene.

In 2010, where did The Guardian rank Queer as Folk in its list of the 50 greatest TV dramas of all time?

On release the gay press criticised it for ignoring AIDS; the writer said he refused to let gay lives be defined by the disease.

The writer says he wrote Queer as Folk to what kind of music, for its 'sheer clubland drive'?

He wrote Doctor Who to action-film scores and Bob & Rose to Moby's album Play.

The American remake was set in Pittsburgh but mostly filmed in which city?

Toronto stood in for Pittsburgh for all five seasons; the Liberty Avenue scenes were shot around the city's Church and Wellesley gay village.

The American series was co-produced by Showcase in Canada and which US cable network?

Showtime aired the American series from December 2000 to 2005, where it became the network's highest-rated show, with a large straight female audience.

Which writing duo developed and ran the American version?

Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, the partners who had written the 1985 AIDS drama An Early Frost, developed the American series and ran it for all five seasons.

Who directed the pilot of the American series?

Russell Mulcahy, the Australian director of Highlander and of Duran Duran's early music videos, directed the American pilot, which premiered on 3 December 2000.

Who played Brian Kinney, the American counterpart of Stuart?

Gale Harold played the advertising executive Brian Kinney through all five seasons; he later appeared as Jackson Braddock in Desperate Housewives.

What nickname does Debbie give Randy Harrison's character Justin Taylor for his bright smile?

Debbie calls Justin Sunshine because of his bright smile; Justin is 17 when he meets Brian and is bashed with a baseball bat at his prom at the end of season one.

Michael Novotny, played by Hal Sparks, is obsessed with which fictional comic-book hero?

Captain Astro is the comic-book hero Michael has idolised since boyhood; he later opens his own comic shop and co-creates a comic of his own with Justin.

What is the name of Michael and Justin's season-two comic book about a Brian-like superhero?

Rage, subtitled Gay Crusader, is drawn by Justin and written by Michael; Justin appears in it as JT, the hero's lover, and Michael as Zephyr.

Peter Paige's flamboyant Emmett Honeycutt originally hails from which state?

Emmett comes from Hazlehurst, Mississippi, a small-town upbringing he often invokes; over five seasons he works at the Torso boutique, as a naked maid and as a party planner.

Ted Schmidt, played by Scott Lowell, works in what profession?

Accountant is Ted's profession; the mild-mannered number-cruncher later runs an online porn business that lands him in legal trouble, then works for Brian's agency.

Where does Sharon Gless's character Debbie Novotny, Michael's mother, work?

Debbie waits tables at the Liberty Diner on Liberty Avenue, wearing slogan T-shirts; a PFLAG stalwart, she takes Justin in when he leaves home.

Ben Bruckner, Michael's long-term partner from season two onward, has what job?

Ben is a College professor, teaching gay studies at Carnegie Mellon; he is HIV-positive, which is why Debbie at first opposes the relationship, and he marries Michael in Canada in season four.

What is the nickname of the HIV-positive teenage former hustler Michael and Ben take in?

Hunter, whose real name is James Montgomery, is taken in by Michael and Ben in season three after hustling on the streets; they later become his legal guardians.

What is the name of the advertising agency Brian founds after leaving Vangard?

Kinnetik is the advertising agency Brian starts in season four after his exit from Vangard, setting up in a converted bathhouse; its success lets him buy the club.

What is the name of the gay dance club at the centre of the American series?

Babylon is the Liberty Avenue dance club where the group spends its nights; its interiors were shot at Fly, a real nightclub in the city that doubled for Pittsburgh.

What is the name of the son Brian fathers in the very first episode?

Gus is born in the pilot to Lindsay, who conceived through artificial insemination with Brian as the donor; she raises him with her partner Melanie.

The show-within-a-show that Brian despises, a dull and politically correct gay drama, is called what?

Gay as Blazes is the earnest, sexless gay drama the characters watch in season two; Brian mocks it while the others defend it, and it gets cancelled.

The final season is dominated by the fight against which anti-gay ballot measure?

Proposition 14 is the anti-gay ballot measure the characters fight throughout season five; a fundraiser against it at Brian's club is bombed, which finally pushes Brian to propose to Justin.

In the final scene, Brian dances alone to which Heather Small song, first heard in the pilot?

Proud, Heather Small's 2000 solo single, plays as Brian dances alone in the finale, echoing its use in the pilot; Michael's closing narration ends with the promise that they will survive.

The American series' original opening theme, used for the first three seasons, was 'Spunk' by which act?

Greek Buck, a Canadian electronic duo, recorded 'Spunk', the theme for the first three seasons; 'Cue the Pulse to Begin' by Burnside Project replaced it for seasons four and five.

Which actress plays Melanie Marcus, Lindsay's partner, in the American series?

Michelle Clunie plays Melanie Marcus, the lawyer partner of Thea Gill's Lindsay Peterson; the couple raise two children and leave for Canada in the final season.

Which closeted star quarterback comes out by kissing Emmett live on the news?

Drew Boyd, the Pittsburgh Ironmen quarterback, hires Emmett as his wedding planner, begins a secret affair with him and finally comes out with an on-air kiss in season five.

Which American cast member came out as gay in The Advocate in 2002?

Robert Gant, who joined the cast as Ben Bruckner in season two, came out publicly in The Advocate in 2002; Peter Paige and Randy Harrison had been openly gay from the start.

The 2022 reboot relocated the story to which city?

New Orleans replaced Pittsburgh as the setting for the 2022 reboot, which followed a group of friends rebuilding after a nightclub shooting in the city.

The 2022 series was released on which streaming service, which cancelled it after one season?

Peacock released the full season on 9 June 2022 and cancelled the series that September after a single run.

Which Sex and the City star played Brenda Beaumont, mother of Brodie and Julian, in the 2022 reboot?

Kim Cattrall, Samantha Jones in Sex and the City, played Brenda Beaumont, the wealthy mother of brothers Brodie and Julian, in the 2022 reboot.

At the start of the American series, Hal Sparks's comic-loving character manages what kind of business?

A Kmart-like department store, the Big Q, is where Michael is an assistant manager at the start; he later quits to open his own comic-book shop.

What is Lindsay Peterson's profession in the American series?

Art teacher is Lindsay's profession when the series begins, though she later works at an art gallery; her WASP parents disapprove of her relationship with Melanie.

Who fathers Jenny Rebecca, the second child carried by Melanie?

Michael Novotny is the donor for Jenny Rebecca, Melanie's daughter, which draws him into a custody tussle with Melanie and Lindsay in the final seasons.

Ted Schmidt eventually struggles with an addiction to which drug?

Crystal meth takes hold of Ted in season four; his old flame Blake, once an addict himself, reappears sober as a counsellor at the rehab clinic Ted enters.

Who created the 2022 reboot of Queer as Folk?

Stephen Dunn, the Canadian filmmaker behind Closet Monster, created the 2022 reboot, with the original's writer serving as an executive producer.