BBC Four has announced a series of all-star monologues as part of the BBC’s Gay Britannia season this summer.

Curated and directed by Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, Doctor Who), Queers will feature Ben Whishaw, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Front, Russell Tovey, Gemma Whelan, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan and Fionn Whitehead each delivering a 15-minute monologue.

The eight episodes will see established writers responding to the 50th anniversary of The Sexual Offences Act which partially decriminalised homosexual acts between men, exploring “some of the most poignant, funny, tragic and riotous moments of British gay history and the very personal rites-of-passage of British gay men through the last one hundred years.”

Themes will include 1957’s Wolfenden Report, the HIV crisis and the 1967 Sexual Offence Act itself.

Ben Whishaw (London Spy, Spectre) returns from the trenches of the First World War in ‘The Man On The Platform’, whilst a hundred years later, Alan Cumming (The Good Wife) reflects on gay marriage in ‘Something Borrowed’.

‘More Anger’ stars Russell Tovey (Him And Her, Being Human) as a gay actor in the 1980s, and Rebecca Front (War And Peace, Humans) contemplates her very particular marriage in ‘Missing Alice’.

Gemma Whelan (Game Of Thrones), Kadiff Kirwan (Chewing Gum), Ian Gelder (Snatch) and Fionn Whitehead (HIM) will appear in ‘A Perfect Gentleman’, ‘Safest Spot In Town’, ‘I Miss The War’ and ‘A Grand Day Out’ respectively.

The writers are Matthew Baldwin, Jon Bradfield, Michael Dennis, Keith Jarrett, and Gareth McLean – writing for television for the first time – alongside Jackie Clune, Brian Fillis and Mark Gatiss.

All eight monologues will also be staged at The Old Vic Theatre in July, in the run up to the television transmission. Tickets are on sale now.

Are you looking forward to Queers? Let us know below…