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更新时间：2023-09-13 13:12
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《黄瓜》男主亨利47岁，在一家保险公司工作，和伴侣兰斯生活于郊区，滋润又安逸。但在经历了一场灾难性的约会之夜——混杂了一段死亡，一段3P，两辆警车后——亨利的旧生活崩解，新生活降临，人生故事似才刚刚开始。《香蕉》男主莱迪和迪恩年岁不及亨利一半，亦在《黄瓜》中跳进跳出，和他们的生活互有交集，但拥有独立的故事线，代表着这座城市年轻一代的同性恋群体。
长篇影评
1 ) 學習如何做一個gay
影片雖然叫「黃瓜」, 勃起硬度最強的狀態, 主角卻是「豆腐」. 兩個中年人, 亨利和蘭斯, 悲催地同居了9年, 卻一直沒有做愛.
至於亨利為什麽堅持不被爆菊, 是童年陰影還是想把第一次留給對的人? 不得而知. 只是每一集都害我著急, 總期待劇情能給他找一個「開苞男神」. 亨利身上有一種懷舊的情愫, 更傾向於在超市之中幻想, 而不是去實戰. 當他聽到侄子亞當和托馬斯表演了基情視訊之後, 卻並沒有遭到同學們的恥笑, 「女生們還表現地很喜歡」; 而「直男」托馬斯甚至還幫侄子口交. 他表現出一種「什麽?! 現在的騷年們已經可以玩得這樣high了嗎?!」. 是啊, 時代已經不同了, 同志再也不用夾緊尾巴做人了.
弗雷迪則屬於我們這一代, 言辭犀利, 嘴賤, 喜歡在同志交友APP上約砲, 享受無限制的性愛. 我喜歡費雷迪這個角色, 當然, 顏值是一部份; 我也喜歡他的崩潰, 尤其當初亨利先生剛住進他們那間爛尾樓, 他還趾高氣揚的表示「我們之間絕對不會發生什麽」; 而到後來, 他主動爬上亨利先生的睡床; 最後一集, 甚至透過和律師的「憤怒性愛」企圖平復心中的「戀老」想法.
想像, 他還念念不忘當初爆自己菊的老師呢, 看來, 弗雷迪其實也是個「熟男控」.
而談到蘭斯這個角色, 我覺得適用於大部份同志. 你知道, 透過第6集, 這是一個典型的同志成長史: 被當做異性戀養大; 青春期開始意識到自己喜歡男人的身體; 到了大學開始放縱的生活; 出櫃, 被家人拒絕→被家人接納; 找一份好工作, 找一個男人過上安定的中年生活. 這其實是大多數LGBT宣傳片中會出現的同志形象, 目的是將同性戀和異性戀家庭「同質化」.
至於迪恩, 這個形象我覺得純粹是為了抽風而存在的.
嗯, 還有水族館裡面那個潛水員, 就是殺害蘭斯的那個「偽直男」. Sorry, I cannot remember his name. 這個角色應該就是大家最深惡痛絕的那種吧! 一直強調說自己以前玩過多少女人, 自己的雞雞有多大, 對同志表現出若即若離欲拒還迎的態度. 這種人完全就是禍害, 他不敢承認自己喜歡男人這個事實, 內心糾結又矛盾, 於是只有拿其他同志來撒氣. 依我看, 很多homophobes都屬於這種人.
當然, 為了給劇情增添口味, 劇中還有很多小鮮肉. 第8季是最養眼的了, 因為「香蕉」裡面的演員像賀歲電影那樣來串場了.
至於片尾, 亨利先生說, 他會在家中坐下來, 試圖理出頭緒: 如何做一個gay. 我覺得這句話一點也不假, 因為我們很多人在初始都是被設定為異性戀的角色培養的, 所以當我們成長起來, 認知自我, 確實是一個需要學習, 也在不斷學習的過程.
至於亨利為什麽堅持不被爆菊, 是童年陰影還是想把第一次留給對的人? 不得而知. 只是每一集都害我著急, 總期待劇情能給他找一個「開苞男神」. 亨利身上有一種懷舊的情愫, 更傾向於在超市之中幻想, 而不是去實戰. 當他聽到侄子亞當和托馬斯表演了基情視訊之後, 卻並沒有遭到同學們的恥笑, 「女生們還表現地很喜歡」; 而「直男」托馬斯甚至還幫侄子口交. 他表現出一種「什麽?! 現在的騷年們已經可以玩得這樣high了嗎?!」. 是啊, 時代已經不同了, 同志再也不用夾緊尾巴做人了.
弗雷迪則屬於我們這一代, 言辭犀利, 嘴賤, 喜歡在同志交友APP上約砲, 享受無限制的性愛. 我喜歡費雷迪這個角色, 當然, 顏值是一部份; 我也喜歡他的崩潰, 尤其當初亨利先生剛住進他們那間爛尾樓, 他還趾高氣揚的表示「我們之間絕對不會發生什麽」; 而到後來, 他主動爬上亨利先生的睡床; 最後一集, 甚至透過和律師的「憤怒性愛」企圖平復心中的「戀老」想法.
想像, 他還念念不忘當初爆自己菊的老師呢, 看來, 弗雷迪其實也是個「熟男控」.
而談到蘭斯這個角色, 我覺得適用於大部份同志. 你知道, 透過第6集, 這是一個典型的同志成長史: 被當做異性戀養大; 青春期開始意識到自己喜歡男人的身體; 到了大學開始放縱的生活; 出櫃, 被家人拒絕→被家人接納; 找一份好工作, 找一個男人過上安定的中年生活. 這其實是大多數LGBT宣傳片中會出現的同志形象, 目的是將同性戀和異性戀家庭「同質化」.
至於迪恩, 這個形象我覺得純粹是為了抽風而存在的.
嗯, 還有水族館裡面那個潛水員, 就是殺害蘭斯的那個「偽直男」. Sorry, I cannot remember his name. 這個角色應該就是大家最深惡痛絕的那種吧! 一直強調說自己以前玩過多少女人, 自己的雞雞有多大, 對同志表現出若即若離欲拒還迎的態度. 這種人完全就是禍害, 他不敢承認自己喜歡男人這個事實, 內心糾結又矛盾, 於是只有拿其他同志來撒氣. 依我看, 很多homophobes都屬於這種人.
當然, 為了給劇情增添口味, 劇中還有很多小鮮肉. 第8季是最養眼的了, 因為「香蕉」裡面的演員像賀歲電影那樣來串場了.
至於片尾, 亨利先生說, 他會在家中坐下來, 試圖理出頭緒: 如何做一個gay. 我覺得這句話一點也不假, 因為我們很多人在初始都是被設定為異性戀的角色培養的, 所以當我們成長起來, 認知自我, 確實是一個需要學習, 也在不斷學習的過程.
2 ) E07
1.开场。Henry穿衣服（黑色），照镜子，沉重。
2.Henry离开。Dean和Freddie表示一会儿也来。（因为带薪休假）
3.Henry回到家，见到Lance的姐姐。Cleo和家人来了。
4.Daniel组了律师团，打算以gay panic诉讼。变成过失杀人而不是谋杀。众人愤怒。
5.接待来宾。众人反应不同。Freddie安慰了Henry。有一些人没来，Henry生气。依旧众人的反应。
6.Henry和他的gay朋友聊天。Freddie和侍应生交谈（不和21岁以上的），Freddie失败。谈起变老。（cock hair...）
7.Henry洗手时突然悲伤，用唱歌掩饰。“每个人都想要我哭。”真的哭了，躲进厕所隔间。Cliff替他把着门。
8.Freddie和朋友谈起，自己并不同情Henry，嫌烦。Freddie被室友吸引，表示要搬进来。
9.Henry和Lance的姐姐争论起房子和存款。Henry表示不是他的错，争论。姐姐同意不是Henry的错，但也不打算还钱。
10.Freddie收拾行李。Freddie表示可以帮Henry约一个美男。“给鳏夫的礼物”。
11.开车搜寻。找到一个地方，又去一个地方。到了运河街。刚下车，下大雨。车里聊黄色笑话。聊起过去。Henry承认自己从未插入式过。Dean承认自己的秘密。开始认真讨论Henry的问题。Henry谈起Lance，崩溃大哭。Henry认为不是自己的错。
12.三人下车。遇见美男。三人大笑。美男表示愿意和Freddie，Freddie拒绝，一起回家。Freddie拆包。Henry独自进被窝，哭泣。Freddie在隔壁听到。
13.Henry起身倒水，回来Freddie躺进被窝，Henry拒绝。
14.第二天早，大汉上门收拾行李。房东驱逐。 Scotty来，一整栋楼的人都被驱逐。大打出手。
15.Henry回到家里，Marie离开。一群人在Henry家开party。
3 ) How to be a GAY?
最后一集，在henry经历了这么多chaos和可望不可及之后，屏幕显示six years later，街头艺人唱着amy macdonald的this is the life，henry和曾经追慕的freddie居然在伦敦街头相遇了，henry换了一副玳瑁框的眼镜，一件navy西装，一眼就是英国中年男人样儿，而freddie还是一副操天操地操你妈的那副不羁样子，金发大背头，还纹了个大花臂，看到henry的时候他歪着嘴皱着眉笑着转头叹气，so typical freddie!
当他俩在咖啡馆谈起lance死后、freddie从henry家逃跑之后生活，henry还是henry，六年间henry一直意淫着咖啡馆小哥，小哥跳槽了三次，他的常驻咖啡馆就换了三次，就像他之前一直在超市、在公司、在任何有美好年轻肉体的地方，意淫完美的肉体那样；六年间也有四个男人的来去，但是曾让henry和lance破裂的原因——no fuck，和henry的那句“thre's gonna be one more cock,OUT THERE”，却全在既不年轻也不帅气的bruce身上发生了，henry made love！FINALLY made love！but他还是得想着freddie、aiden之类的年轻肉体，才能从“tofu”进化成“cucumber”，所以大概lance的离开，可能真是必然，如果我是lance，我应该也不能坚持9年的无性恋爱吧。其实剧集一开始，lance约人3p的理由是9年没有性生活，我以为henry就是一个性冷淡或者无性恋爱的人，但后来才发现，他只是一直在寻找一个理想中cock来破处，这一找，这一憋，就到了46岁的年纪。对年轻肉体的向往，人之常情，但是如此keen on于年轻肉体一直到了中年危机的年纪，也真不知道在寻找什么了。身边也有好基友特别看重脸，但对于我来说，脸真是第二位，能聊得来，幽默有趣才是第一位，只是每当听到“丑的会出轨、帅的会出轨，不如找个帅哥/器大活好的玩”的道理也不得不认同。
henry之前的生活，一直是按部就班的，或者应该说是自我封闭的，最后他回顾了自己的过往，lance约了基友一起出去聊天玩耍，henry其实一直不想去，不能每次都说不想去，只能临时变卦找借口说不去；henry讨厌cliff，一直讨厌他；freddie给henry约来一个基友，当晚就甩了他之后出门去喝咖啡，遇到了另一个gay，不想聊天，不想被挑逗；一直说要出去旅游，但真的只是“说”要出去旅游，在家呆着也挺好……所以henry就是一个太sterotype的人了。写到这里，我突然意识到自己就是一个henry，想交朋友，但是觉得太麻烦，即使认识了新的人，在知道不合自己性格的时候，就会完全切断联系；想生活围绕着自己的控制运转，洗衣服、打扫卫生、吃什么喝什么都有自己的一套；自己不想出去，也要求男友在家呆着；想作改变，但是有害怕改变。
最后，henry在外面流浪一圈之后，想到还是最包容他的lance好，他约了lance相告诉他i love you，想回到一起的家，但是说不出口，听到lance正在date同事daniel的时候，他毅然地退缩了。即使几天后，在家里和lance说了i still love you，但是lance的心已经不在他身上了，lance说得对，“现在说这一切，还有什么用”。当晚，也是lance死在daniel球杆下的晚上，lance一边喷血，一边回顾这自己的人生，他临死前最后的画面竟然是henry，看到这里，我相信，他们是相爱的，我不想说但也不得不承认，落到这个下场也真的是因为henry。其实，我也一直在思考，自己现在的状态是不是真的在“享受”爱情，还是在“维系”爱情，如果鼓起勇气结束了，是不是兜兜转转，几年之后回过头来，依然还是身边的这个人最好呢？
至于lance的人生，可能他是国外最典型的gay形象了吧，如果没有daniel这个人生败笔的话。他有稳定的工作，固定的基友圈，家庭关系还算融洽，如果和henry有圆满的性生活以及henry答应他的求婚，大概也就是“愿得一人心，白首不分离”了，偏偏遇到有危险味道的daniel，“危险关系”的吸引力就有这么大，既然稳定的爱人都已经分开了，既然都活到这年纪了，难道还不为自己活一回吗？！daniel这个角色，真是把恐同即深柜的形象最大化了，在他和lance的来往中，不仅有对lance的侮辱性语言，也有人生侵犯，到最后竟然挥球杆杀了lance，这样的转折我从来没想过，如果lance换成是我，我在酒吧的第一次date之后就会放弃，我在感情上不是一个知难而进的人，更不是一个自信的人。
我一直以为henry的回心转意，会让剧情走向温馨，剧情会在两人完美的啪啪啪中收尾，没想到lance会死，更没想到freddie、dean和henry会被踢出公寓，lance的姐姐marie还跳出来和henry抢存款和房产，drama大爆发，不得不感叹腐剧还得看腐国。一阵chaos之后，henry回到了自己和lance的房子，henry拿回了自己的职位，一群LGBTQ在henry家party、吃饭、聊天，表面上看henry的生活大流朝着好的方向走，但是lance的同事veronica造访，还给henry lance留在办公桌上的东西，并告诉他lance是因他而死，是他把lance推到了daniel的家里上了锁，虽然我想说veroneca是个绿茶婊，当初是她如何撺掇lance说他有机会一试，现在想把责任全部推给henry，但是henry确实有一定责任，说白了henry的作是导火线。LGBTQ朋友住了而一段时间都慢慢离开，dean说要回父母的家，拉拉们说被基佬开玩笑开得不舒服，我一直在纳闷个中原因，是因为大家都觉得是henry导致了lance的死，才离开henry家吗？在freddie逃离那晚的晚餐时间，freddie对henry说的：你让一切都围着你转，你安排好了一切，让别人觉得自己愧对于你，提要求也不是，离开也不是，所以lance才落得这个下场。莫非这才是这群LGBTQ朋友离开的原因吗？我是一个对朋友无条件好的人，所谓朋友，即至交好友，年近30，不足一掌之数，所以我有点不能理解这个原因，也可能是因为我没有遇到过henry这样的朋友吧？但是设身处地想一想，住在别人家，确实要按照别人的rules来，到确实不自由。
Freddie,freddie,就像美国版QAF里的brian kenny一样的人物，我高中时候看这部电视剧时也是被brian迷的不行，没想到十多年之后看这部剧依然是被这样的人物迷住，LOL。也还是那句话，做了小半辈子的“别人家的孩子”，一直想叛逆一次，想坏一次，只能在另一半上实现这个愿望，哈哈！不过，在对任何事情都don't give a fuck/don't care的他，在给老师的老婆发送了约炮照片流的那一滴泪，猛击我心，其实他是爱过老师的吧，只是时过境迁，他想要的和老师能给的实在太不对等，报复一下也未尝不可。lance葬礼当晚，他以自己的肉体为条件，帮henry满城找一个Grindr基友来约炮，在没有“情事”下文的后半夜，henry蒙头大哭的时候，他还想以自己交换henry不难过；在合租的过程中，可以一起听课聊henry时代最红的歌……不过，很多时候，我还是觉得freddie对henry还是比较过分的，说的话也是很shamelss/brutal，真是不禁要想，我到了henry的年纪，是不是也真的会像他那样低头尾随他/任何一个年轻值得意淫的肉体，只要有一丝get laid的可能，愿意做任何事情。这么想，是不是我的中年危机已经在眼前了？LOL
回到开篇amy macdonald的this is thelife。我相信，这首歌一定是RTD的故意设置！最后三集的drama之后，henry的生活回归平静，但自己想要什么、能得到什么还是一片空白吧？不然，他也不会在最后和freddie的对谈中，说现在的bruce也是一种yeah/just fine/not bad的无所谓语气，说要去旅游，去巴黎，去哪里，无法确定，到最后居然还是说or just sit at home is just fine。就像歌词写的， where you're gonna go and where you're gonna sleep tonight，我也不知道，日子就混着呗，henry就还是henry。
写到这里，我也不得不感叹自己的人生和感情经历都太无趣，也幻想着在manchester或者LA、amsterdam过一过活色生香的日子，体验一把真正faggat的日子。压抑自己的工作和日子，过得觉得有点厌倦了，今日辞职情绪进入高涨期，也认真考虑过辞职的问题，希望能figure out些头绪来。其实how to be a gay，多半也是随心所欲的，我想让自己的生活变得可控而精致，我也见过能过双面生活的gay life。所谓他人期待gay过什么日子，纵欲的、滥交的、奢侈的、见不得人的，gay本身是什么样子，娘的、弱的、很精致的、有胡渣的……无非都是刻板印象，只是鲜有人能活的自己想要的样子，尤其是在中国。如果我真要改变我的生活，是不是现在开始改变已经太晚？
对了，在我写下这篇影评的时候，正无限重播着this is the life，回想我听这首歌的时候，还是拿着我的第二代nano，2008年，本科二年级在读，经常在自修教室、图书馆听歌看窗外发呆，没想到10年后的今天再听到这个歌，才真的懂它写的是什么意思。
4 ) 杂乱的生活
没有具体的期许，带着一丝猎奇的心看完了前六集。不给它贴上喜剧的标签，因为这个结局，这最离奇的第六集真的是对所有人的当头棒喝。
其实我还远没看懂这部剧，但是40多岁的Henry让人留下深刻印象。他谢顶、肥胖，但绝不邋遢，打扮得体时尚，知道如何享乐……可是他唯一的“问题”是从没have sex。但他活得超级自在，能侃天侃地，并希望有一天能找到属于自己的真命天子。可惜这些只是表象，深层的困境不用多说。于是，他逃离sex，逃离男友，却逃不出生活。
他跟Freddie竟然成了“闺蜜”。Freddie看似是完美的gay——年轻、帅气、有型，在表面的风光背后，却有着一段见不得光的“师生恋”。只要他想要，随时都能得到性，但得不到真正的、令人艳羡的爱，因为他爱的人已经成了家。
同一屋檐下的Dean同样年轻，但他的问题更加不能言语。每次的sex都只能草草了事。苦恼的不仅仅是他，而且还吓跑了跟他交往过的每个人。即便自己有多么中意某个人，只要他在意Dean的问题，一切白搭。
第六集全在讲Lance（1966-2015）。他的前半生似乎很普通——男友换了一个又一个，家人从拒绝到接纳，感情也渐渐稳定下来，似乎人生一帆风顺。可是，谁也不知道下一刻却死在了“病人”的手里。当然这病是天生的还是心理阴影造成的就不得而知了。尽管这人是他同事，照理说蛮熟悉的，可是性冲昏了头脑，之前关于Danny不正常的蛛丝马迹全没瞧见，更没有人替他把关，结果就因为跟Hnery之间的小矛盾，最终导致丧了自己的命。
其实这一切怪不得任何人。生活有时候会给我们一些教训，但最深刻的教训是意外死亡，可惜为时已晚。
这部剧拍得很杂，各种社会现象都讲到。来看帅哥的可以duang开，但感兴趣的请不要被吓跑。演员演得很卖力，其中有些角色很不好演。最喜欢片头在超市里瞎逛的镜头。
挺佩服RTD今天拍了这样有深度的剧，让人在嬉笑之余，学会感恩和热爱生活。
=======================分====割====线========================
看完了最后一集，想想这样的“结局”也算中规中矩。生命中的许多遇到的人真的不过是匆匆过客，毕竟大家的生活都是以自己为中心的，真正能共同厮守到老的不过几个。不过这部剧展现给我们的是Henry和Freddie在分别了6年后依旧能面对面坐着，嬉笑怒骂。虽然Freddie说他们不是朋友，只是旧相识罢了，但两个人的内心都是有彼此的。
时间是在不经意中磨蚀着所有人的，每个人在若干年后可能发展出截然不同或是惊人类似的结局。就在Henry和Feddie重新见面的时候，动感的歌曲《This is the Life》让听者不禁感慨万千。原本是感叹生命的歌曲竟被唱得如此欢快，以至让人感到莫名的酸楚。又一部优秀的剧结束了，感谢编剧。珍重。
其实我还远没看懂这部剧，但是40多岁的Henry让人留下深刻印象。他谢顶、肥胖，但绝不邋遢，打扮得体时尚，知道如何享乐……可是他唯一的“问题”是从没have sex。但他活得超级自在，能侃天侃地，并希望有一天能找到属于自己的真命天子。可惜这些只是表象，深层的困境不用多说。于是，他逃离sex，逃离男友，却逃不出生活。
他跟Freddie竟然成了“闺蜜”。Freddie看似是完美的gay——年轻、帅气、有型，在表面的风光背后，却有着一段见不得光的“师生恋”。只要他想要，随时都能得到性，但得不到真正的、令人艳羡的爱，因为他爱的人已经成了家。
同一屋檐下的Dean同样年轻，但他的问题更加不能言语。每次的sex都只能草草了事。苦恼的不仅仅是他，而且还吓跑了跟他交往过的每个人。即便自己有多么中意某个人，只要他在意Dean的问题，一切白搭。
第六集全在讲Lance（1966-2015）。他的前半生似乎很普通——男友换了一个又一个，家人从拒绝到接纳，感情也渐渐稳定下来，似乎人生一帆风顺。可是，谁也不知道下一刻却死在了“病人”的手里。当然这病是天生的还是心理阴影造成的就不得而知了。尽管这人是他同事，照理说蛮熟悉的，可是性冲昏了头脑，之前关于Danny不正常的蛛丝马迹全没瞧见，更没有人替他把关，结果就因为跟Hnery之间的小矛盾，最终导致丧了自己的命。
其实这一切怪不得任何人。生活有时候会给我们一些教训，但最深刻的教训是意外死亡，可惜为时已晚。
这部剧拍得很杂，各种社会现象都讲到。来看帅哥的可以duang开，但感兴趣的请不要被吓跑。演员演得很卖力，其中有些角色很不好演。最喜欢片头在超市里瞎逛的镜头。
挺佩服RTD今天拍了这样有深度的剧，让人在嬉笑之余，学会感恩和热爱生活。
=======================分====割====线========================
看完了最后一集，想想这样的“结局”也算中规中矩。生命中的许多遇到的人真的不过是匆匆过客，毕竟大家的生活都是以自己为中心的，真正能共同厮守到老的不过几个。不过这部剧展现给我们的是Henry和Freddie在分别了6年后依旧能面对面坐着，嬉笑怒骂。虽然Freddie说他们不是朋友，只是旧相识罢了，但两个人的内心都是有彼此的。
时间是在不经意中磨蚀着所有人的，每个人在若干年后可能发展出截然不同或是惊人类似的结局。就在Henry和Feddie重新见面的时候，动感的歌曲《This is the Life》让听者不禁感慨万千。原本是感叹生命的歌曲竟被唱得如此欢快，以至让人感到莫名的酸楚。又一部优秀的剧结束了，感谢编剧。珍重。
5 ) 第六集的真實用意 from Russell T Davies
Russell T Davies: "I'd long wanted to write a death that feels like a death"
Russell talks exclusively to Patrick Mulkern about violence on TV, the spooky return of Hazel from Queer as Folk and why there'll be no second series of Cucumber. Contains spoilers!
I needed a stiff drink after the latest Cucumber – Russell T Davies’s darkest and most disturbing drama to date. I previewed it for RT several weeks ago and it haunted me for days.
Episode six begins with the caption “Lance Edward Sullivan 1966–2015” – so we know where it’s heading for one of the central characters. The following 45 minutes then deftly encapsulate Lance’s life and loves, from his birth in the 1960s to a final, fateful encounter with Daniel.
I had a hunch it wouldn’t end well between these two. For weeks, Lance (Cyril Nri) has pursued his obsession with Daniel (James Murray), the highly sexed, supposedly straight diver – despite many danger signals. They’ve gone on blokey “dates” and last week had a sexual encounter of sorts. Now, in episode six (Channel 4, Thursday 26 February), they’ve gone a lot further...
In the final moments, the increasingly unhinged Daniel flips, becomes violent and thwacks Lance with a golf club. Just once. But the iron smashes into the side of his skull. Within seconds – as fragments of his life flash before his eyes – Lance is dead.
Harrowing material from the ebullient, big-hearted Russell T Davies, who is only too happy to discuss his latest work with Radio Times.com…
PM: This is very dark and disturbing territory, Russell. What compelled you to go there?
RTD: Thank you – I’m glad you liked it, and if you don’t mind my saying so, I’m glad it’s haunted you. But I was always heading here. About a year ago, Alison Graham wrote a powerful article in Radio Times, asking why darkness has to erupt in television series, and I’m still thinking of how to answer her. I was in the middle of writing this when she published that, and she stopped me in my tracks! But I kept going.
And I think that writers explore this stuff because that’s our job; that’s why we write in the first place, to test everything, to feel everything, to be as funny as possible and as dark as possible. Teenagers say these days, “It’s all about the feels!” But maybe they’re right. Simple as that.
So for a long time, I’d wanted to write a death that feels like a death. I’ve killed plenty of people as plot devices. And it’s always felt like it’s skimming the surface. I’ve been thinking for years that in order to tell a death, I’d have to tell the whole life. And devote a whole episode to it. So that at the end, I hope, it doesn’t just feel like someone’s dead, it actually feels like dying.
It took years to build up to it. I needed to summon a lot of nerve to find that golf club and use it – seriously, if you look at everything I’ve ever written, I almost never use physical violence. Lasers, fine. But actual physical violence, never. I think I threw a single, genuine punch in my entire history of Doctor Who. You try holding down a career as a writer without punches, it’s very hard to sustain. Every drama has a punch-up. But not mine. I’ve always thought there are better ways to write. So to build up to this – and it’s one swing, a single blow, when in reality that could have been a torrent of blows – needed me to grit my teeth. Maybe that’s answering Alison’s question, a bit. If a writer’s working hard to go further than they normally go, isn’t that good?
But that’s only one aspect. There are a thousand reasons for doing it. Another was, I was very aware from the start that this whole series amounted to basically first-world problems. Sex, family, love, money. No one’s in danger of starving! When actually, to live as a gay man in the world, even here in the west, means skirting round violence every day. Like it or not. That’s a fact. Its potential is always there. And just 3,000 miles away – that’s next door, it’s just next door to us – gay men in Syria are being thrown off rooftops. While Putin gathers power every day, what is his obsession with homosexuality? I mean, seriously, what is it?
So from the moment I began to think of Cucumber, a decade ago, I knew an act of violence would interrupt a comparatively cosy world. It’ll happen this weekend, to some man or some woman. A night out will end in harm, or HIV, or a terrible memory, and at its worst – a few times a year, all year round, every year – a night will end like Lance’s.
It’s important to include that world. The real world, intruding on fiction. And always mindful of Alison – I’m not kidding, I listen to her – I decided there would be no chance of a second series of Cucumber after she demolished the sheer existence of Homeland’s second season!
I think I was diligent, and paved the way for this in advance. There’s always been a darkness at the edges of Cucumber, which allows Daniel in. The series began with a suicide. And actually, Daniel radiates danger! The whole point of him, since his very first scene, has been to say he’s trouble. He’s so disturbed and conflicted, his every line unsettles me.
I wanted to do that specifically because when some violent act erupts, in life, it’s never out of nowhere. Most of us will never be violent. Most of us, thank God. But those who are... I think it can be visible. If we could only read the signs. People with a capacity for violence have gone very wrong, and that wrongness is shining out of them. So often, after some terrible act, you’ll see people saying, “He seemed so nice” or “He was such a nice man.” I don’t believe it. I bet there was always something visibly wrong. Just look! So that’s how Daniel was created. If you’re reading the series right, you’ll have been screaming at the screen for weeks now, telling Lance to get out. Too late!
By the way, if you watch this week’s Banana – which is a lovely, brittle, hilarious love story, written by and starring Charlie Covell – you’ll discover what Daniel did next. Fleetingly! Keep an ear open.
PM: Lance’s murder is clearly a pivotal moment in the series. You’ve killed off one of your central characters, nice guy Lance, who was decent, sensible, romantic. Now his ex-partner, the self-centred Henry, will have to deal with the horror and loss. How early in the writing process of the series did you decide that Lance was going to die? Is this always where you were heading with the story?
RTD: It’s funny, I could write 57 pages debating the notion of innocent Lance and self-centred Henry. I think it’s trickier than that! Henry hasn’t been truly self-centred since Episode 1 – since then, he’s realised how scared he is, that he’s scared of “the man” in Ep 3. He’s confessed to being scared of sex and youth and life and everything in Ep 4, and in Ep 5 he’s finally so selfless that he lets Lance go. Ironically! It’s his fault again! And in contrast, everyone sees Lance as the long-suffering innocent, but I’m not so sure – I think Lance plays the innocent, but that’s a different thing. We all do that, but it doesn’t make it true! Because it was Lance who brought that man home in Ep 1, deliberately, to provoke. And we might laugh at Henry for fancying Freddie, but Lance is equally star-struck, with a far worse man, a man who’s clearly been trouble since Episode 1.
But yes, this was always the plan. The first synopsis was written in early 2011, when I was living in LA, and Lance was a character who worked at the Seattle Aquarium. The casting notice always said he was only in it for six episodes. Actually, seven, and then I moved the death back by one episode because its consequences would be so huge. But the show needs it – without removing Lance, the series would have just become a will-he-won’t-he with Henry. By killing Lance, we leave Henry alone. That’s the real point. We’ve seen Henry lose everything. But now he’s really suffered a proper loss, and the series is an examination of that, of who Henry is, why he’s like he is, and whether he can change. This is his ultimate challenge. His safety net has gone. And he’s got a long way to fall.
PM: The final ten minutes is one uncompromisingly strong scene – in its depiction of sex between two men (clumsy and awkward but never too graphic), a sexual encounter going horribly wrong and ending in brutality. The writing, performances, direction and editing are all razor-sharp. I’m wondering how closely what you wrote in the script has translated to the screen. Were you shocked yourself when you saw it?
RTD: Well, bless that team, that’s word-for-word what’s in the script. Every pause, kiss and movement. It had to be written so carefully and precisely, to be absolutely strict about what each man is doing and thinking at every stage of that long, long scene. The episode has spent 40 minutes rattling through an entire life, so now we spend ten minutes focusing on every breath.
I was so lucky that Alice Troughton came in to direct this block. I’ve always been a bit experimental when Alice is around! We did that episode of Doctor Who together, Midnight [2008], the one where David Tennant is trapped on board a space bus with Lesley Sharp, and all she can do is repeat his words. That was bold, that pushed us all, and that episode – unusually for a piece of sci-fi – ended up winning awards for sound and editing. So Alice always makes me push things further!
I knew she was on board before I even started writing this, so that gave me the freedom to fly. I knew she’d love it! Along the way we got the editor of the first four episodes of Banana involved, Paulo Pandolpho, because we’d loved his work, and that proved to be a great combination. He’s only in his 20s, he’s brilliant. He’s the voice that says “Banana!” over the opening titles.
But that’s ignoring the most obvious thing. Our secret weapons. Cyril and James. And they’re just amazing, aren’t they? I can ramble on about stories and ambitions and scripts, but you’re nothing without the cast. And those two went into it whole-heartedly. They rehearsed with Alice intensely. And we scheduled two whole days for the big scene – that’s a long time, in TV. But the whole team wanted to get it right. I think they’re just note-perfect, those two actors.
I wasn’t exactly shocked when I first saw it. Well, truth is, I couldn’t stay away from that edit! Because Alice, Paulo and I, and Matt Strevens, the producer, we all talked a lot about that final sequence, the inside of Lance’s mind as he dies. Again, it was written in detail, every image, every flashback, but that comes alive in the edit, and changes. We had versions that were too long, too short. Too noisy, too quiet. We almost lost the copyright on that Eurovision song [Spain’s 1968 winner La, La, La] – we so needed it, it’s the most sinister tune in the world – until Matt wrestled the lawyers to the floor.
So we worked on it a lot. I wasn’t sure whether it worked until we first played it to [executive producer] Nicola Shindler. And she burst into tears! Job done, we thought. Although of course, she had notes. But we simply kept refining until we were happy. I’m only sad about one thing – one image flashing through his head was meant to be full-frame footage of Benny Hill’s Ernie. Echoing from his childhood, that sinister bit about the ghostly gold tops, cos that always chilled me as a kid. But we only had permission to play that video within a TV screen, during Lance’s childhood, and not full-frame. Damn!
PM: When did the actors Cyril Nri and James Murray know where the story was heading for their characters? Right from the start?
RTD: Oh, from the moment they were booked. By the time Cyril was cast, and we went for a nice little lunch in Manchester to discuss everything, I’d already given him Ep 6. So no one was under any illusions! We did ask the cast not to tweet anything about it, or the scenes in Ep 7, which would give away the future of the plot, just in case. But I think Cyril was just excited! Let’s be honest, what actor doesn’t want a good death scene?
PM: I adore the way you’ve brought Denise Black into the episode. She was so wonderful in Queer as Folk as Hazel Tyler, Vince’s clued-up, very accepting mum. I remember the scene where she held a conference with the other, less liberal-minded mums and said, “Try not to think about the arse thing and you’ll be fine.” I read that when you halted Queer as Folk after ten episodes, you considered a solo show for Hazel. How much in love with Hazel are you and why?
RTD: It’s hard to say who I love best, Hazel or Denise! So many people have such a tremendous affection for them both. When this series was first commissioned, I said to Piers Wenger, the Head of Drama at Channel 4, “I don’t suppose you’d mind Hazel Tyler walking round the corner at some point?” and he said “Oh yes please!” When the man who’s paying for the series says that, you listen! But Queer As Folk was a very special time, for Denise and me and an awful lot of us. It’s carved on my gravestone, frankly. And Denise assumed quite a role within the gay community too – people love Hazel, so Denise is often asked to attend charity functions, and Aids memorials, to his day. And she always turns up, she’s a proper trouper.
So this whole thing felt right. I knew I’d never be coming back to this world, so this was one final hurrah. Mind you, I wrote her into this without even asking her, and then had a nasty moment of wondering, “What if she says no?” But she leapt on it! She was out in Spain, filming Benidorm, so we emailed the script to her, and within five minutes she was on the phone, planning her hair and costume. And actually, genuinely delighted to be back, bless her.
PM: It’s hugely poignant that Hazel reappears 15 years later in Cucumber as a kind of Fairy Godmother of Canal Street. She sidles up to Lance on a bridge and seems to be warning him. “Is it worth it in the end? Really? … You’ve taken a wrong turn but you could still turn back. Now listen to me and go home.” Then she tells Lance that she’s actually dead. “Good old Hazel. Now I walk up and down this street. Me and the boys and the water.” It works beautifully and is such a touching pay-off for Queer as Folk fans – but it’s bold to add this element of fantasy, of the supernatural, to a dead serious drama. How did you develop this section?
RTD: Yeah. I needed the story to rise, to lift, to become bigger, to reach into areas and styles of storytelling that you wouldn’t normally use, because the approaching death was so huge. Bear in mind, you’ve been told since Scene 1 that Lance is going to die. You see the dates of his birth and death, 30 seconds in. So the closer it gets… the walls need to break down, the drama needs to stretch further, and snap open, because that’s the size of what’s coming, and this is the only chance I’ll get.
To go into detail – and you don’t have to pay any attention to this, think what you want! – but once you’ve been told that Lance is dead, in Scene 1, then all rules are off. And you could argue that the entire episode is his death, that from Scene 2, by seeing his birth, we’re actually experiencing the inside of his head after the golf club. We are literally seeing his life pass before his eyes.
So while I wanted to lift the story up, to give it a supernatural terror, the point is, did he see Hazel at all? Did he really see a ghost? Really?! Because right at the end, in the final images, you see an old woman, in Hazel’s clothes, standing where Hazel stood. And she’s raving, she’s drunk, she’s mad. While Hazel gently told Lance to go home, the old woman is screaming “Go home!” at him as racial abuse.
Maybe, just maybe, Lance took that image from his last night on Earth, and in dying, tidied it up. He corrected it. Made it prettier, and deeper, and he even included foreshadowing. Either his mind replaced the old woman with a woman from one of his favourite TV shows, or, if you want QAF to be in the same canon as Cucumber, then he replaced the old woman with someone he used to see from afar on Canal Street, a really funny woman who he wishes he’d known.
Maybe that’s true. But equally, maybe it is Hazel. Maybe this death is so awful and so important that the barriers between worlds come down, and the barriers between stories. Lance’s death is so huge that a character from another fiction can step into his story to give him a warning about the next page. I really believe that too. Honestly, I believe that equally.
Her appearance is given huge weight by her invisible chorus of the boys in the water; and they’re real, those boys, the boys who drown every year. I wrote that line long before the recent scandal over exactly how many boys regularly disappear into Manchester’s canals. It’s shocking. I wouldn’t include that lightly. Part of me wishes that someone like Hazel would stand guard over them. While knowing that life, nor death, would never be that kind. You see? It goes back to my first answer, it goes back to the feels! I think Hazel’s presence lifts things, stirs your soul, in a way that normal events could not. That’s what the supernatural is for, that’s why we invented it. To feel something greater than ourselves.
Blimey. Thank you for giving me the chance to say that!
PM: Maybe I’ve missed them but, given Cucumber’s setting on the Manchester gay scene, were you tempted to make any other allusions to Queer as Folk?
RTD: I don’t think there’s anything else! The club that Henry and Lance go to in Ep 1 is called Babylon, and had the exact neon sign from QAF recreated by the art department. But I’m not sure you ever saw that on screen. Of course, Henry works for HC Clements, who were Donna Noble’s employers in Doctor Who, but that’s not an intentional link – it’s simply that I knew the name was fictional and would therefore be copyright-cleared!
PM: What do you hope viewers, in particular gay men, will take away from this episode? Is it a cautionary tale?
RTD: Oh God, yes, I hope so. I keep writing that in dramas, that One Bad Night. The night that goes wrong. I think it’s a very gay experience, every gay man out there has had a night like this, in potential, or could have a night like this at any time. I shouldn’t claim it as gay – anyone can walk down that path. Just a step too far, just a drink too much, in the city, at night, and you’re in trouble. Though I do think this territory belongs to women and gay men in particular, to be honest.
And while that’s very generalised, then specifically, men like Daniel exist in this exact detail. And once or twice a year, you’ll see some story, some man with another man, and a lashing out, and a death, at the end of a long, dark night. And sometimes, that death will be called Gay Panic. Look it up, that’s about to become part of the plot of Eps 7 and 8. While it has no legal standing any more, in this country, the implication of gay panic, that a straight man is allowed to lash out if a gay man makes a pass at him, is as vile and pernicious as ever. These nights happen. They will happen this weekend. Be careful.
But it’s not just about the death. It’s about the life. That’s the real point of the whole episode, to see the hugeness of Lance’s well-lived life. In the passing of the years, you see fathers forgive, you see losses overcome, and you see love. In the end, I hope, in dying, Lance can be seen as wonderful. Like anyone.
Phew. Blimey. Thank you! On that note, good night.
PM: On behalf of Radio Times and Cucumber fans, thank you, Russell.
Cucumber continues on Thursdays on Channel 4 at 9pm
Russell talks exclusively to Patrick Mulkern about violence on TV, the spooky return of Hazel from Queer as Folk and why there'll be no second series of Cucumber. Contains spoilers!
I needed a stiff drink after the latest Cucumber – Russell T Davies’s darkest and most disturbing drama to date. I previewed it for RT several weeks ago and it haunted me for days.
Episode six begins with the caption “Lance Edward Sullivan 1966–2015” – so we know where it’s heading for one of the central characters. The following 45 minutes then deftly encapsulate Lance’s life and loves, from his birth in the 1960s to a final, fateful encounter with Daniel.
I had a hunch it wouldn’t end well between these two. For weeks, Lance (Cyril Nri) has pursued his obsession with Daniel (James Murray), the highly sexed, supposedly straight diver – despite many danger signals. They’ve gone on blokey “dates” and last week had a sexual encounter of sorts. Now, in episode six (Channel 4, Thursday 26 February), they’ve gone a lot further...
In the final moments, the increasingly unhinged Daniel flips, becomes violent and thwacks Lance with a golf club. Just once. But the iron smashes into the side of his skull. Within seconds – as fragments of his life flash before his eyes – Lance is dead.
Harrowing material from the ebullient, big-hearted Russell T Davies, who is only too happy to discuss his latest work with Radio Times.com…
PM: This is very dark and disturbing territory, Russell. What compelled you to go there?
RTD: Thank you – I’m glad you liked it, and if you don’t mind my saying so, I’m glad it’s haunted you. But I was always heading here. About a year ago, Alison Graham wrote a powerful article in Radio Times, asking why darkness has to erupt in television series, and I’m still thinking of how to answer her. I was in the middle of writing this when she published that, and she stopped me in my tracks! But I kept going.
And I think that writers explore this stuff because that’s our job; that’s why we write in the first place, to test everything, to feel everything, to be as funny as possible and as dark as possible. Teenagers say these days, “It’s all about the feels!” But maybe they’re right. Simple as that.
So for a long time, I’d wanted to write a death that feels like a death. I’ve killed plenty of people as plot devices. And it’s always felt like it’s skimming the surface. I’ve been thinking for years that in order to tell a death, I’d have to tell the whole life. And devote a whole episode to it. So that at the end, I hope, it doesn’t just feel like someone’s dead, it actually feels like dying.
It took years to build up to it. I needed to summon a lot of nerve to find that golf club and use it – seriously, if you look at everything I’ve ever written, I almost never use physical violence. Lasers, fine. But actual physical violence, never. I think I threw a single, genuine punch in my entire history of Doctor Who. You try holding down a career as a writer without punches, it’s very hard to sustain. Every drama has a punch-up. But not mine. I’ve always thought there are better ways to write. So to build up to this – and it’s one swing, a single blow, when in reality that could have been a torrent of blows – needed me to grit my teeth. Maybe that’s answering Alison’s question, a bit. If a writer’s working hard to go further than they normally go, isn’t that good?
But that’s only one aspect. There are a thousand reasons for doing it. Another was, I was very aware from the start that this whole series amounted to basically first-world problems. Sex, family, love, money. No one’s in danger of starving! When actually, to live as a gay man in the world, even here in the west, means skirting round violence every day. Like it or not. That’s a fact. Its potential is always there. And just 3,000 miles away – that’s next door, it’s just next door to us – gay men in Syria are being thrown off rooftops. While Putin gathers power every day, what is his obsession with homosexuality? I mean, seriously, what is it?
So from the moment I began to think of Cucumber, a decade ago, I knew an act of violence would interrupt a comparatively cosy world. It’ll happen this weekend, to some man or some woman. A night out will end in harm, or HIV, or a terrible memory, and at its worst – a few times a year, all year round, every year – a night will end like Lance’s.
It’s important to include that world. The real world, intruding on fiction. And always mindful of Alison – I’m not kidding, I listen to her – I decided there would be no chance of a second series of Cucumber after she demolished the sheer existence of Homeland’s second season!
I think I was diligent, and paved the way for this in advance. There’s always been a darkness at the edges of Cucumber, which allows Daniel in. The series began with a suicide. And actually, Daniel radiates danger! The whole point of him, since his very first scene, has been to say he’s trouble. He’s so disturbed and conflicted, his every line unsettles me.
I wanted to do that specifically because when some violent act erupts, in life, it’s never out of nowhere. Most of us will never be violent. Most of us, thank God. But those who are... I think it can be visible. If we could only read the signs. People with a capacity for violence have gone very wrong, and that wrongness is shining out of them. So often, after some terrible act, you’ll see people saying, “He seemed so nice” or “He was such a nice man.” I don’t believe it. I bet there was always something visibly wrong. Just look! So that’s how Daniel was created. If you’re reading the series right, you’ll have been screaming at the screen for weeks now, telling Lance to get out. Too late!
By the way, if you watch this week’s Banana – which is a lovely, brittle, hilarious love story, written by and starring Charlie Covell – you’ll discover what Daniel did next. Fleetingly! Keep an ear open.
PM: Lance’s murder is clearly a pivotal moment in the series. You’ve killed off one of your central characters, nice guy Lance, who was decent, sensible, romantic. Now his ex-partner, the self-centred Henry, will have to deal with the horror and loss. How early in the writing process of the series did you decide that Lance was going to die? Is this always where you were heading with the story?
RTD: It’s funny, I could write 57 pages debating the notion of innocent Lance and self-centred Henry. I think it’s trickier than that! Henry hasn’t been truly self-centred since Episode 1 – since then, he’s realised how scared he is, that he’s scared of “the man” in Ep 3. He’s confessed to being scared of sex and youth and life and everything in Ep 4, and in Ep 5 he’s finally so selfless that he lets Lance go. Ironically! It’s his fault again! And in contrast, everyone sees Lance as the long-suffering innocent, but I’m not so sure – I think Lance plays the innocent, but that’s a different thing. We all do that, but it doesn’t make it true! Because it was Lance who brought that man home in Ep 1, deliberately, to provoke. And we might laugh at Henry for fancying Freddie, but Lance is equally star-struck, with a far worse man, a man who’s clearly been trouble since Episode 1.
But yes, this was always the plan. The first synopsis was written in early 2011, when I was living in LA, and Lance was a character who worked at the Seattle Aquarium. The casting notice always said he was only in it for six episodes. Actually, seven, and then I moved the death back by one episode because its consequences would be so huge. But the show needs it – without removing Lance, the series would have just become a will-he-won’t-he with Henry. By killing Lance, we leave Henry alone. That’s the real point. We’ve seen Henry lose everything. But now he’s really suffered a proper loss, and the series is an examination of that, of who Henry is, why he’s like he is, and whether he can change. This is his ultimate challenge. His safety net has gone. And he’s got a long way to fall.
PM: The final ten minutes is one uncompromisingly strong scene – in its depiction of sex between two men (clumsy and awkward but never too graphic), a sexual encounter going horribly wrong and ending in brutality. The writing, performances, direction and editing are all razor-sharp. I’m wondering how closely what you wrote in the script has translated to the screen. Were you shocked yourself when you saw it?
RTD: Well, bless that team, that’s word-for-word what’s in the script. Every pause, kiss and movement. It had to be written so carefully and precisely, to be absolutely strict about what each man is doing and thinking at every stage of that long, long scene. The episode has spent 40 minutes rattling through an entire life, so now we spend ten minutes focusing on every breath.
I was so lucky that Alice Troughton came in to direct this block. I’ve always been a bit experimental when Alice is around! We did that episode of Doctor Who together, Midnight [2008], the one where David Tennant is trapped on board a space bus with Lesley Sharp, and all she can do is repeat his words. That was bold, that pushed us all, and that episode – unusually for a piece of sci-fi – ended up winning awards for sound and editing. So Alice always makes me push things further!
I knew she was on board before I even started writing this, so that gave me the freedom to fly. I knew she’d love it! Along the way we got the editor of the first four episodes of Banana involved, Paulo Pandolpho, because we’d loved his work, and that proved to be a great combination. He’s only in his 20s, he’s brilliant. He’s the voice that says “Banana!” over the opening titles.
But that’s ignoring the most obvious thing. Our secret weapons. Cyril and James. And they’re just amazing, aren’t they? I can ramble on about stories and ambitions and scripts, but you’re nothing without the cast. And those two went into it whole-heartedly. They rehearsed with Alice intensely. And we scheduled two whole days for the big scene – that’s a long time, in TV. But the whole team wanted to get it right. I think they’re just note-perfect, those two actors.
I wasn’t exactly shocked when I first saw it. Well, truth is, I couldn’t stay away from that edit! Because Alice, Paulo and I, and Matt Strevens, the producer, we all talked a lot about that final sequence, the inside of Lance’s mind as he dies. Again, it was written in detail, every image, every flashback, but that comes alive in the edit, and changes. We had versions that were too long, too short. Too noisy, too quiet. We almost lost the copyright on that Eurovision song [Spain’s 1968 winner La, La, La] – we so needed it, it’s the most sinister tune in the world – until Matt wrestled the lawyers to the floor.
So we worked on it a lot. I wasn’t sure whether it worked until we first played it to [executive producer] Nicola Shindler. And she burst into tears! Job done, we thought. Although of course, she had notes. But we simply kept refining until we were happy. I’m only sad about one thing – one image flashing through his head was meant to be full-frame footage of Benny Hill’s Ernie. Echoing from his childhood, that sinister bit about the ghostly gold tops, cos that always chilled me as a kid. But we only had permission to play that video within a TV screen, during Lance’s childhood, and not full-frame. Damn!
PM: When did the actors Cyril Nri and James Murray know where the story was heading for their characters? Right from the start?
RTD: Oh, from the moment they were booked. By the time Cyril was cast, and we went for a nice little lunch in Manchester to discuss everything, I’d already given him Ep 6. So no one was under any illusions! We did ask the cast not to tweet anything about it, or the scenes in Ep 7, which would give away the future of the plot, just in case. But I think Cyril was just excited! Let’s be honest, what actor doesn’t want a good death scene?
PM: I adore the way you’ve brought Denise Black into the episode. She was so wonderful in Queer as Folk as Hazel Tyler, Vince’s clued-up, very accepting mum. I remember the scene where she held a conference with the other, less liberal-minded mums and said, “Try not to think about the arse thing and you’ll be fine.” I read that when you halted Queer as Folk after ten episodes, you considered a solo show for Hazel. How much in love with Hazel are you and why?
RTD: It’s hard to say who I love best, Hazel or Denise! So many people have such a tremendous affection for them both. When this series was first commissioned, I said to Piers Wenger, the Head of Drama at Channel 4, “I don’t suppose you’d mind Hazel Tyler walking round the corner at some point?” and he said “Oh yes please!” When the man who’s paying for the series says that, you listen! But Queer As Folk was a very special time, for Denise and me and an awful lot of us. It’s carved on my gravestone, frankly. And Denise assumed quite a role within the gay community too – people love Hazel, so Denise is often asked to attend charity functions, and Aids memorials, to his day. And she always turns up, she’s a proper trouper.
So this whole thing felt right. I knew I’d never be coming back to this world, so this was one final hurrah. Mind you, I wrote her into this without even asking her, and then had a nasty moment of wondering, “What if she says no?” But she leapt on it! She was out in Spain, filming Benidorm, so we emailed the script to her, and within five minutes she was on the phone, planning her hair and costume. And actually, genuinely delighted to be back, bless her.
PM: It’s hugely poignant that Hazel reappears 15 years later in Cucumber as a kind of Fairy Godmother of Canal Street. She sidles up to Lance on a bridge and seems to be warning him. “Is it worth it in the end? Really? … You’ve taken a wrong turn but you could still turn back. Now listen to me and go home.” Then she tells Lance that she’s actually dead. “Good old Hazel. Now I walk up and down this street. Me and the boys and the water.” It works beautifully and is such a touching pay-off for Queer as Folk fans – but it’s bold to add this element of fantasy, of the supernatural, to a dead serious drama. How did you develop this section?
RTD: Yeah. I needed the story to rise, to lift, to become bigger, to reach into areas and styles of storytelling that you wouldn’t normally use, because the approaching death was so huge. Bear in mind, you’ve been told since Scene 1 that Lance is going to die. You see the dates of his birth and death, 30 seconds in. So the closer it gets… the walls need to break down, the drama needs to stretch further, and snap open, because that’s the size of what’s coming, and this is the only chance I’ll get.
To go into detail – and you don’t have to pay any attention to this, think what you want! – but once you’ve been told that Lance is dead, in Scene 1, then all rules are off. And you could argue that the entire episode is his death, that from Scene 2, by seeing his birth, we’re actually experiencing the inside of his head after the golf club. We are literally seeing his life pass before his eyes.
So while I wanted to lift the story up, to give it a supernatural terror, the point is, did he see Hazel at all? Did he really see a ghost? Really?! Because right at the end, in the final images, you see an old woman, in Hazel’s clothes, standing where Hazel stood. And she’s raving, she’s drunk, she’s mad. While Hazel gently told Lance to go home, the old woman is screaming “Go home!” at him as racial abuse.
Maybe, just maybe, Lance took that image from his last night on Earth, and in dying, tidied it up. He corrected it. Made it prettier, and deeper, and he even included foreshadowing. Either his mind replaced the old woman with a woman from one of his favourite TV shows, or, if you want QAF to be in the same canon as Cucumber, then he replaced the old woman with someone he used to see from afar on Canal Street, a really funny woman who he wishes he’d known.
Maybe that’s true. But equally, maybe it is Hazel. Maybe this death is so awful and so important that the barriers between worlds come down, and the barriers between stories. Lance’s death is so huge that a character from another fiction can step into his story to give him a warning about the next page. I really believe that too. Honestly, I believe that equally.
Her appearance is given huge weight by her invisible chorus of the boys in the water; and they’re real, those boys, the boys who drown every year. I wrote that line long before the recent scandal over exactly how many boys regularly disappear into Manchester’s canals. It’s shocking. I wouldn’t include that lightly. Part of me wishes that someone like Hazel would stand guard over them. While knowing that life, nor death, would never be that kind. You see? It goes back to my first answer, it goes back to the feels! I think Hazel’s presence lifts things, stirs your soul, in a way that normal events could not. That’s what the supernatural is for, that’s why we invented it. To feel something greater than ourselves.
Blimey. Thank you for giving me the chance to say that!
PM: Maybe I’ve missed them but, given Cucumber’s setting on the Manchester gay scene, were you tempted to make any other allusions to Queer as Folk?
RTD: I don’t think there’s anything else! The club that Henry and Lance go to in Ep 1 is called Babylon, and had the exact neon sign from QAF recreated by the art department. But I’m not sure you ever saw that on screen. Of course, Henry works for HC Clements, who were Donna Noble’s employers in Doctor Who, but that’s not an intentional link – it’s simply that I knew the name was fictional and would therefore be copyright-cleared!
PM: What do you hope viewers, in particular gay men, will take away from this episode? Is it a cautionary tale?
RTD: Oh God, yes, I hope so. I keep writing that in dramas, that One Bad Night. The night that goes wrong. I think it’s a very gay experience, every gay man out there has had a night like this, in potential, or could have a night like this at any time. I shouldn’t claim it as gay – anyone can walk down that path. Just a step too far, just a drink too much, in the city, at night, and you’re in trouble. Though I do think this territory belongs to women and gay men in particular, to be honest.
And while that’s very generalised, then specifically, men like Daniel exist in this exact detail. And once or twice a year, you’ll see some story, some man with another man, and a lashing out, and a death, at the end of a long, dark night. And sometimes, that death will be called Gay Panic. Look it up, that’s about to become part of the plot of Eps 7 and 8. While it has no legal standing any more, in this country, the implication of gay panic, that a straight man is allowed to lash out if a gay man makes a pass at him, is as vile and pernicious as ever. These nights happen. They will happen this weekend. Be careful.
But it’s not just about the death. It’s about the life. That’s the real point of the whole episode, to see the hugeness of Lance’s well-lived life. In the passing of the years, you see fathers forgive, you see losses overcome, and you see love. In the end, I hope, in dying, Lance can be seen as wonderful. Like anyone.
Phew. Blimey. Thank you! On that note, good night.
PM: On behalf of Radio Times and Cucumber fans, thank you, Russell.
Cucumber continues on Thursdays on Channel 4 at 9pm
6 ) 二刷的几点感触
1. 不10
称呼Henry无性者并不太准确。他有其他边缘性行为，他只是不10.这样的人并不少。有些人是怕得病，有些人是怕疼。和Henry一样，他们常常会问，性真的有那么重要吗？
恐怕他们心里也是有答案的。所以他们中的大多数并不会一开始就表明自己不10. 更何况，他人的性欲是判断他人对自己兴趣指数的重要依据之一，操纵别人的性欲也是操纵别人的有效手段之一。
普通人就算一开始因为各种原因选择和不10的人在一起，最后也会因为不满足而离开的。
而这也仅仅是不和谐的性生活的一种。
2. 危险的男神
Freddie和Daniel无疑是两种男神的代表，而他们又都是危险的。“它骚动你的心，遮住你的眼睛，又不让你知道去哪里”。哪怕你已人到中年，你还是会在飞蛾扑火的一瞬间仿佛回到敏感脆弱的青春期，失去了在工作中累积的为人处世的经验与圆滑，满腹猜测怀疑和犹豫。
为什么Henry会住在没有空调的破房子里呢？
为什么Lance敢在酒吧里约人3P却不敢对Daniel说一个不字呢？
为什么理智都不见了呢？
这其中有物以稀为贵的心动的感觉，也有为爱走钢索的玩火的刺激。如果说Lance遇到的不是一个鬼魂，而是一场朋友之间的对话，那也成立。那么多蛛丝马迹中，你知道他不爱你，哦不奢求爱了，他甚至有些奇怪，可你能拒绝他吗？
但Freddie拒绝了曾经的老师。甚至把老师从神坛上拉了下来。
即使过了很多年，F几乎已经进化成为一个“完美”的人。可老师却更加强壮英俊甚至“正常”。不知道假如Henry看到F咬着嘴唇不知所措的样子会不会笑出来。真是一物降一物。
可毕竟还是有些区别。F的选择太多了。他小时候还不知道这一点，难免以为遇到的就是缘分或者命运，是最好的。
3. 极端的坚持
与F几乎截然相反的是，H本来是个只能对着hard or soft porn解决欲望的大叔。F给他介绍的人，还有那个人的朋友才和H是匹配的，F和他太不匹配了。他完全没有机会睡到F。可他又算是抓住了机会。像是住到江直树家里的袁湘琴。
他太矛盾了。他好像知道他想要什么。他说过他在等待one more cxxk。可当F躺在他的床上的时候他清楚地说了no。他说过他只想要happy，可如果Lance不能让他happy，F也不能让他happy，还有谁能让他happy呢。
所以他可能是被一种流行的文化骗了。就像他小时候害怕出柜一样。在可以放浪形骸的日子，用学习工作和纯情武装自己，和用学习为借口甩掉女朋友的Lance一样。他太乖了。他已经46岁了，可是当F嘲讽他时，他只能坐在那里听。奶爸说过一段话，大意是有很多恋爱心得的人，除了作家，大概学习和工作的成绩都很烂。H就是反面的例子。他循规蹈矩地度过了青年时期，有房有车年薪5w（英镑）。人到中年有了物质的安全感，却又觉得自己再也没有任何吸引力。
这是他的人生设定与轨迹。他不会想要去健身减肥当网红，哪怕他知道那样更有效。所以他也不会去死皮赖脸地赖上F。在心里beg for mercy是他能唯一能做的事。而只要想一想也就够了。就像孵化一颗亲手煮熟的蛋。因为他不会越规逾矩，想象就成了生活中的一点乐趣。
称呼Henry无性者并不太准确。他有其他边缘性行为，他只是不10.这样的人并不少。有些人是怕得病，有些人是怕疼。和Henry一样，他们常常会问，性真的有那么重要吗？
恐怕他们心里也是有答案的。所以他们中的大多数并不会一开始就表明自己不10. 更何况，他人的性欲是判断他人对自己兴趣指数的重要依据之一，操纵别人的性欲也是操纵别人的有效手段之一。
普通人就算一开始因为各种原因选择和不10的人在一起，最后也会因为不满足而离开的。
而这也仅仅是不和谐的性生活的一种。
2. 危险的男神
Freddie和Daniel无疑是两种男神的代表，而他们又都是危险的。“它骚动你的心，遮住你的眼睛，又不让你知道去哪里”。哪怕你已人到中年，你还是会在飞蛾扑火的一瞬间仿佛回到敏感脆弱的青春期，失去了在工作中累积的为人处世的经验与圆滑，满腹猜测怀疑和犹豫。
为什么Henry会住在没有空调的破房子里呢？
为什么Lance敢在酒吧里约人3P却不敢对Daniel说一个不字呢？
为什么理智都不见了呢？
这其中有物以稀为贵的心动的感觉，也有为爱走钢索的玩火的刺激。如果说Lance遇到的不是一个鬼魂，而是一场朋友之间的对话，那也成立。那么多蛛丝马迹中，你知道他不爱你，哦不奢求爱了，他甚至有些奇怪，可你能拒绝他吗？
但Freddie拒绝了曾经的老师。甚至把老师从神坛上拉了下来。
即使过了很多年，F几乎已经进化成为一个“完美”的人。可老师却更加强壮英俊甚至“正常”。不知道假如Henry看到F咬着嘴唇不知所措的样子会不会笑出来。真是一物降一物。
可毕竟还是有些区别。F的选择太多了。他小时候还不知道这一点，难免以为遇到的就是缘分或者命运，是最好的。
3. 极端的坚持
与F几乎截然相反的是，H本来是个只能对着hard or soft porn解决欲望的大叔。F给他介绍的人，还有那个人的朋友才和H是匹配的，F和他太不匹配了。他完全没有机会睡到F。可他又算是抓住了机会。像是住到江直树家里的袁湘琴。
他太矛盾了。他好像知道他想要什么。他说过他在等待one more cxxk。可当F躺在他的床上的时候他清楚地说了no。他说过他只想要happy，可如果Lance不能让他happy，F也不能让他happy，还有谁能让他happy呢。
所以他可能是被一种流行的文化骗了。就像他小时候害怕出柜一样。在可以放浪形骸的日子，用学习工作和纯情武装自己，和用学习为借口甩掉女朋友的Lance一样。他太乖了。他已经46岁了，可是当F嘲讽他时，他只能坐在那里听。奶爸说过一段话，大意是有很多恋爱心得的人，除了作家，大概学习和工作的成绩都很烂。H就是反面的例子。他循规蹈矩地度过了青年时期，有房有车年薪5w（英镑）。人到中年有了物质的安全感，却又觉得自己再也没有任何吸引力。
这是他的人生设定与轨迹。他不会想要去健身减肥当网红，哪怕他知道那样更有效。所以他也不会去死皮赖脸地赖上F。在心里beg for mercy是他能唯一能做的事。而只要想一想也就够了。就像孵化一颗亲手煮熟的蛋。因为他不会越规逾矩，想象就成了生活中的一点乐趣。
那股子drama queen的夸张有点不招人喜欢，让人跟不上编剧的节奏，但编剧总能在歇斯底里的时候戳到一些同志群体的痛处，不愧是用三部剧来表现腐国老中青三代基友的人生，比如一辈子都在思考做一名基友的男主角，意淫的思考的发生的，这剧探讨的就是该如何在这个很俗的时代不那么俗的活着。★★★★
看的好难过。
这才是Looking。每一秒都叫人绝望，又叫人对未来充满期待，每一秒都叫人觉得人生可怖，又叫人相信世界的美、继续去爱。但愿我50岁时不用像50岁的亨利一样仍然推着购物车在超市漫无目的地“寻”，但愿我50岁时还会像亨利一样仍然想看到第二天的太阳。唔，到那时，就知道了。
RTD真是太尼玛懂gay了。还有你特么告诉我这是喜剧？！看到最后，我他妈要郁闷死。
近年来看过最好看的悲喜剧
明明非常认真的看过 Happy Valley 然而完全没有认出男主。最后点明主旨的几句写的好糊弄事儿，九年都在逃避的感情关系四十多年都没理清的身份认知，到底为什么都觉得到海边走六个月去深山老林里转一圈之类的就能思考出人生。
腐国最不缺神剧。寻常故事本就能翻出时鲜情致，此番偏锋角度扎入，炫着那节奏与配乐，更是处处神笔。死屌丝又死狂拽，死荒唐又死现实，死虐心又死戏谑，死哀伤又死豁达。曼彻斯特的Canal Street还兀自熙攘，QAF中的Hazel15年后香魂不散，而我竟已到她儿子Vince的年纪。（黄瓜香蕉豆腐齐飞，够绝！）
英版Looking之老gay视觉
很欢乐的其实 （大部分时间我都聚焦Freddie Fox这了啊！ 长出了Cameron Monaghan正甜萌 然后居然还多出满满一股子妖孽啊！
He is sitting there, always waiting for“one more cock".不一样的同志题材片，处处窥见RTD老辣的人生观。
为了看Freddie fox我也是拼出去了。。。连gay片儿都看了。。。
RTD真是好编剧 莫法特多学学
颜值不够，剧情请来凑吧。毒舌秃头老GAY做主角怎么能勾起腐女们的观剧欲望啊。希望类似“Ryan Reynolds he is gay”的段落越多越好。
三观不正才正常，神剧一百分！没有任何taboo，这才是我们应有的生活。
【以后还能不能好好逛超市了啊！！】如此“生殖崇拜”的剧名，却对现有的性/爱观念和关系进行了深刻的批判和解构。后现代的gay似乎又再一次面临思考how to be a gay的问题。53岁才尝试破处的人到高潮那一刻，才突然发现自己一生真正想要的是谁。现实到不太真实的质感，TRD超大的脑洞好精彩。
RTD真的特别坏。给我的感觉是，他知道什么东西能触动你，然后把这些东西捏成一团突然就砸你脸上，好慢慢欣赏你措手又狼狈的样子，毫无同情心。
比《寻》的三观正太多了！！！
这得打多少肾上腺素才能拍出这样的荒诞、现实、疯狂和绝望啊！！！ 作为QAF编剧Russell T. Davies的中年代入感十足～
后三集神反转。cliff的脸出现的那一刻简直就是QAF的另一个结局。越看越令人恐慌，lance的一生回顾，悲从中来，而我们大多数人活得都好不到哪里去，没有he也没有be，只有不停地寻找和每天睁开眼开始的又一天，以及不知何时会来的死亡。最难受的是f夺门而出，在深夜中逃离Henry家的那一刻。
最后可爱的大叔终于终于通过YY把F搞定，可是令大叔变黄瓜的竟然是死党色大叔？！F走之前的举动分明就是爱上萌大叔了，对于观众的我来说已经很满足了。人真的琢磨不透呢，只能说角色们太有趣，有时候那些内心的小纠结会让你的人生瞬间改变方向。好配乐，好导演，好演员，期待新作！