Everything you need to know about Mark Gatiss’s Queers

It’s 1987 and with the backdrop of the unrelenting AIDS headlines, rueful actor Phil talks through the gay roles he’s played in recent dramas (“I'm getting quite good at dying,” he quips). However, a new part could upend his typecast career…

Who’s in it?

Russell Tovey. Yes, Russell Tovey from Being Human, The History Boys, Doctor Who and The Night Manager. And it looks to be quite a personal monologue for Tovey, as he was worried his parents thought he was going to get AIDS after coming out. In 2009 the actor told The Scotsman: “I think my parents thought, 'OK, you're gay, you're going to get AIDS,' and were under the impression that if I'd told them sooner they could have done something about it."

Who wrote it?

Brian Fillis. The screenwriter has plenty of credits to his name, including 2008's The Curse Of Steptoe, which won the RTS Award for Best Single Drama.

As well as creating C4 comedy drama Sirens, Fillis recently penned fellow Gay Britannia season drama Against The Law, which documented the watershed Peter Wildeblood court case.

Episode 4 – Missing Alice

10.20pm Tuesday 1st August. Available to watch on BBC iPlayer soon after broadcast.

What’s it about?

1957: the Wolfenden Report is about to be published, a document that could lead to the decriminalisation of sex acts between adults (this would finally happen – partly – 10 years later). Alice, sitting in the pub with a glass of sherry, thinks this could lead to a major change in her life. After all, for years she’s been married in secret to a gay man and has had to keep the whole thing secret...

Who’s in it?

Rebecca Front, an actor you probably know as The Thick of It’s Nicola Murray, a role which won her the BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance in 2010. As well as comedy performances in the likes of The Day Today and Outnumbered, Front has garnered a number of dramatic roles, including the BBC’s 2016 War & Peace adaptation and C4’s Humans.

Who wrote it?

Jon Bradfield. Although not a stranger to writing, Bradfield has taken his talents prominently to the stage, co-writing eight adult pantomimes, including Beauty On The Piste and Tinderella.

Bradfield has also written articles for Guardian, Attitude and Exeunt, and also works as a theatre marketer and graphic designer.