First trailer for Mark Gatiss's Queers sees Ben Whishaw, Russell Tovey and more tell 100 years of gay history

Each of their characters will deliver a 15-minute monologue on a topic related to LGBTQ+ issues of their time. It’s a project curated and directed by Sherlock star Mark Gatiss for the BBC’s Gay Britannia season, marking the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.

So what stories can we spot in the trailer? A moustachioed Ben Whishaw starts off proceedings, starring as a soldier in Gatiss’ story of a young man returning from the trenches of the First World War and reflecting on both his attraction to another man and a very particular childhood memory.

Then there’s Russell Tovey role: he’ll be playing a gay actor in 1987 for episode More Anger.

Rebecca Front will deal with the issue of marriage in Missing Alice, while Alan Cumming will reflect upon gay marriage in modern Britain in Something Borrowed.

You can also see performances from Black Mirror’s Kadiff Kirwan, Ian Gelder (Game of Thrones) and Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk).

The exact air date hasn’t yet been confirmed, but we are assured Queers is coming soon.