What It Feels Like for a Girl

I can understand how parts of Byron's experience may feel foreign to some viewers, but for anyone who came of age gay, trans, or queer around the turn of the millennium, this is a profound and often heartbreaking ride through our collective memory.

I saw myself in the gifted young gay boy who learned to wield wit as both armor and weapon, keeping me safe, pushing others away, and occasionally landing me in trouble. I was lucky enough to be more of a nerd, excelling in school early on and spared some of Byron's pain. But later in life, I too discovered how seductive the gay party scene can become.

So many of us have lived those questionable love affairs, those dizzying moments of clarity ("this is definitely not the room I want to be in") and yet also the euphoria of finding your people. A place where your femininity can finally exhale. Where a sharp tongue and a willingness to say yes to chaos feels like a skeleton key to every door.

The acting here is sublime: heart-wrenching and exquisitely funny. The settings are often bleak, rundown, almost depressing, yet pulsing with life. The glamour exists only in their heads, their hearts, and the chemical-fueled escapes from reality. The director and creative team captured every nuance.

I created an account just to write this review. I was that moved.

The only bad thing is that it's over in eight episodes.

I almost didn't watch What It's Like to Be a Girl-and that would have been a huge mistake. To be honest, the title didn't grab me. I didn't really know what the show was about, and I wasn't particularly interested. It just happened to auto-play after another series, and I'm so glad it did.

Let me be clear: this show is brilliant. The title doesn't do it justice at all. It's not just "what it's like to be a girl"-it's about survival, identity, trauma, joy, and everything in between. It's gritty, raw, real, and deeply emotional. I laughed, I cried, I winced, and I binge-watched the entire thing in one sitting. Some scenes are shocking and heart-wrenching, others are darkly funny and deeply moving-but they seem authentic.

The show sheds light on experiences we rarely see onscreen-especially the vulnerability of young people who are confused, questioning, or struggling with gender identity or sexuality. It highlights how predators exploit that confusion, and it doesn't shy away from the emotional and psychological turmoil that can follow. We rarely see exploitation through this lens on screen.

The acting from the entire cast is also brilliant. Every performance feels lived-in and deeply human. And Paris Lees is an inspirational woman. The fact that she was able to share her story with such honesty and depth is truly inspiring.

It's a shame that the BBC didn't promote this more. If this had been on Channel 4, I'm convinced it would've received the attention and marketing it so clearly deserves. It does seem like more of a channel 4 show .

Anyway, it was one of the most thought provoking shows I've watched in a long time and each ep drew me in and made me want to know more. I'd definitely recommend.

First four episodes felt so timely, tight, subversive and is some of the best looking TV in recent memory.

I loved how uncomfortable the first few episodes make you feel, it's a tough watch. The relationships, specifically between Byron and their parents, were unconventional and complex and really interesting. It's just a shame that the latter half of the series doesn't really keep up with what was promised.

It seems to lose focus and derails for me. Some characters set up to be of importance are completely dropped and there are a few decisions later on that have little logic to them at all.

By the end I sort of felt nothing for these characters, which is such a shame considering how much I was rooting for them to begin with.

I felt like it could have been such a tight 4-6 episode series focussing on the earlier storyline.

Still enjoyable and totally worth watching, just could have been so much tighter.

This is a working class story and it doesn't matter whether you like boys or girls; it's about the life of a kid, and how that kid tries to negotiate an alien world, sometimes making friends with the wrong people, and sometimes ignoring the love of the right people - like we all do. If this doesn't win all the awards, if all the cast don't win every accolade going, and if every man, woman, gay or straight, transgender, transsexual and everybody else with a heartbeat don't lift Ellis Howard up high on their shoulders, to be carried all the way to stardom and glory or whatever Ellis desires, this is a cruel world indeed.

None of the actors in this - and I had to keep reminding myself that's just what they were: actors - none of them broke that fragile glass between us and the drama, ever; they really were, for those short few hours at least, the characters they played. And when Byron said those last words to his mum I cried.

Be aware , Review has no spoilers but does point out errors

--

Brilliantly written, thrilling and yet well-grounded. Showcasing the reality of a low-income upbringing in the Midlands with all the drama that comes with new experiences and relationships. It's painfully relatable whilst still leaving you on the edge of your seat. Uncomfortable at times but never enough to make you want to skip ahead, everything adds to the story in one way or another, never a second of waffle. Byron's character development is excellent and gripping, every small smirk, the long stares see his limits pushed that little bit further and opens the gates for more of these experiences that little bit more, especially with his homelife troubles giving a supporting arm to explain why he puts himself out there so boldly. The narration by Ellis Howard in the same vernacular, adding to the grit of the setting, ramps up the tension.

Small side note, I don't think it being the year 2000 is at all relevant to the story. The only signs you see of it being early noughties are that people use old phones, and some of the cars are old models, but it doesn't make much difference. I'm not detracting from the rating, as because it's mostly an irrelevant factor, it's still an excellent show, however it just sets the show up for mistakes and minus points, because theres also an occasional continuity error when you can see a brand new Stagecoach bus in the background at the bus station.