Bob & Rose

I'm only a few episodes into 'Bob & Rose' as I write this, but the programme is already shaping up to be a far superior product to Russell Davies' last TV hit 'Queer As Folk'. Daring and provocative (and just damn-well needed) as that series was, it always smacked of 'preaching to the converted'.

'Bob & Rose' is a far more more mainstream affair than 'QAF', but in many ways is slowly proving to be more subversive. The characters in 'QAF' lived almost exclusively in the gay ghetto and thus the series sometimes seemed to avoid addressing the more common truth about those of us who attempt to live an open gay lifestyle whilst also operating in the 'real' world. By making 'Bob & Rose' a gay/straight affair, Davies has succeeded in telling a few home truths about the strained relations that exist within the supposed 'liberal' masses, who may be comfortable with gay lifestyles in the abstract, but who often react somewhat differently when faced with the less glamourised reality. The writer has, as a result, produced a far more profound and touching study of (shifting) sexuality than his - perhaps in retrospect - overrated last work.

Moreover, the language is frank and realistic throughout, avoiding the overbearing coyness that other gay/mainstream programming ultimately suffers from (I'm talking to you, 'Will & Grace'!)

One minor quibble, though, in relation to Alan Davies' character. I've been 'out' for almost 5 years now, and I have yet to have met any self-respecting gay man sporting a 'wet-look' shaggy perm. We're talking 'meek suburban white boy sporting early-eighties Rick James jeri-curls' here. Please sort your barnet out in time for series 2, sweetheart....

I have watched all but the last episode of this series and really look forward to finding out how the the story pans out. The characters are fully believable and likeable -warts and all. Alan Davies is developing into a credible actor and has shed the lisp (?) and the overgrown-boy-image.

Bob's mother (played by Penelope Wilton) is an absolute hoot and would drive any son to drink, gay or straight. A lovely, gentle series, funny but not shallow - it puts a smile on your face.

Bob and Rose is a terrific love story, full of humor, misunderstandings, sex, hurt, and love. Like most relationships. And it's a story that wraps you up in it; you root for this couple. You have to stay and find out what happens to them.

This story was really ahead of its time. Just like true racial equality will come when race is no longer even a subject, sexual equality will come when people no longer use labels and just love who they love, period.

Bob and Rose (as well as many of those around them) go through some confusion about their relationship because it doesn't fit the molds society has created. Their relationship would be much simpler if those molds didn't exist. But right now, they do exist.

What does it mean that Bob has always been gay, but is now in love with a woman? What does it mean that Rose is in love with a man who has always been gay?

It means they fell in love. That's all.

Bob maintains that he is a gay man who just happened to fall in love with a woman. He hasn't become "un-gay" or "changed teams," he just fell in love. This reminds me of what another Russell T Davies character said several years later: when Ianto Jones of Torchwood tries to explain his love for Jack Harkness to his sister, she asks when he became gay; his reply is that "It's not all men. It's just him." He just happened to fall in love with another man.

Would that the world let it be that easy. Hopefully one day it will be.

Bob and Rose is a very good, very real love story. There are realistic conflicts and problems and the solutions are not always clear-cut. It is well worth your time to watch it. And you're going to wish it was longer.

Russell T. Davies, the creator and writer of Channel 4's hit gay drama "Queer as Folk" (1999) has come up trumps again with this warm, touching comedy about thirtysomething schoolteacher Bob who, having been happily gay all his adult life, has a chance meeting with feisty Rose and finds - to his amazement - that he fancies her.

Alan Davies (BBC1's Jonathan Creek) is perfectly cast as likeably diffident Bob, while Lesley Sharp is excellent as no-nonsense Rose. The supporting cast, too, give beautifully judged performances: Daniel Ryan is heartbreaking as Rose's boyfriend, Andy, as is Jessica Stevenson as Bob's colleague, Holly, who secretly carries a torch for him. Penelope Wilton puts in a hilarious turn as Bob's mother, who regularly embarrasses him in public by being a vociferous campaigner for gay rights.

As with Queer as Folk, the joy of Bob and Rose lies in the way it skilfully blends laugh-out-loud comedy and painfully recognisable human dilemmas. You find yourself rooting for this unlikely couple, yet wondering how a writer of Davies's calibre will resolve the situation happily without recourse to sentimental cliché.

So I heard about this little miniseries a few years ago and having seen all the bad press it got I was immediately turned off. How dare RTD write a show about a gay man going straight! Of course, what I didn't know when I was thinking that was that this little gem isn't about a gay man going straight. A few weeks ago I again come across this title and decide to sit down and watch it for myself, or at least try to.

Turns out, the point of this story is not to say that a gay man can become straight; Bob doesn't ever become straight. Throughout the entire series he is constantly trying to explain to others as well as to himself just what the heck is going on, but never does he tell anyone that he has been 'converted.' He's a gay man who is sexually attracted to other men and, for whatever reason, one woman.

The suggestion that the series depicts gay life as horrible and depressing while shining a light of goodness onto heterosexual relationships is also missing the point. The heterosexual dating scene is depicted as being just as fraught with problems as the gay dating scene. Rose is just as unsatisfied with going out on the pull at a straight pub as Bob is trying to pull at a gay pub. In fact there is a scene which closely parallels one with the other.

So don't let your own preconceptions of what this series is about deter you from watching it. Watching it will probably throw all your preconceptions out the window. Really the only reason to not watch this series is if romantic comedy/dramas aren't your preferred genre. And if that's the case, what are you doing reading a review for a romantic comedy/drama series anyway?