When
Thursday 21 March 2024
Fifty years ago, despite homosexuality being illegal, Australians embraced sexual diversity on their TV. Leading characters on the nation’s most popular shows were given gay story lines and their popularity soared. Australian audiences not only embraced gay men, transgender, lesbian and bisexual characters on screen, they loved it!
Join TV historian, Andrew Mercado to watch his film, Outrageous: The Queer History of Australian TV. Andrew talks about his groundbreaking documentary and gives special mention to series, Number 96, the world's first TV drama series to portray LGBT characters in a positive light.
In the early 1970s, Number 96 was Australia’s top-rating show. Newcastle viewers, who saw the show one hour after it screened each weeknight in Sydney, were the only ones to see it completely uncut. Censors often swooped in after these broadcasts and demanded footage be removed before it could be shown in the rest of Australia.
Andrew Mercado is a TV Historian who was one of the first openly gay people to be regularly seen on Australian TV. He is best known for his appearances on music network Channel [V] and Kerrie-Anne. Andrew currently hosts the Mediaweek podcast TV Gold, and he hosts popular trivia nights at Lowlands Bowling Club and the Cricketers Arms Hotel in Cooks Hill.
Come and celebrate a unique milestone in Australian TV!
Cost: Free
Bookings essential.