Queer As Folk

Queer as Folk is a television drama first created by Russell T Davies for Channel 4 in the UK, airing in 1999 with a short follow-up in 2000. It was one of the first shows to depict gay male life and sex with frank, unapologetic realism, following a group of friends in Manchester. An American adaptation ran on Showtime from December 2000 to August 2005, relocating the story to the gay community around Pittsburgh's Liberty Avenue and expanding it to include lesbian characters. Both versions were cultural landmarks that put LGBTQ+ lives at the center of prestige television. A third version aired on Peacock in 2022. The show's influence runs through much of the queer television that followed.