BBC fans urge people to watch ‘amazing' trans teen drama
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BBC Three's inspirational new coming-of-age drama, What It Feels Like For A Girl, has seriously impressed viewers.
The eight-episode series, set at the turn of the millennium, is based on the acclaimed memoir by author and trans rights campaigner Paris Lees.
For those looking for some Y2K nostalgia, this is your easy fix with retro outfits, cultural references and a killer soundtrack to take you right back.
Think those hazy Blair-Brown days when shows like Queer As Folk offered snatches of LGBTQ+ visbility for the community and mainstream trans representation was sparse.
The synopsis for the East Midlands-based show reads: 'To find yourself, sometimes you need to lose yourself. It's Y2K, and Byron's flirting with discovery and destruction, love and anarchy. '
Played by Ellis Howard, the show follows Byron as they escape into Nottingham's queer underbelly and discover a vibrant found family in friends, Sasha (Hannah Jones) and Lady Die (Laquarn Lewis) aka Fallen Dives in the club scene.
The series also stars Calam Lynch, Laura Haddock, Hannah Walters and Michael Socha.
It is already being praised by fans on X.
'First 2 episodes boxed off. That was actually very, very good!' Roscoe Barnes wrote.
'I loved the first 2 episodes of the new #LGBTQ series What It Feels Like For A Girl and I can't wait to see how the story develops,' phdev85 shared.
'Only 5 mins into What It Feels Like For A Girl and I feel homesick, it's already bringing back memories as a young Arnold quiche from the early noughties hanging around NG1/AD2 – thank you x' cp83 added.
'The level of talent of Ellis and Jake in this show….wowwwwwww,' yram praised.
'Just started watching today and it's soooo good!!! Jake Dunn you were born to play a villain. The whole cast is amazing too,' dreedreexo said.
'The 'queer as folk' for a new generation,' OliReading dubbed it.
The show has also been lauded by critics as a beacon of trans visibility during a time when the marginalised community is under immense scrutiny.
'It's certainly a wild ride- I'll struggle to look at a toilet brush the same way ever again – but if you stay on board until the end, a memorably complex psychological portrait will be your reward,' The Guardian intriguingly teased.
The Independent echoed: 'In a world where it is easy to feel pessimistic about the course of progress, What It Feels Like for a Girl presents an engaging – and rational – case for optimism.'
'Make no mistake, What It Feels Like for a Girl is raw and frequently uncomfortable viewing…. Yet the unease is what makes What It Feels Like for a Girl such a visceral, essential watch. We need more TV like it,' PinkNews shared.
GQ called it 'gnarly and brutally honest', The Times praised it as 'raw and funny', and the i paper dubbed it an 'absolute riot'.
In an interview with Metro, Jones reflected on what it meant to play a trans girl.
'[Sasha] was just an unapologetic, gobby trans girl from the north. Fork found in kitchen,' she jokes. 'I had to do this for all the gobby, northern trans girls. She was great to play. More Trending
'Being trans is just a facet of her life; it just so happens that Sasha is trans. Her storyline is not trans trauma, her storyline is not a trans journey… It's her being horrible, being a sex worker, being a sister, being a best friend…
'All of this humanises the trans experience, and we've not had that before, and I think it's really important to do that right now for trans people who are struggling.'
Dunn echoed: 'One of the gorgeous things about the show is the specificity of seeing life through Byron's eyes for eight hours, and with that comes really deeply rooted, authored representation of people who exist, who have existed, and who still exist… which I hope provides some solace.'
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What It Feels Like For a Girl is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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