3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Meet What It Feels Like For A Girl creator as BBC trans drama is praised by fans
BBC's What It Feels Like For A Girl has been praised by critics for being bold and unapologetic, but who is the LGBTQ+ activist and writer behind it, and where can you watch more episodes
BBC's new show What It Feels Like For A Girl has just landed ready for London's Pride - but who is the writer who's memoir it's based on?
The memoir-turned-TV-show is a 'coming of age' eight-part series set in Nottingham in the early 2000's which dives into the universal feeling of 'being stuck' as a young person growing up in a small unchanged town.
The show follows trans teenager Byron, played by breakout star Ellis Howard, who lives in a suffocating home with an abusive father. Finding solace with a group called The Fallen Divas, he is eventually led into exploitative sex work. Following shocking events, Byron, assigned male at birth, transitions into a woman.
RadioTimes reported creator Paris Lee asking: "Who can't identify with that feeling of being stuck when you are younger, trying to figure things out?". The author decided "it was important to show the journey of Byron, owning their sexuality and trying to discover their sexuality whilst figuring out their gender."
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Unapologetically, the working-class experience appears integral to Lee's adaption, where she said: "This is a working-class story. This isn't a cosy middle-class drama. There are plenty of those on television, this offers something different".
Who is Paris Lees?
An accomplished presenter and journalist, Paris Lees, 38, is the author behind the 2021 memoir What It Feels Like for a Girl, now a series adaption on exploring gender identity, sexuality, class and relationships.
Widely published, Lees has written for Vogue, Gay Times, PinkNews, Diva, and Vice, to name a few. Notably, the LGBTQ+ activist founded META, Britain's first magazine focused on the trans community, and became the first trans woman to present on BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4, and the first openly transgender panellist on Question Time.
Lees - from Hucknall, Nottinghamshire - produced insightful documentaries The Hate Debate and My Transgender Punk Rock Story, exploring trans experience.
Who is Ellis Howard?
Ellis Howard is a 28-year-old Liverpudlian who plays Byron in What It Feels Like For A Girl. With dreams of his name "to be uttered anywhere near Jodie Comer or Stephen Graham," the actor is on his way up as Lee's lead in BBC's newest and more 'out-there than usual' show.
After a five-stage audition, Howard became the perfect choice to present the experience of being working class, queer, and transitioning later in life.
Speaking to The Standard, he said: "It doesn't feel like a BBC show. It feels very dangerous in its proposition. It's a valiant cry from a council estate. It's unashamed, and unrelenting. I thought, 'Whoa. I can't believe they're making this. I just have to be involved in any way, shape or form.'"
Where can you watch What It Feels Like For A Girl
All episodes of What It Feels Like To Be A Girl are available on BBC iPlayer, as the first two episodes already broadcasted on BBC Three and BBC One. The third instalment will air on June 10 at 9pm on BBC Three.
