Next month, Russell T Davies – writer of Queer As Folk, It’s A Sin and Doctor Who – will swap scriptwriting for stage as he headlines the conversation on LGBTQ+ representation in TV and film at National Student Pride. The panel, hosted by Cliff Joannou and in collaboration with Attitude magazine, will take place at the daytime festival at University of Westminster‘s Marylebone campus on Saturday, February 24 where Russell T Davies will be joined by other LGBTQ+ industry legends.
Russell’s recent episodes of Doctor Who have featured the first major transgender character, Rose Noble, played by Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney, with a gender-defying storyline and conversations around pronouns and trans’ experiences that resonated with gender non-conforming viewers, sparked media conversation, public commentary and celebration from LGBTQ+ Whovians.
Russell has been consistently vocal on the importance of queer representation in the media, speaking at the Iris Prize 2023: “we need to constantly work to keep LGBTQ+ representation at the heart of the narrative. It’s dangerous to think it’s alright. There’s still more that needs to be done.”
National Student Pride, billed as the UK’s largest LGBTQ+ student event, returns to London from February 23-25. Over two days, National Student Pride will bring together 2,000+ attendees for a whole weekend of parties, panels, an LGBTQ+ careers fair, and more.
On the main stage, Student Pride will host RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Tia Kofi, Tomara Thomas, and Cara Melle, as well as Queer Question Time, hosted by LBC’s Natasha Devon, which will ask the big questions facing LGBTQ+ students. Free daytime tickets, £10 weekend wristbands and Sunday Drag Brunch bolt-on tickets are available HERE.
The current event line-up can be found here