BBC One orders new two-part gay drama

BBC One has ordered a new two-part gay drama set in both the 1940s and the present day, titled ‘Man in An Orange Shirt‘.

The two episodes, which are written by novelist and screenwriter Patrick Gale, tell the tale of two love stories set sixty years apart. The stories are linked by a family and a secret passed down through the generations.

It will examine the differing challenges the two central gay couples face during the period i which they live.

The new drama starts filming on Monday, with Lucy Richter and former EastEnders boss Diederick Santer as executive producers on the series. Kudos will be the production team behind the series.

Patrick Gale is best known for his novels Notes From An Exhibition and A Place Called Winter, for which he was shortlisted for a Costa Prize in 2015.

Speaking about the new series, Gale said: “People who know my novels will be unsurprised to hear that that stories give equal focus to wives and mothers and are very much about tensions between family bonds, the need to be good and the urge to seize happiness.

“I hope they’ll appeal equally to straight and gay viewers but also that they’ll leave either side feeling challenged about things they take for granted.”

Diederick Santer added: “Man In An Orange Shirt is a treat – both epic and intimate, and as touching and entertaining as it is thought-provoking.”