"The Street"
Episode #2.3 (2007)

Director:

Terry McDonough

TV Series:

"The Street" (2006)

Original Air Date:

22 November 2007 (Season 2, Episode 3)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Demolition man Charlie is married with teenage children.When he has to spend some time away from home...

Cast

Dean Andrews	...	Cleggy
Mark Benton
Kieran Bew	...	Gary Parr
Will Mellor	...	Tom
Vincent Regan	...	Charlie

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

Michael Dickson

Well acted but seriously flawed drama

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Like others in this drama series believability is often stretched to the limit. At face value this tries to be a sensitive portrayal of a married man who discovers he is gay but unfortunately it is let down by following every gay-drama cliché in the book.

There is no indication at all that Charlie is gay until he is propositioned by work mate Tom and this leaves the unfortunate impression that he wasn't interested in men until he was 'seduced'. A tired old banality. The gay club Tom later takes him to is ludicrously portrayed as a place where men in drag, erotic male dancers and violent queer-bashers all share the same space. Any sense of reality is lost when Charlie gets mugged by an abusive homophobe in the toilet of the gay club. Simply unbelievable! This unrealistic scene only happens so the crime gets reported to the police and Charlie's gay encounter will be exposed.

Charlie rings a gay help line that is ridiculously portrayed as some kind of sex line that charges premium rates. The ensuing massive phone bill is important for the plot but is a gross misrepresentation of any real gay advice service. When the police become involved in investigating the earlier mugging the writer seems to be unaware of changes in police attitudes in the last 10 years. In this drama the police betray Charlie's 'gay secret', ultimately to his son, resulting in one of those awful scenes from gay dramas of the 1980's involving lots of shouting, punching, blood and violence where gay characters loudly confess all to an assembled group of startled heterosexuals. All a bit naff really.

Throughout the whole piece there is a nasty feeling that if only he hadn't had his brief encounter with Tom everything would be fine. Nowhere is this more evident than the scene where Charlie is confronted by his son.

The acting throughout was excellent but the plot lacked realism. A wasted opportunity.