'I loved it, and I'm sure you will too' - Joe Lycett
Two very gay things happened in the space of 24 hours in October 2003. Coronation Street aired its first gay kiss before the watershed. And Scott Bryan came out, aged 14, for the first time, in French class. In French.
From a very young age, Scott escaped into other worlds through the small screen. Navigating the world as a queer and neurodivergent person, TV offered both an escape and a way of better understanding himself. In the shadow of Section 28 banning promotion of LGBTQ+ issues in schools, television was crucial in breaking that enforced silence.
In Out Now, Scott looks back at the TV that made him, from the 90s to the present day, and the LGBTQ+ voices that were alternately championed and oppressed. Part memoir, part critique, the book takes us back to watershed moments in television history and evaluates the cultural and personal impact they had. Warm and witty in equal measure, Out Now looks at shows such as Queer As Folk, Desperate Housewives, Heartstopper and Heated Rivalry, and features interviews with the people behind the seminal moments - including Russell T Davies and Jonathan Harvey - that brought Scott and UK TV itself, to where they are today. Scott Bryan is a TV critic, broadcaster and journalist. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Variety, the Guardian and more. He regularly appears to talk about television on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live's 'Must Watch' podcast, on social media and beyond.
He lives in East London. He hasn't got a dog yet, but he wants one. A part memoir, part nostalgic exploration of queer representation on television form the 1990s to now by TV critic Scott Bryan. There are several audiences that this taps into with its themes that include LGBTQ+, television and 90s nostalgia. The author has a really engaged audience online, with 122,000 followers on X, 10,000 on Instagram, 5,000 on Substack and 33,000 on Blue Sky. The author's connections are extensive, including journalists and numerous media outlets and high-profile people including Nigella Lawson, Nick Grimshaw, Greg James and Scott Mills.
