MONDO EXTRAS

Russell T. Davies: I don't really think about it, to be honest. Well, I'd love to write an episode of Buffy! Though imagine that -- blimey, talk about performance pressure, I'd probably write it so badly! It's not the tolerance issue that puts me off, it's just the fact that...Well, I love British TV; for all its faults, I'm happy working here. I'm just not that ambitious, in that sense. Then again, never say never...

della femina: Conservatives were never going to let Queer as Folk air without a snide remark or two, but the scenes depicting sex with a fifteen-year-old Nathan really gave them something to grab onto. Did Stuart having sex with Nathan strike you as a particularly abhorrent thing to do?

Russell T. Davies: Abhorrent? No, not at all! I think it was real. It would happen, could happen, does happen. That doesn't mean it should. Interesting, cos here we're entering into a discussion where I have to give a moral judgement, and I really try not to do that with characters and stories of my own. It limits your exploration of the scene. Can you write a truly amoral story? Discuss! I think the scene gets very confused in people's minds, because men are naked in it. And that still, seriously, blows a fuse in any analysis. I find it weird when gay boys -- bless 'em -- get off on that scene. I'm afraid I might be the author of quite a few wanks, there. I do find that strange, but then, we're conditioned to find scenes of consensual sex sexy, which isn't what I was doing. I think it's quite a scary scene. And funny, one doesn't rule out the other. It's complicated, in a good way -- scary, funny, tense, daft, important, irrelevant. And the sex is vital -- there's plenty of other times in the series where you don't see sex, but in episode one, the entire story, the Stuart/Vince/Nathan axis, starts with that shag. I think you need to see Nathan getting fucked, because it's his mind that's really being fucked. And the first bed scene is vital -- Nathan comes too soon, which makes him feel bound to Stuart, like he forever needs to make it up to him. So, in the end -- have I rambled on this one? I'm getting tired! -- I can see a whole list of adjectives applied to that scene. But all I care about is the story. Story and character are truthful, and that's my only job. Others can bring round the adjectives -- we'll have a party!