Britain’s Great Gay Buildings: Everything you need to know about Channel 4's one-off documentary with Stephen Fry and Mary Portas

To mark the 50^th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain, Channel 4 will be airing a new season of programmes, including new show Britain’s Great Gay Buildings.

The documentary will be just one of many topics covered by the new series 50 Shades of Gay, which will also report on gay politics, social life, culture and family life post 1967.

What’s it about?

Stephen Fry presents the show and is joined by seven recognisable faces from the gay community, who visit the buildings that have been instrumental in defining Britain’s gay history.

If walls could talk…they would undoubtedly reveal the life-changing events that occurred in the locations and the unforgettable people who lived and worked in them.

Who are the famous faces and famous places?

The Reverend Richard Coles is a Church of England priest in Finedon, Northamptonshire. Coles found being a gay teen in the Seventies so tough he turned to drugs and an overdose landed him in a psychiatric hospital.

The priest has since overcome his drug issues and now lives with his civil partner, who is also a priest. The documentary sees Coles visit the famous gay nightclub Heaven in London.

Mary Portas, known as the Queen of Shops, married her partner Melanie Rickey in 2014. The pair have a child together, who was conceived by Rickey and Portas’s brother. Portas travels to Shibden Hall in Yorkshire to unearth some secrets from a Yorkshire heiress’s diaries.

Craig Revel Horwood, perhaps best known as a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, thought he was bisexual during his younger years.

He was married to Jane Hallwood for two years, but after their marriage broke up, he fell in love with a man and hasn’t looked back since.

He delves into the drag scene at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern – something he has plenty of experience of as he frequently moonlights as a drag queen.

Simon Callow wedded Sebastian Fox in 2016. The Four Weddings and a Funeral actor charts the tragic journey and treatment of Oscar Wilde at the Old Bailey.

Rikki Beadle-Blair was raised by a mother who was also gay. When he was 17, he performed a capella at the Gay’s The Word bookshop in Bloomsbury.

He also was involved with the gay pub and club scene and the Gay Liberation Front. He takes a trip to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to discover how the British public supported Sir John Gielgud after he was arresting for cottaging.

This gay slang term refers to sexual activity performed in public toilets.

Liz Carr, who is disabled and gay, has never let people’s prejudices get in the way of her making it as an actor, comedian and journalist. She finds herself at Bletchley Park, where Alan Turing completed some of his most miraculous work.

Lord Waheed Alli announced his homosexuality in the House of Lords as the youngest member of Britain’s Upper House in 1999. It is only fitting that he tackles the recent battle for gay rights in the Houses of Parliament.

When’s it on?

Catch the show on Saturday June 24 at 8pm on Channel 4.