BANANA

DRAMA

UNITED KINGDOM

2015

BANANA is a 2015 British television series created by Russell T Davies and broadcast on E4. The sister series Cucumber on Channel 4's and Tofu on the 4oD. Cucumber, banana and tofu are all named after the same scale of erection hardness, with banana symbolizing the centre of the scale from the mushy tofu to the fully upright cucumber. The series was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series. BANANA consists of 8 episodes of 24 minutes.

STORY: The series focuses on LGBT youth in Manchester. Unlike Cucumber, which focuses on one person, a gay man, Banana is an anthology series that focuses on the broader LGBT spectrum. Banana has an overlap with Cucumber and has storylines of some Cucumber characters, but also introduces new characters.

GAY COUPLE STORYLINE: Freddie (Freddie Fox) is 25 and a little lost in life after being kicked out of college. But he's handsome and sharp and smart enough to take the world by the balls and sleep with men, sleep with women, or both at the same time. He is often an asshole, cheeky and seems uninhibited. However, Freddie uses the villain's mask to hide his psychological wounds from his childhood. Freddie meets his old high school teacher, Gregory (Edmund MacLiam), on the street, along with his wife and children. Gregory and Freddie start a relationship and Freddie takes a picture of them both and threatens to send the picture to his wife. Gregory punches him and neighbour Henry (Vincent Franklin) – Cucumber - intervenes and tries to stop them. Freddie thanks Henry in his own way and tells him he's dating a man for Henry.