Comedian Tom Allen fronted a documentary on Wednesday to mark 10 years since the first same-sex wedding took place in England after gay marriage was legalised in 2013.
Big Gay Wedding with Tom Allen saw the 40-year-old commemorating the occasion by pulling out all the stops to arrange one couple’s dream wedding, but the programme left viewers very divided.
The show saw Allen taking a look at the history of the gay rights movement and the fight to legalise same-sex marriage.
It started with the comedian visiting the gay capital of the UK, Brighton, to meet Dan and his fiancé, Great Pottery Throw Down star, Adam.
Allen had arranged to plan their wedding for them for three months’ time, and was excited to meet the pair. After meeting, the trio sat down to discuss some of their own experiences of growing up gay.
Talking about the prospect of gay marriage when he was younger, Adam reflected: “Growing up, it was never really on the cards, it’s not something I envisaged.
Allen explored the history of the gay rights movement
BBC
“It’s something that I’ve seen all my friends do, and then having the door open to us has been amazing.”
Dan explained: “I remember I used to keep diaries. I was quite a sad teenager and it used to be like, ‘I don’t want to be gay. I want to get married and have children and have a wife.’ And it’s like well, actually, I can get married – I don’t need the wife.”
“I think for a lot of us growing up, it wasn’t something to be celebrated, to be queer,” Allen added.
“Yeah, it was just really shameful, wasn’t it?” Adam responded, to which Allen agreed: “There was a lot of shame surrounding it.
Dan pointed out: “There was a lot of terror as well, just fear of the future.” The documentary explored how things have changed and the decade since the legalisation of same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
Tom Allen was tasked with planning Dan and Adam's wedding
BBC
Those tuned in weren’t on the same page about the programme though, with some fuming at the BBC for “virtue signalling”.
One person commented: “The BBC really have lost the plot. Looked on the planner and Primetime TV on their flagship channel is Big Gay Wedding! What a load of utter [emoji] BBC please f*** off.”
“I mean I’m sure Big Gay Wedding is going to be great but would it really have been hard for the BRITISH Broadcasting Corporation to make mention in the introduction to Scotland and Northern Ireland who also have same-sex marriage?” another asked.
A third complained: “Never watch BBC…. Load of s***e! No problem with same-sex marriage but why does the BBC need to virtue signal at every opportunity? It’s a big deal for a small percentage of the population.”
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Fans were divided over the BBC programme
BBC
However, others applauded the insights given on the programme and explained how it had left them feeling emotional.
“This is totes emosh already #biggaywedding,” one person penned. Another added: “Love @tomallencomedy’s big gay wedding on bbc1 right now. So important to remember the past, celebrate how far things have come and not let hate crawl back into the mainstream.” (sic)
“I've already had a blub at #biggaywedding with Tom Allen. This is just lovely,” another remarked.