So I heard about this little miniseries a few years ago and having seen all the bad press it got I was immediately turned off. How dare RTD write a show about a gay man going straight! Of course, what I didn't know when I was thinking that was that this little gem isn't about a gay man going straight. A few weeks ago I again come across this title and decide to sit down and watch it for myself, or at least try to.Turns out, the point of this story is not to say that a gay man can become straight; Bob doesn't ever become straight. Throughout the entire series he is constantly trying to explain to others as well as to himself just what the heck is going on, but never does he tell anyone that he has been 'converted.' He's a gay man who is sexually attracted to other men and, for whatever reason, one woman.The suggestion that the series depicts gay life as horrible and depressing while shining a light of goodness onto heterosexual relationships is also missing the point. The heterosexual dating scene is depicted as being just as fraught with problems as the gay dating scene. Rose is just as unsatisfied with going out on the pull at a straight pub as Bob is trying to pull at a gay pub. In fact there is a scene which closely parallels one with the other. So don't let your own preconceptions of what this series is about deter you from watching it. Watching it will probably throw all your preconceptions out the window. Really the only reason to not watch this series is if romantic comedy/dramas aren't your preferred genre. And if that's the case, what are you doing reading a review for a romantic comedy/drama series anyway?

The 2001 6-part series (each episode 45 minutes long) is finally coming out in the us on DVD. This was writer Russell T. Davies's follow-up to his QUEER AS FOLK. Although the gay male lead, Bob, continually says "I was born gay, I'm gay now, I'll die gay, I'll have a gay gravestone." but still he falls in love with (and has sex with) the female lead, Rose. As the previous poster said, the problem with this is that there are misinformed people out there who believe that sexuality is a choice and that gays and lesbians could just CHOOSE to go straight. But, movies dont have to be politically correct and no one can fault Davies's commitment to gay enlightenment (his creation of Bob's mother as a fierce PFLAG mom certainly doesn't allow viewers to believe that this switch happens every day). The comedic and dramatic storyline concerns Bob's bewildered state of mind when he discovers that while he's totally gay, he's also in love with a woman and finds that one woman sexually attractive.The miniseries is NOT saying that gays and lesbians can change their orientation through willpower. This is a specific story about one specific character, who is as baffled by this turn of events as are all his friends. So, should Davies not write a compelling story just because it could be taken out of context and used against us? Considering that innocent Bible verses are taken out of context and used as clubs of hatred, I guess NOTHING is safe. So, enjoy the characters and the story.The cast is sensational; the editing is lightning quick like the original British QAF and the writing and direction is top notch. There's no way you'll be able to stop watching until you've finished all six episodes. Its just a shame that the music soundtrack to the US DVD has replaced virtually all the songs that were on the double CD issued when the mini series ran in the UK in 2001. When will producers pay for the rights to the songs in both the US and UK? This same flaw effects the QAF dvds--which contains different music than copies of the original UK version did.

I saw this program at a screening at the NY Gay/Lesbian Film Festival. While Bob maintains that he's still gay even though he's fallen in love and lust with a woman, I seriously doubt that's a concept most people would grasp, let alone believe. Even the British press who covered this program generally called it a "gay man goes straight" show, which I gather is not what Davies had in mind.I didn't really buy what "Bob and Rose" is selling, but it was better written and acted than expected. What the show depicts may indeed occur once in a blue moon, but I was surprised that "Bob and Rose" painted a rather dreary picture of gay relationships (breakups, shagging in the alleyway) while turning the gay/straight relationship in to a complex, but finally positive and romantic experience. Double-standard, eh? And from a gay man like Davies, you'd expect better.Back in 1978, there was an American film called "A Different Story," about a gay man and a lesbian who wound up falling in love, getting married, and having a kid. "Bob & Rose" has been called "mold-breaking" in the U.K., but it's not that far from the older film in many ways.If someone really wanted to break a mold, they'd make a film about a straight male who finds himself attracted to a gay man, and finally falls in love with him. I wonder if audiences would embrace that scenario as readily as they do "Bob & Rose," or simply refuse to believe such things could happen, while more than willing to believe a gay man can "change?"

I'm only a few episodes into 'Bob & Rose' as I write this, but the programme is already shaping up to be a far superior product to Russell Davies' last TV hit 'Queer As Folk'. Daring and provocative (and just damn-well needed) as that series was, it always smacked of 'preaching to the converted'. 'Bob & Rose' is a far more more mainstream affair than 'QAF', but in many ways is slowly proving to be more subversive. The characters in 'QAF' lived almost exclusively in the gay ghetto and thus the series sometimes seemed to avoid addressing the more common truth about those of us who attempt to live an open gay lifestyle whilst also operating in the 'real' world. By making 'Bob & Rose' a gay/straight affair, Davies has succeeded in telling a few home truths about the strained relations that exist within the supposed 'liberal' masses, who may be comfortable with gay lifestyles in the abstract, but who often react somewhat differently when faced with the less glamourised reality. The writer has, as a result, produced a far more profound and touching study of (shifting) sexuality than his - perhaps in retrospect - overrated last work.Moreover, the language is frank and realistic throughout, avoiding the overbearing coyness that other gay/mainstream programming ultimately suffers from (I'm talking to you, 'Will & Grace'!)One minor quibble, though, in relation to Alan Davies' character. I've been 'out' for almost 5 years now, and I have yet to have met any self-respecting gay man sporting a 'wet-look' shaggy perm. We're talking 'meek suburban white boy sporting early-eighties Rick James jeri-curls' here. Please sort your barnet out in time for series 2, sweetheart....