Scott Bryan’s Out Now Celebrates the LGBTQ+ TV That Changed Lives
Scott Bryan’s Out Now mixes memoir and TV history to celebrate the LGBTQ+ characters and programmes that helped generations feel seen.
Television can be entertainment, escapism and sometimes something far more personal. In Out Now: A Queer Journey Through Modern Television, TV critic and broadcaster Scott Bryan looks back at the programmes and LGBTQ+ characters that helped shape both his own life and modern television.
Published on 3 September, the 288-page book combines memoir with television criticism, covering shows including Queer as Folk, Desperate Housewives, Hollyoaks, Heartstopper and Heated Rivalry. It also features a foreword by Joe Lycett.
Scott describes Out Now as “part-memoir, part critique”, exploring a life shaped by television during a period when LGBTQ+ representation on screen could still feel few and far between. His background as a TV critic and broadcaster gives the book an insider’s understanding of television, while the personal memories give those programmes a much deeper meaning.
Some of the strongest moments come from soaps. Scott recalls Coronation Street airing its first gay kiss before the watershed in October 2003, within 24 hours of him coming out for the first time at the age of 14.
It is not simply a history of LGBTQ+ television, but a look at what seeing those characters and relationships could mean to the people watching them at home.
Out Now is available in print, ebook and audiobook through Amazon, Waterstones, Bookshop.org and independent booksellers. Readers can also find direct purchase links through Scott’s official social pages.
Follow Scott Bryan on X at @scottygb and find his book links, podcasts and latest TV work through his official Linktree.
Images: Scott Bryan / Blink Publishing
