Two of Britain’s greatest living actors, Sir Ian McKellan and Sir Derek Jacobi, both openly gay, will take the roles of an elderly gay couple in a new sitcom on British television titled “Vicious Old Queens”. The series of six half-hour episodes will be written by Gary Janetti, former Executive Producer and writer of "Will and Grace" and "Family Guy". No dates have yet been announced for the transmissions.

 

In a related article in Pink News, McKellan – who has an exclusive interview in December’s issue of Out in Thailand – told a group of schoolchildren that hiding his sexuality for years had helped him to perfect his acting skills. He was speaking at a school in north London as part of a national tour with Stonewall, the gay rights charity, in a campaign aimed at tackling homophobic bullying.

 

“I dealt with it by trying to cut that part of myself off, to hide myself, to choke a part of me.

 

“When you are made to feel you are so wrong for being who you are, that’s what you do.

 

“I think that’s why so many great British actors are gay – we spent so long pretending to be straight, to be someone else, that eventually we became very good at it.”

 

http://www.pinknews....d-derek-jacobi/

http://www.pinknews....-a-great-actor/

I can't seem to google up any information about the content of the show itself but I'm imagining it could be a very clever adaptation of an "odd couple" type scenario involving an older gay couple. I hope the writing and comedic skills of the writer(s) can even come close to matching/fitting the capabilities of these two superb actors. Could be really witty and funny as hell.