Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw & More to Perform 15-Minute Stage Monologues in New BBC Series QUEERS

Variety reports that Ben Whishaw (THE CRUCIBLE), Alan Cumming (CABARET) and Russell Tovey (A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE) will lead the new BBC Four series QUEERS. 'Sherlock' creator Mark Gatiss will direct.

Currently in production, the 8-episode series is being produced by BBC Studios in partnership with the U.K.'s legendary Old Vic theatre, which will stage all eight 15-minute monologues this July ahead of their television broadcast. The series celebrates the 50th anniversary of the U.K.'s landmark Sexual Offences Act, which in part, decriminalized homosexual acts between men.

According to the site, "the monologues were penned by eight different new and established writers including Gatiss, will explore some of the most poignant, funny, tragic and riotous moments of British gay history and the very personal rites-of-passage of British gay men through THE LAST ONE hundred years."

Tony Award winner Cumming will perform a contemporary monologue from "Something Borrowed," which takes a look at gay marriage, while QUANTICO star Tovey will portray a gay actor in the 1980s in the episode titled "More Anger." Other episodes will feature Rebecca Front, Gemma Whelan, Ian Gelder, Kadiff Kirwan and Fionn Whitehead.

"Queers" will air as part of the BBC's Gay Britannia season this summer.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos