Revelations (1994 TV series)

Revelations was a late-night soap opera created by Russell T Davies, Brian B. Thompson, and Tony Wood and starring Judy Loe and Paul Shelley,^[1] and aired in a limited number of ITV regions between 1994 and 1996. The series is family drama about the family of the priest Edward Rattigan (Shelley) and his wife Jessica (Loe).^[2] It follows and critiques the organisational structure of the Anglican Church at the turn of the millennium.^[2]

Notably, it contains an episode in which a female vicar, Joan (Sue Holderness), comes out as a lesbian in a two-hander with Mary Beckett (Carole Nimmons). It was the first openly LGBT character for Davies, who would later go on to create and produce the gay-centric series Queer as Folk, Bob & Rose, and Torchwood. Davies attributes the storyline to the "pressure-cooker nature" of the series leading to larger storylines, and the recent ordination of female vicars in the Church of England; Davies recalls that "when they introduced women to the church, I was thinking 'Yes! We can do a lesbian vicar!'".^[2]

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