Russell T Davies has brought TV to life with his new comedy series, Channel 4’s Banana, Cucumber on E4, and Tofu, a 4oD online documentary series focusing on sex. Cucumber is not the first drama written by T. Davies to follow the lives of gay men; his drama Queer as Folk, aired sixteen years ago, was a revolutionary portrayal of the LGBTQ community.

Davies’ inspiration for the three-component series came from a scientific study by research in Switzerland into the four stages of erection, each category being represented by a food. The first and softest stage is tofu, the second, peeled banana, the third, banana, and finally, the hardest of the stages, cucumber. This research, as you might have realised, determined the names of the programme, with the innuendo acting as a hint to its content.

Cucumber, aired on Thursdays at 9pm on Channel 4, follows the life of Henry, played by Vincent Franklin, a middle-aged man in the midst of a domestic crisis with his partner Lance. The start of the series presents Henry as a typical middle-aged businessman, stuck in a routine of working, socialising and complaining about his humdrum day-to-day existence. Henry’s life is turned upside down when a date with his partner goes drastically wrong, resulting in police intervention, and Henry running away from home to live with two other gay men half his age.

Banana, centred on a young group of friends, focuses on many aspects of LGBTQ life concerning a younger generation. Each episode focuses on a different character, the first of which introduces us to Dean (Fisayo Akinade), a sexually active and adventurous office messenger. The second, introducing us to Scotty (Letitia Wright), whose crush on an older woman turns into a dangerous obsession.

The two series seamlessly intermingle, with a selection of characters featuring in both Banana and Cucumber. This aspect of the series allows audiences get to see two repsentations of LGBTQ lifestyle in conversation, .