BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!

We celebrate the best in British Queer Talent with BAFTA winning actor & writer Ryan Sampson, ground breaking music academic & drag performer Jacob Mallinson Bird, & concert pianist Cyrill Ibrahim.First up, Graeme Smith meets the very funny Ryan Sampson, known for playing Grumio in the Ancient Rome sitcom Plebs and Tommo in the comedy-drama Brassic. He also created, wrote & starred in Mr Bigstuff alongside British actor Danny Dyer, who called him “one of the best actors this country has ever produced”.Ryan discusses the fifteen years of persistence behind getting his own show made, writing for Dyer, and bringing a gay perspective to straight masculinity. He reflects on growing up in northern England, finding himself through acting, and discovering that fans have had his character permanently tattooed on their bodies.Music academic & drag performer Dr Jacob Mallinson Bird joins Alastair James to explore queer identity, music and performance. A lecturer at Oxford and Cambridge universities, Jacob talks bringing queer noise into his lectures, challenging expectations and giving students new ways to think about music, sex and self-expression.Then concert pianist Cyrill Ibrahim talks to Alastair about the expressive power of music, the barriers he has encountered in the classical world, and developing his own voice as an artist. He also shares stories of performing for the British royal family and Kim Kardashian.