Podcast hosts Your Internet Boyfriends launch mini-series tackling homophobia in response to Tip Toe

The comedy podcast Your Internet Boyfriends is stepping away from its usual format for a new two-part mini-series, Go Deep... On Tip Toe, examining the reality of homophobia in the UK in response to Russell T Davies' new Channel 4 drama.

Hosts Mark T Cox and Denis Len, one gay, one straight, said the idea came directly from watching Tip Toe and asking themselves whether its bleak vision could actually happen. The figures suggest it might not be far off: homophobic hate crimes have risen by 20% over the last five years, and trans-related hate crimes by 50%, with fewer than one in ten LGBTQ+ people believed to report incidents of abuse. Research from Stonewall has found that less than half of LGBTQ+ people in the UK feel safe holding a partner's hand in public, while this year the UK fell from first to 22nd place in ILGA-Europe's Rainbow Map, and to 44th on trans rights specifically.

Denis Len said the final scene of Tip Toe hit him personally. "I watched the final scene thinking, what if that was Mark? It hit hard. And it set off an alarm bell to have an open honest discussion and make this Go Deep series."

Mark T Cox said the show's usual lighter format made it the wrong place to properly explore the impact of Tip Toe. "It just felt impossible to cover the impact of the show in the regular pod. It needed to properly go deep with a dedicated mini-series."

In the series, made with journalist Alastair James, the pair discuss their personal experiences of rising hostility. Cox reflected on how his own assumptions about strangers have shifted. "I assume the worst now of strangers. I assume people are probably a bit racist and a bit homophobic," he said, while also pointing to a wider erosion of social consequences for prejudice voiced by people in positions of power and influence.

Len struck a note of cautious hope, drawing a parallel with the 1980s. "There were a lot of people that wanted to support [the LGBTQ+ community] but were really scared to. I think there are tonnes who would support this time around," he said, while warning that progress historically has come at a devastating cost.

Your Internet Boyfriends Go Deep... On Tip Toe will be available to stream across podcast platforms from Thursday 25 June.