The radio programme, The Homosexual Condition, aired on the BBC Home Service in July 1957 at a time when male homosexuality was still illegal in Britain and public discussion of the topic was extremely rare.
The documentary featured doctors, legal experts and a former prisoner discussing the causes of homosexuality, possible 'treatments' and whether the law should change.
It was broadcast just before the publication of the landmark Wolfenden Report, which recommended decriminalising homosexual acts between consenting adults.
The transcripts of the programme were rediscovered in the BBC archives by Marcus Collins, Professor of Modern History at 91²Ö¿â.
Prof Collins said the discovery opened a window onto a very different era of public debate.
“The world revealed in these documents can feel almost upside down to modern audiences,” he said. “What counted as a ‘liberal’ position in the 1950s was often the belief that homosexuality could be cured, rather than punished.”
The discovery of the documentary led to a new play, The BBC’s First Homosexual, which was performed at LGBT+ History Month, in February, and explored how the BBC struggled to address such a controversial subject and how attitudes to sexuality have changed dramatically since the mid-twentieth century.
By revisiting this forgotten broadcast, the project highlights how debates about sexuality, science and the law were unfolding in public long before homosexuality was partially decriminalised in Britain in 1967.
ENDS