Extraordinary People: Identical Quads (five), The Trouble With Gay Men (BBC3): AT least there was one thing in Simon Fanshawe's The Trouble With Gay Men that you could easily agree with - his assessment that he was becoming a grumpy old gay man.
The writer and broadcaster is unhappy that gay men conform to stereotypical views of them. They are, he contends, assisting the straight world in keeping alive the image of all gay men as limp-wristed queens.
He condemns them for being vain and regarding older men with contempt, for continuing to be promiscuous despite Aids, and for wrecking themselves on designer drugs.
Quite a catalogue of accusations and ones he set out to prove by talking to those indulging in such pleasures. But I couldn't help suspecting an element of jealousy at seeing everyone else having a good time while he remained a single gay man of nondescript appearance.
The main value of the programme was to incite debate. He'll have incensed straight and gay alike with some of his pronouncements although you could argue that this is the point of a programme like this.
He was certainly thorough in his research. He watched the heats of the Mr Gay UK competition, visited a locker room sauna where gay men go for casual sex, and talked to Graham Norton about the abundance of camp gay men on TV. I began to wonder if he wasn't just using the programme as a dating service to try to find a boyfriend.
Finally, his investigations led him to New Scotland Yard. He got the police to help him with his inquiries by talking to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick. This top copper conforms to Fanshawe's approved image of a gay man, i.e. one who doesn't behave like a preening, sex-crazy, drug-taking queen. A good thing probably as handling your truncheon with a limp wrist isn't easy.
Fanshawe was guilty of making sweeping generalisations about gay men, just as people assume that Steve and Allison Mathias can't tell their children apart because Grace, Emily, Marie Claire and Anna are identical quads.
But, as their mum pointed out, each one has developed a unique character. "As much as they look alike, they are different," she said.
What they have in common is being very rare examples of identical quadruplets, especially as no fertility treatment was involved and the Mathias's had no history of multiple births in their families.
Despite the demands - emotional, physical and financial - of raising four youngsters simultaneously, Allison wouldn't have it any other way. "How many people do this?," she asks. "Of all the people in the world, I was chosen. How cool is that?".
The film followed the five-year-old girls on their first day at school. Having been together every day for five years, their parents were understandably apprehensive about splitting them into pairs to be taught in different classrooms.
They needn't have worried. The girls were fine, after some initial tearfulness from the youngest. After being good all day at school, the quads were soon back home causing chaos.
Published: 25/04/2006
