New British sitcom to center on gay seniors, Ian McKellen & Derek Jacobi
Two of the UK’s best known gay actors, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi, have been recruited by ITV to star in a new TV comedy, “Vicious Old Queens.” The Daily Star reports:
“The show [starting April 2013] will feature the two as elderly gay men living together in London’s Covent Garden…. Six half-hour episodes have been commissioned, written by American Gary Janetti, executive producer of long-running US sitcom Will And Grace.”
McKellen is probably best known for his movie roles in “Gods and Monsters,” the “X-Men” series, and “The Lord of the Rings.” He will again appear as Gandalf the Grey in the upcoming “Hobbit” films. The first of the new trilogy will be released on December 14, 2012. McKellen and Jacobi are both in their 70s.
McKellen told The Telegraph last week that being closeted in his earlier days may have had an unexpected side effect:
“I think that’s why so many great British actors are gay — we spent so long pretending to be straight, to be someone else, that eventually we became very good at it.”
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