Depicting gay characters wasn't illegal, but it would have caused an almighty shitstorm in the tabloid press. In the 60s and 70s, British comedy and light ente

Depicting gay characters wasn't illegal, but it would have caused an almighty shitstorm in the tabloid press. In the 60s and 70s, British comedy and light entertainment was rife with "confirmed bachelors" with a flamboyant manner - John Inman, Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Larry Grayson etc. A metropolitan audience would see them as obviously gay, but there was a level of plausible deniability, aided by straight camp and drag performers like Dick Emery and Stanley Baxter.