Graham Linehan, who won five Baftas for Channel 4 sitcoms including Father Ted and The IT Crowd, accuses the BBC and its writers of demonising him in one of its 'woke' medical dramas. He referred to the introduction of character Dr. Graham Elton, played by actor Alex Avery in the BBC One drama's 24th and final series of Doctors, which aired in 2024.
The writers on Doctors called a divorced character 'Graham' and made him the transphobic bad guy; the fictitious Dr Graham Elton is in his 50s, separated from his former wife, and aggressively transphobic, in one scene cruelly deriding his child for coming out as transgender. A BBC Studios spokesman insists Linehan's claims are mistaken, stating that Doctors was a fictional drama, set in a fictional location, featuring fictional characters, not based on any real-life individuals, and to suggest that the character of Dr Graham Elton was based on any specific individual is simply untrue. Linehan has become a pariah in Britain's comedy scene; in 2023, his Edinburgh Fringe show was cancelled after the venue said anti-trans views did 'not align with our overall values'.
I can’t believe I’m not making this up.
In 2020, Graham Linehan and his wife of 16 years Helen Serafinowicz divorced amid the backlash over his anti-transgenderism; he said their marriage broke down after his critics 'went after my wife'. Linehan is an outspoken critic of trans culture. Separately, Carol Vorderman was 42 when she finally met her biological father, a Dutchman who had remained a distant presence since her Welsh mother discovered his affair when the TV star was just three weeks old.
The former Countdown presenter admits she finds her sense of identity rooted in the warmth and culture of her Italian stepfather Gabriel Rizzi; she says she never knew her real father, and Gabriel Rizzi was her dad. She has written to the Pope, to say when she comes back in her next life, she wants to be either an Italian man or an Italian woman, and the Pope hasn't written back yet. In other news, Nicolas Cage long ago repaid the $14 million he owed US tax authorities; he once snapped up such essentials as a private island, a castle and a $200 million fleet of yachts, and is now 62.
The BBC did the same to me with [Doctors].
went after my wife
Doctors was a fictional drama, set in a fictional location, featuring fictional characters, not based on any real-life individuals. To suggest that the character of Dr Graham Elton was based on any specific individual is simply untrue.