Doctor Who’s Russell T Davies to headline mainstage panel at National Student Pride

Next month, Russell T Davies will swap scriptwriting for stage as he headlines the conversation on LGBTQ+ representation in TV and film at National Student Pride.

The panel, hosted by Cliff Joannou and in collaboration with Attitude Magazine will take place at the daytime festival on Saturday 24th February where Russell T Davies will be joined by other LGBTQ+ industry legends.

National Student Pride is the UK’s largest LGBTQ+ student event, made for students, run by students. Student Pride returns to London on 23-25th February 2024 to bring together 2,000+ attendees for a whole weekend of parties, panels, an LGBTQ+ careers fair, and so much more. On the main stage, Student Pride will host RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Tia Kofi, Tomara Thomas, and Cara Melle, as well as ‘Queer Question Time’, hosted by LBC’s Natasha Devon, to ask the big questions facing LGBTQ+ students. Free daytime tickets, £10 weekend wristbands and Sunday Drag Brunch bolt-on tickets are available at https://www.studentpride.co.uk/tickets.

Special guest Russell T Davies’ recent episodes of Doctor Who have featured the first major transgender character, Rose Noble, played by Heartstopper’s Yasmin Finney, with a gender-defying storyline and conversations around pronouns and trans’ experiences that resonated with gender non-conforming viewers, sparked media conversation, public commentary and celebration from LGBTQ+ Whovians.

Russell T Davies has been consistently vocal on the importance of queer representation in the media, speaking at the Iris Prize 2023 (quoted from BBC) “we need to constantly work to keep LGBTQ+ representation at the heart of the narrative. It's dangerous to think it's alright. There's still more that needs to be done." National Student Pride, recognising the importance of progress in intersectional representation on screen looks forward to platforming queer voices, as the panel explores what is ‘enough’ queer representation in TV and film.

Russell T Davies has been credited with and celebrated for presenting authentic queer stories, from his earlier career works such as British TV series, Queer as Folk; Cucumber which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series in 2016; to It’s a Sin, and most recently returning to Doctor Who. National Student Pride looks forward to the expertise, passion for change and lived experience Russell T Davies will bring to the panel.