Airdate: Stephen Fry: Out There

Later this month ABC will screen Stephen Fry: Out There, a doco / travel series in which the writer-performer travels across the globe to find out what it means to be gay.

He visits Uganda, America, Russia, Brazil and India, meeting some of the most notorious homophobes on the planet to try to understand the origin of their beliefs as well as meeting with victims of homophobia.

The first episode sees Stephen’s journey start close to home as he visits Sir Elton John and David Furnish to talk about their experiences coming out, their civil partnership and decision to raise a child together. He also meets a young Iranian man seeking refuge in the UK because he faces the death penalty in his home country for being gay.

Stephen then travels to Uganda – where the government is proposing a new law that would put gay people to death – and meets government ministers and religious leaders who support the bill. He sees the impact this proposed legislation is having on the lives of gay men and women, and has an emotional conversation with Stosh, a young gay woman who was the victim of ‘corrective rape’ by a family friend.

Lastly, Stephen travels to America to explore the workings of Reparative Therapy, a therapy that claims to change people from gay to straight, and visits actor Neil Patrick Harris to talk about his experience of being openly gay in Hollywood.

8:30pm Monday, 20 January ABC1.