For our last episode of season three, we meet another Friend of Dorothy: fashion lecturer and PR Tony Gill. Tony’s British Asian upbringing gave him a whole different set of gay icons to the ones host Alice grew up with - and the conversation may give you an appetite to work back through decades of Bollywood classics…  Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

Any history nerd will be excited to hear about Paula Akpan’s research into Black queer women in - and beyond - the British Women’s Lib movement.  Paula is also currently working on her first book, When We Ruled: The Rise and Fall of Twelve Queens. Billed as “a book that will give voice to the women warriors and regents across the African continent often demoted to a footnote in history”, it will be published in hardback in 2024.  As well as that research, and her work as a journalist, Paula (yep, she's busy!) is the creator of Black Queer Travel Guide, to help Black queer people travel around the world more safely.  It’s amazing how much there is in our very recent past that’s at risk of being lost to the wider world without academics like Paula recording it - have a listen. Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

Today’s interviewee, Rita, has proven the power of nightlife for the queer community better than maybe anyone else I’ve met.  In the combination of her own life experiences, her career as a psychologist and in LGBTQ domestic abuse services, and with the groundbreaking queer Asian night Club Kali, Rita has created something very special indeed. That’s an incredible legacy for one club night to have. But it has a dynamic future as well as an important past - and we started there… Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

This one's a little bit different... In summer 2021 we brought together a panel of debut authors, all female, all writing about queer topics or characters, along with the broadcaster and literary judge Simon Savidge. We talked representation, what's changed, and what's next in queer fiction. Prepare to go away with a long 'to be read' list. This panel was first published as a LIVE Twitter Spaces conversation, so this is an edited collection of the best bits - with all the boring technical issues edited out!

Dr Fern Riddell is a historian, podcaster, and the author of - among others - the brilliant book Sex: Lessons from History. If you haven’t read it yet, its fairly revolutionary perspective is that not only have people always been obsessed with sex, but that British people in the past weren’t necessarily as narrow minded about sex, sexuality, and gender as you might think. Which I found a really hopeful message. 

This week’s interviewee made his name as the UK’s answer to Judge Judy, and on Strictly Come Dancing, but there’s much more to him than that.  From his upbringing in North London (in a future celebrity enclave, not far from Rachel Stevens and Amy Winehouse) to his crowd of adoring female fans, the Rinderettes, Rob Rinder had so much to say.  A rare male interviewee, we reflected on the relationship between women and queer men and what we can offer each other.  Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

Meet Lisa-Jayne Lewis. A well-known figure in the queer Christian world, she is on the leadership team of Two:23 and The Gathering Space, both safe spaces for queer people to be themselves within their faith. Lisa-Jayne is also a trustee of OneBodyOneFaith, the oldest LGBT Christian organisation in the UK and formerly known as the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM). We talked about her journey through her sexuality and faith, the present and future status of LGBTQ Christians, and the burden upon this group of people as their lives remain up for debate within their faith. Content warning: this episode includes discussion of conversion therapy, suicide, and child abuse. Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

The Dorothy Project is BACK. Every Thursday, we’ll be introducing you to another iconic woman and her impact on queer culture. First up, it’s Bishi - the mononymic and multi-talented musician, artist, performer, composer and curator. A true Renaissance woman, Bishi found herself on the London queer scene at a very young age, and became part of the legendary club kid Leigh Bowery’s band Minty. She has since created music across a dizzying array of instruments and genres, and written powerfully about her experience of being a British Asian woman in the music industry. I know you’ll love her as much as I did.  You can find Bishi at bishi.co.uk and (pandemic permitting) performing at venues all over. Her single Let My Country Awake is out now.  Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

Drag Race UK is back, and it’s making herstory thanks to Victoria Scone. Yes - The Dorothy Project is back for a special one-off episode, meeting the first ever cis female drag queen to star on RuPaul’s Drag Race worldwide.  Cardiff queen Victoria is the drag daughter of season two’s Tia Kofi. Inspired by pantomime dames and gay icons, her drag is as British as afternoon tea. But this camp classic also represents the future of the artform, uplifting ‘AFAB’ queens and drag kings as she goes.  You can find Victoria on Twitter @VictoriaScone, on victoriascone.com, and on BBC iPlayer every Thursday night at 7pm. Creator & host: Alice Beverton-Palmer Producer & editor: Laura Blake

What does a self-described ‘outspoken black lesbian’ have to say about Prides and the UK's queer nightlife scene? The Dorothy Project meets Olivia Andrews, author of two recent viral articles about racism within the LGBTQ community.  Olivia is also a Stonewall Young Campaigner alum. During her degree at the University of Leeds, she co-organised the award-winning ‘Why is My Curriculum White: Decolonising Geographies’ panel event and worked with peers and faculty to decolonise the curriculum. You can find her on Twitter @livkiera, and on her blog queerblackbabe.

Can books change the world? Sharmaine Lovegrove is the founder of the publishing imprint Dialogue Books, which she set up to promote stories by, for, and about queer, disabled, working class, black and minority communities.  As a queer Black woman herself, Sharmaine believes that storytelling creates the dialogue we need to build a more inclusive world. I quite agree. Her own life story is quite something, from homeless teenager to Berlin bookshop owner and now, one of the leading lights of British publishing. Sharmaine is also the first Black interviewee on The Dorothy Project. That’s not a track record I’m proud of, and I’m determined to improve that ratio from now on.

There are different ways to be an activist. Some people chain themselves to railings and get arrested, others raise money, or deliver services. “Everyone can do something” is the message I was left with after talking to veteran fundraiser and activist Victoria Noe. After years of fundraising for AIDS causes in the 1980s and 1990s, she was ‘burnt out’, but has since returned and is now a member of ACT-UP New York.  Asked to reflect on her experiences by a Chicago LGBTQ newspaper, she was inspired to find other women who’d contributed during the AIDS crisis, and her book ‘Fag Hags, Divas, and Moms’ is the result. (And yes, we talk about that title!)

She is currently developing several original dramas and adaptations for TV. On stage, Rose (@RoseLewenstein) performs with queer comedy cabaret troupe Sex Shells - who’ve enjoyed multiple runs at top venues including the Edinburgh Fringe, Soho Theatre and The Glory - as That Woman Rosie. We got stuck in to being the ‘token woman’, the difference between gay (‘as in…’) and queer, and performing queer work for wider audiences. Don’t miss Sex Shells at The Glory next Friday, March 6th 2020. After that, you can see their full show at the Spiegeltent on the Southbank, as part of the Underbelly Festival on April 23rd.

This week, I meet a woman who has been professionally and personally involved in the HIV epidemic since 1985. After nursing some of the first people to live and die with HIV in New Zealand, Flick came to the UK and was a Charge Nurse at London Lighthouse from 1994-1998.  London Lighthouse - most famously visited by Princess Di - offered comprehensive, compassionate care to people dying of AIDS and their loved ones.  Following the closure of the Lighthouse residential unit, Flick became the HIV psychiatric liaison nurse at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. She identified the initial crystal meth problem in London and was instrumental in setting up what has become the highly successful chemsex and club drug clinic.  Six months into their relationship, Flick and her partner Professor Chloe Orkin were seconded to Botswana to set up the country’s Antiretroviral Programme. Due to Botswana’s laws, Flick and Chloe weren’t able to be out as lesbians or a couple throughout their six months there. (Chloe features in Season One of The Dorothy Project!) Flick took medical retirement in 2011, and now volunteers with her three (ADORABLE) dogs as a pet therapist in hospices and hospitals in London. If you’re an LGBTQ person worried about your drug or alcohol use, or that of a friend or family member, then there’s plenty of support on offer: In London: Antidote In Manchester: The LGBT Foundation In Birmingham: Birmingham LGBT  If you’re straight or don’t live in one of these cities, there are drug and alcohol services provided by every local authority - you’ll be able to find out where yours is from your local authority’s website.

THIS EPISODE CONTAINS EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT, ADULT THEMES, AND STRONG LANGUAGE. You've been warned. This week we meet a legend among Dorothies - Sophie, the Cock Destroyer. The porn star and social media sensation, immortalised in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s Frock Destroyers, tells Alice about her fifteen minutes of fame - which have lasted 18 months and counting. We talked about what makes a Cock Destroyer, Sophie reveals her fave of the pair’s viral videos, and pays tribute to the sisterhood and aesthetic they share with drag queens including Trixie Mattel. A member of the LGBTQ community herself, Sophie also opens up about her experience of growing up pansexual, how things have changed, and the importance of celebrating queer life around her teenage son.

Presenter Alice Beverton-Palmer flips the script, and for the first time on The Dorothy Project, interviews a queer man about the women in his life.  And what a way to start! Simon Jones’s life has taken him from being a teenage Madonna stan in a tiny Norfolk village, to winning a teen magazine talent search, and now shaping the careers of gay icons such as Geri Halliwell and Jade Thirlwall. In his eponymous PR company, he’s worked with multiple Spice Girls, All Saints, Louise Redknapp, Dannii Minogue, Pussycat Dolls and Tulisa to name a few. We talked about how pop icons speak to their queer fanbases, and how being gay has helped Simon guide his clients, as well as his favourite career memories so far (...this is the man who stuck the promotional message on Geri Halliwell’s horse as she rode down Old Compton Street.)

She wandered into Bloc bar one night with a camera, and hasn’t left the queer scene since. Alice Beverton-Palmer talks to music and drag photographer Corinne Cumming (@capturedbycorinne) about how drag became her creative muse, finding your queer family, and what it’s like to be a female photographer in the straight club scene (spoiler: it’s shit) Corinne regularly shoots the world’s most famous drag queens, from Alyssa Edwards to Bianca Del Rio, but she’s equally at home capturing London’s alternative drag scene. Her work foregrounds and celebrates drag kings and non-binary performers, and she’s also part of the pan-Asian drag collective The Bitten Peach. She also shoots Alice’s club night Push The Button!

Born into a family of major Bollywood producers, Shelly never got the chance to join them - she was “married and packed off”, and only began her own film career once her children were in school. One of those children turned out to be gay - and Shelly’s experience raising a gay child inspired her to make Ek Ladki.  We talked about her Trojan horse tactics to bring an LGBT story with a message of acceptance to the biggest possible audience, complete with huge stars including Sonam and Anil Kapoor. You can find Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga on Netflix, in the UK and around the world.

In the first episode of Season Two, Scissor Sisters frontwoman Ana helps host Alice Beverton-Palmer choose a drag name - and has advice for single Dorothies looking for a guy. With a gay father and godfathers, Ana is a born Dorothy. She fulfilled her destiny in lavish style - moving to San Francisco as a teenager and then later New York City, where she performed at and hosted burlesque and drag nights.  She met Jake Shears while he was dressed as his character "Jason the Amazing Back-Alley Late Term Abortion" and the rest was history. Scissor Sisters came together shortly afterwards and became a global sensation, filling arenas and Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. Their album ‘Scissor Sisters’ remains one of the 20 biggest-selling albums of the 21st century. After realising they couldn’t possibly get gayer than Let’s Have A Kiki, the band went on hiatus in 2012. These days, you can find Ana hosting BBC Radio 2 show Dance Devotion every weekend, as well as BBC Eurovision coverage.

In this trailer, host Alice Beverton-Palmer is BACK with a sneak peek of who you'll meet in Season Two of The Dorothy Project.  The first episode, with Scissor Sisters frontwoman Ana Matronic, lands this Thursday January 9th. Subscribe now so you don't miss a second!