An anxious grad student interviews a friend of the late activist Edward Carpenter. The student’s snarky boyfriend plans his birthday party. The characters discuss queer rights, age-gaps and open relationships. The film starts slowly and builds to a powerful finale. The matter-of-fact depiction of happy gay couples (including a post coital cuddle) was groundbreaking for TV in 1979.

Only Connect aired on the BBC network as part of The Other Side anthology series. I learned of it from Stephen Bourne’s book Playing Gay in the Golden Age of British TV. Bourne called it “One of the finest television plays ever produced.” A film about uncovering buried queer history has been buried itself. The vagaries of copyright law have left it sealed in the British Film Institutes’ media library, where I watched it. Bourne’s book discusses the making of the film but does not recap the plot. I have done so here. Spoilers ahead.

So Thin a Veil Divides Us

Prologue: Radio Studio. 1944
E.M. FORSTER (Celebrated writer):  It is an honor to deliver this tribute to Edward Carpenter. Socialist. Poet. Vegetarian. Who inspired my novel Maurice. Oops. I’m not publishing that one till after my death. Never mind.

Scene One: London. 1979
OLD MAN: (On the phone.) Hello?
STUDENT: Hello! I’m the grad student writing about Edward Carpenter. I got your letter. Can we do the interview tomorrow?
OLD MAN: I suppose so.
STUDENT: Excellent! (Hangs up.)
BOYFRIEND (A bus driver): Tomorrow’s your birthday.
STUDENT: So?
BOYFRIEND: So, I’ll cancel your surprise party. You can have your cake and presents tonight. Jerk.

Scene Two: Manchester
OLD MAN: Tea?
STUDENT: No. I w…
OLD MAN: Cake?
STUDENT: No. I wanted to ask about Edward Carpenter.
OLD MAN: Kind man. Funny. Loved to sing at the pub.
STUDENT: But what about his work with the Labor movement?
OLD MAN: He didn’t talk about that.
STUDENT: Augh!

Scene Three: Bedroom. The night before the interview.
STUDENT: A costume party?
BOYFRIEND: A 60’s theme. Everyone was going to dress as hippies.
STUDENT: Ridiculous.
BOYFRIEND: They were trying to accomplish something through collective action. Just like those socialists you study.
STUDENT: Were you into free love? Who was the oldest person you ever slept with?
BOYFRIEND: He was late 40’s. Why?

Scene Four: Manchester
OLD MAN: You’re not listening to me
STUDENT: It’s like you didn’t even know him! I’m leaving.
OLD MAN: Well, we did sleep together.
STUDENT: I’m staying.
OLD MAN: Ha. All I’ll say is I was 22, he was 80, his partner encouraged it and we had a nice cuddle after.
STUDENT: You knew you were gay?
OLD MAN: I didn’t know anyone else was. Till then. I eventually met someone. He “died in 1966, the year before they made us legal…. In 1924 I found out that men could love each other…. When you know that, you don’t give up trying to find it. When you find it, you’ll fight to keep it. That’s what I learned from Edward.”

Scene Five: That night
STUDENT: Where am I sleeping?
OLD MAN: The back room.
STUDENT: Where are you sleeping?
OLD MAN: The front room.
STUDENT: Would you like some company?
(Takes his hand… Later:)
STUDENT: This wasn’t research.
OLD MAN: This wasn’t my last fling.

Scene Six: A year or so later
BOYFRIEND: What’s wrong?
STUDENT: His sister wrote me. He died peacefully after a long illness. She sent me a photo of Edward Carpenter. With a note.
OLD MAN’s NOTE: Last fling.

Epilogue. Radio Studio. 1944
RADIO HOST: Excellent speech. What’s wrong?
E.M. FORSTER: I didn’t say he was a homosexual.
RADIO HOST: Why tarnish his legacy?
(Forster looks distressed.)

THE END

A Night in Each Other’s Arms

“Only Connect is a masterpiece… [W. Stephen] Gilbert produced it with great love and care. He allowed two gay writers [Noel Greig and Drew Griffiths] to have a voice, which they’d never have got in television anywhere else.”
Stephen Bourne. Playing Gay in the Golden Age of British TV.

Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) lived many lives. Biographers struggle to summarize his  adventures. Only Connect does not try. It presents three generations of gay men who’ve each subscribed to his philosophies. When the film started I worried it had been oversold. The camera work was stagnant and the early conversations are filled with exposition. Once the relationships started to develop I was drawn in. The final note was a gut punch. Forster’s brief epilogue a bittersweet reminder of how far we’ve come. I look forward to the day the film becomes readily available to share and study.

You can find more of my reviews on The Avocado, Letterboxd and Serializd. My podcast, Rainbow Colored Glasses, can be found here.