The Week in Crossdressing #7

 Ok so I thought I would just talk about a couple of things that happened on the TV this week.

Firstly, Inside No.9 returned for its 9th and final series with the episode Boo to a Goose. If you're unfamiliar with this show it's an anthology of half hour stories in the vein of The Twilight Zone but with a more horror comedy edge. Created, written by and starring Steve Pemberton (now smashing it on the current series of Taskmaster) and Reece Shearsmith, who were also part of The League of Gentlemen comedy troupe, all episodes take place in a 'Number 9' be it a house, flat, train carriage or even a pedalo boat. But not a bus, never a bus. 

This week's number 9 was a tube train carriage and saw things getting out of hand when the train stops and a purse is stolen leading to suspicion among the passengers and a final twist commenting on how we react to injustice. Pemberton and Shearsmith take on different parts each week in the drama and this time around Pemberton was playing a drag queen who went under the wonderful name of Wilma Dickshow. I won't go into full spoilers here but Wilma emerges as a fascinating character who you thought would be someone eager to challenge perceptions but is beaten down by the prejudices she has faced. It's indicated that these characters live in a more authoritarian future and it's interesting to see that being an out and proud queer man and drag queen isn't seen as being a problem in itself. It's also led me to think further about that world and wouldn't it be ideal to walk down the street looking how you like without fear of being set upon but is it worth it risking certain freedoms for? Then again perhaps this how such societies start. 

The publicity for this series showed the intriguing below image of Pemberton and Shearsmith in character waiting on a platform and although I liked the episode we got, the below image of this rather bland little man and a drag queen standing on a train platform together conjured up something quite different in my mind and is a story I would have liked to see.  

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton
in a BBC publicity photograph for Inside No 9

The second thing I wanted to mention is the annual Eurovision Song Contest which this year was won by Switzerland with the song The Code by non-binary singer Nemo. The song is about their path to discovering that they were neither male or female. I quite liked this on the night and I loved the costume Nemo wore on stage. I know it's probably wrong to label a non-binary performer as crossdressing but in this case it's more gender non-conforming so apologies if I have this wrong. 

Nemo performing at Eurovision 2024