Although queerness and horror have historically gone hand-in-hand – Nosferatu is a gay, it is (not) a fact (but very clear as day) – the existence of openly LGBTQ+ characters in the genre has notoriously been… well, non-existent. (For god’s sake, queers can get their throats slashed too!) In recent years, however, representation for the community has fiercely increased thanks to Ryan Murphy’s iconic anthology series American Horror Story and acclaimed films such as The Perfection, Fear Street, Bodies Bodies Bodies, They/Them and – this is not a stretch, it’s canon now – The Babadook. 

This month, the genre reached queerer heights with BBC Three’s six-part series Wreck. Written by Ryan J. Brown, the former recipient of the BAFTA New Writing Prize, the British slasher comedy follows Jamie (Oscar Kennedy), a gay 20-something who infiltrates a cruise ship to find his sister Pippa (Jodie Tycack) who mysteriously disappeared from the same vessel on a previous tour. Featuring smart, self-aware characters akin to the Scream franchise and The Cabin in the Woods as well as a serial killer galavanting around the ship in a ducking (autocorrect not needed) duck costume (see?), Wreck is one of the most entertaining – and queerest – offerings from the genre in recent memory. Accompanying Jamie on his mission is Vivian (Thaddea Graham), a hard-as-nails lesbian fleeing from her family, Rosie (Miya Ocego), a Cher impersonator who just so-happens to be trans and Cormac (Peter Claffley), the latter’s ex-boyfriend whose identity is assumed by Jamie to board the Sacramentum. The LGBTQ+ rep doesn’t stop there: various other characters on the ship are also members of the rainbow mafia such as Jamie and Vivian’s love interests Olly (Anthony Rickman) and Lily (Ramanique Ahluwalia), as well as Sacramentum entertainer Hamish (James Phoon). Irish drag performer Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera also appears in a supporting role.