Russell Tovey Disappointed Gay Men Didn't Give 'Looking' a Look

The scars run deep for out British actor Russell Tovey, whose role on HBO's short-lived series "Looking" brought heat (but not eyes) to the screen. "It broke me," Tovey said of gays' cold reception to the show.

Tovey, 41, spoke with UK newspaper the Independent about the series, which was created by "Weekend" filmmaker Andrew Haigh and premiered on HBO in 2014.

Also starring Jonathan Groff, Murray Bartlett, Frankie J. Alvarez, Raúl Castillo, and Lauren Weedman, the show promised to bring the "looking for love" vibe that gay viewers derived from another HBO property, "Sex and the City." But the show never found the same level of success as the long-running "SATC." "Looking" only lasted two seasons and was capped off with a TV movie.

Tovey opened up about his childhood in the '80s, when British schools were in the grip of Britain's own "Don't Say Gay" law, which worked to marginalize and alienate LGBTQ+ youth like him.

"I was always very much like, 'I'm gay,'" the actor recalled. "I knew from an early age."

But the political and social climate of the time left its mark on the impressionable young Tovey. "I had shame that stayed with me and damaged me," the actor confided. "That is down to government rhetoric. That is down to a gutter press systematically uneducating their readership and keeping them uneducated because it serves them better."

Tovey, who is currently featured in an immersive adaptation of gay filmmaker Derek Jarman's final movie, "Blue," recalled another source of early life trauma: the AIDS epidemic.

"When I came out, the first thing people thought was, 'You've gotta protect yourself. You could get HIV,'" Tovey recounted. "Watching them adverts with the tombstone and John Hurt's voiceover – 'Don't die of ignorance'... It was fucking terrifying."

Now, of course – and due in large part to the efforts of the gay community itself – the picture has changed dramatically thanks to effective antiviral regimens, even though HIV is still a concern.

Moreover – and despite intense attacks from conservative politicians – today's LGBTQ+ youth are more out, visible, and comfortable in their own skins than ever before, in part thanks to greater cultural acceptance, both reflected and propelled by TV and movies – including "Looking" – that challenged homophobic stereotypes and depicted men who love men as being just as complex, multifaceted, and, yes, normal as heterosexuals are.

"Look at 'Heartstopper' or 'Glee,'" Tovey told the outlet. "If we had them shows when I was growing up, I would have felt a bit better about myself."

But is anyone still watching "Looking?" Did anyone watch it to begin with? "The critical narrative at the beginning was that nothing much happened in it," Tovey, who went on to star in a season of "American Horror Story," told the newspaper. "That it was too boring. But it was just real life!"

Especially galling: "He remembers filming scenes for the show's second season outside a San Francisco coffee shop, and being approached by gay men," the Independent said.

They'd recognize him from the show but then say things along the lines of, "but I've not watched it, I've heard it's boring," according to Tovey.

"They hadn't even seen it!" Tovey added. "And it's about you, in your city, filming outside your coffee shop, and you're not even intrigued to watch it? It really, really frustrated me. It broke me, honestly. If that show came out now, it'd have a completely different response."

Or maybe not, judging from how another LGBTQ+ show recently vanished after a short run: Peacock's single-season reboot of "Queer as Folk," which was originally a British show by "It's a Sin" writer Russell T. Davies. Like "Looking," the new "Queer as Folk," which came and went last year, failed to gain a following even among the audience it was intended to represent.

Tovey soldiered on. "He is working on a documentary about the poet and contemporary artist David Robilliard, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1988," the Independent noted, before adding: "A new book based on his 'Talk Art' podcast is released this month, featuring interviews with the likes of Tracey Emin, Wolfgang Tillmans and Grayson Perry."