The Problematic Gaze

Sharpen your stakes and protect your daughters because this week we're entering the wonderfully gothic, increasingly racy world of Hammer Horror with 1970's The Vampire Lovers.
By the dawn of the 1970s, Hammer's familiar formula of castles, cleavage and Christopher Lee was facing competition from a new generation of increasingly explicit cinema. The answer? More blood, more nudity and, in The Vampire Lovers, one of horror cinema's most enduring figures: the lesbian vampire.
Directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Ingrid Pitt, Peter Cushing and Kate O'Mara, the film was adapted from Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, a vampire story that actually predates Bram Stoker's Dracula. We explore how Hammer transformed it into the first instalment of its Karnstein trilogy and helped launch a cycle of lesbian vampire films that became a distinctly provocative corner of 1970s horror.
But who exactly was The Vampire Lovers made for? We dig into the film's complicated legacy, asking whether its lesbian relationships offered rare queer visibility at a time when that was almost nonexistent—or whether they were primarily designed for the heterosexual male gaze. And when female desire is ultimately destroyed by men restoring the traditional order, is Hammer reinforcing the status quo or accidentally giving queer audiences someone far more interesting to root for?
We also celebrate the extraordinary life of Ingrid Pitt, whose journey to becoming one of Hammer's greatest icons was every bit as remarkable as her screen career.
And in Culture Corner, we're travelling back to Britain in 1970: the news stories, television and chart hits—including the inescapable "In the Summertime"—plus major changes to British film censorship that allowed filmmakers like Hammer to push sex, nudity and horror further than they had before.
Sexy, camp, gothic and dripping with subtext, The Vampire Lovers captures Hammer at a fascinating crossroads: an old studio trying to survive a new decade by discovering that apparently the answer to everything was more vampires and fewer nightdresses.
Join us as we sink our teeth into one of Hammer Horror's most fascinating cult classics.

We watched The Vampire Lovers on Amazon Prime Video. Click here
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We're back! After a short summer break, our bonus episode, The Problematic Gazette returns with plenty to catch up on, including holidays, television recommendations, listener emails, and a sneak peek at the gloriously gothic world we'll be exploring next week.
We start by looking back at our recent recording with special guest Andrew Mercado, where we revisited Crocodile Dundee, before swapping holiday stories. Dave headed to the South of France, where a blocked ear became an unexpected travelling companion, while Lee escaped London's heat with a trip to Northumberland in search of cooler weather—and found it!
Naturally, the Great British Weather makes an appearance. We chat about the latest heatwave, hosepipe bans, and the strange moment when you've become so desperate for rain that you find yourself listening to a YouTube thunderstorm just to remember what it sounds like.
We've also got plenty of television recommendations. From Apple TV's eerie Widow's Bay and ITV's atmospheric Highlands mystery The Dark to Prime's Ride or Die with Hannah Waddingham, plus the wonderfully bittersweet comedy Ann Droid, starring Diane Morgan and Sue Johnson, we share the shows that have kept us entertained over the summer—and a few that might deserve a place on your watchlist.
Elsewhere, we welcome new listeners who discovered us through our posts about the remarkable Rent Boys documentary, give an update on our new website and recent photoshoot, and open the postbag to read your emails, corrections and recommendations.
And finally, we look ahead to next week's deep dive into one of Hammer Horror's most influential—and controversial—films: The Vampire Lovers. Expect gothic castles, vampires, and plenty to sink our teeth into.
So grab a cold drink, settle in, and join us for another relaxed catch-up packed with pop culture, recommendations, and the usual amount of delightful nonsense. Summer may be ending... but we're just getting warmed up.
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This week we're heading into the Australian Outback—and the streets of New York—to revisit one of the biggest global movie sensations of the 1980s: Crocodile Dundee.
Joining us is Australian author and co-host of the TV Gold Podcast Andrew Mercado, who brings first-hand insight into the remarkable phenomenon that turned Paul Hogan from a household name in Australia into one of the world's biggest movie stars almost overnight.
Together we explore how Crocodile Dundee became an international box-office sensation, the story behind its production, its different theatrical cuts, its enduring popularity, and why, nearly forty years later, it's still one of Australia's most recognisable cultural exports. We also discuss the 40th anniversary 4K restoration and the film's lasting place in cinema history.
Andrew explains Paul Hogan's extraordinary television career before Dundee, Australia's famous tourism campaigns, and how one low-budget comedy helped reshape the world's image of Australia for an entire generation.
As always, we also step back into 1986 in our Culture Corner, revisiting the television, music and headlines that surrounded the film's release. From Wham! calling it a day and Madonna's True Blue era to chart hits from EastEnders, Grange Hill, The Young Ones, Spitting Image, and more, it's a nostalgic return to one of pop culture's most memorable years.
Finally, we ask how Crocodile Dundee looks through modern eyes. We discuss its ideas about masculinity, its affectionate send-up of New York culture, Linda Kozlowski's role, the film's portrayal of First Nations Australians, and the removal of one scene in later releases that has become increasingly controversial.
Funny, charming and packed with behind-the-scenes stories, this episode revisits a film that became far more than a box-office hit—it became part of Australia's national identity and one of the defining movies of the 1980s.
So grab your hat, watch out for crocodiles... and remember, that's not a knife...
To watch the TV Show Australian Story: Paul Hogan mentioned in this podcast click the YouTube Link Here
To watch the trailer for Love Of An Icon: The Legend of Crocodile Dundee. Click here
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This week we're heading back to Canal Street in 1999 to revisit one of the most influential British television dramas ever made: Queer as Folk.
Created by Russell T Davies, the groundbreaking Channel 4 series exploded onto British television with an honesty and confidence rarely seen before. Funny, provocative, explicit and unapologetically gay, it introduced millions of viewers to a world that had seldom been portrayed so openly on mainstream television.
We focus on the unforgettable first episode, meeting the confident and charismatic Stuart, his best friend Vince, and fifteen-year-old Nathan, whose arrival on Manchester's Canal Street sets the story in motion. Along the way we revisit the moments that made headlines—from explicit sex scenes and frank discussions of gay relationships to Stuart fathering a child through sperm donation, Vince's endearing Doctor Who obsession, and some wonderfully memorable comic moments that remind us why the series became such a phenomenon.
In our Pride Corner, we step back into Britain at the end of the 1990s to explore just how much the country was changing. We discuss shifting public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people, media representation, advertising, the growing visibility of trans people, and how newspapers such as The Sun gradually changed their approach to outing and reporting on LGBTQ+ lives. We also revisit the television, music and popular culture that formed the backdrop to one of the most talked-about dramas of the decade.
Of course, we also examine the controversies that surrounded Queer as Folk. Was the reaction driven by genuine concerns or by lingering prejudice? How does the series look through modern eyes? We discuss its handling of age, sex and consent, while also considering criticisms of its relatively narrow portrayal of gay life, including its overwhelmingly white cast, limited representation of lesbians, and the notable absence of HIV and AIDS from a story set at the end of the twentieth century.
More than twenty-five years later, Queer as Folk remains funny, moving, controversial and hugely influential. This episode asks not simply what has aged well, but what the series tells us about Britain in 1999—and how far we've travelled since.
Join us as we revisit the drama that changed the conversation about LGBTQ+ lives on British television forever.

GAZER HOMEWORK: Next week we turn our focus to the 1986 movie: Crocodile Dundee
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Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you!
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To watch the episode of 'Tales Of The City" discussed in this episode on YouTube: Click here
Pack your bags because this week we're moving to 28 Barbary Lane as our Pride series takes us to one of television's most beloved LGBTQ+ classics: Tales of the City.
First broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 in 1993 and adapted from Armistead Maupin's novels, the series transports us back to San Francisco in 1976—a city of sexual liberation, social change and people arriving from across America hoping to reinvent themselves.
At the centre of it all is Mary Ann Singleton, a wonderfully naïve newcomer from Cleveland who visits San Francisco on holiday and promptly decides never to leave. She finds a home at the gloriously bohemian 28 Barbary Lane, presided over by the mysterious and endlessly fabulous Anna Madrigal, and meets a new chosen family including Mona, Mouse and Brian.
Meanwhile, across town, the wealthy Halcyon family introduces us to a very different San Francisco, complete with money, marriage, infidelity and enough secrets to keep several soap operas running for years.
But this episode is about much more than what happens at Barbary Lane.
In our Pride Corner, we explore how San Francisco became one of the world's great LGBTQ+ centres—from the impact of the Second World War and the growth of queer communities to the rise of the Castro and the political breakthrough of Harvey Milk. We also look at the very different world into which the television adaptation arrived in 1993, when LGBTQ+ visibility was growing even as the AIDS crisis continued to cast an enormous shadow.
We discuss why the idea of found family sits at the heart of Tales of the City and why that message resonated so powerfully with generations of LGBTQ+ viewers. We also revisit Anna Madrigal's groundbreaking trans identity and ask how remarkably progressive her portrayal was for mainstream television in the early 1990s, while examining elements that feel more complicated through modern eyes—including casting choices, the framing of secrecy and "deception," and the limited racial diversity that Armistead Maupin himself later acknowledged.
Plus, we revisit the television and music of 1993, explore the characters and stories that made the series so addictive, and ask the big question: more than 30 years later, how much of Tales of the City still holds up?
Warm, funny, sexy, occasionally messy and filled with unforgettable characters, Tales of the City is ultimately about something beautifully simple: finding the people and the place where you can finally be yourself.
Welcome to Barbary Lane, Gazers. We may be staying for a while.
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Don't forget to hit that FOLLOW button to get every episode of The Problematic Gaze downloaded and ready to listen!

Please leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. They really help to spread the word of The Problematic Gaze.

And if our fellow Gazers want to comment on what they've heard in our episodes, or to suggest future topics, please email us at theproblematicgaze@gmail.com. We love hearing from you!
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