Adèle Anderson, a key voice of cabaret group, Fascinating Aida, takes us behind the spotlight to Britain in the 1970s, where a radical queen went on to face aversion therapy and a medical playbook that demanded a “ladylike” life before providing basic care.

We explore how a newspaper headline threatened to push Adèle out of Fascinating Aida, GLF fractures, the politics of trans inclusion, and the echoes of the past in today's trans debate. Adele’s story offers both tears and joy.

Note, this episode was recorded before the April 2025 UK Supreme Court ruling on trans rights in the UK. To hear Adèle's reaction to this case, tune in to our special bonus episode to be released on 9 January 2025.

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This episode was hosted by Jonathan Chambers and James Alexander

Editing by Hannah Stewart

Music: Mystify created by AlterEgo

Visit our website, https://tvfh.co.uk

Follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/theviewfromherepodcast

We sit down with the activist and actor, Jill Nalder, whose real life shaped the TV series It’s a Sin, to uncover how a makeshift home in London became a blueprint for chosen family, mutual aid, and relentless care during the HIV crisis. From youth theatre in Wales to drama school in the city, Jill shows how safe spaces grow courage and how that courage fuelled nights of laughter, emergency phone calls, and the kind of honesty that saves lives.

Jill opens up about the disorienting early days of HIV: rumours framed as “gay flu,” weeks-long waits for test results, and government messaging that stoked fear instead of clarity. She explains the grassroots network that filled the gap—helplines, the gay press, hospital leaflets, and blunt, shame-free sex education. Then the West End stepped in. Drawing inspiration from Broadway Cares, Jill and friends launched West End Cares, transforming late-night cabarets and bucket collections into hardship grants and research support. Actor, curtain calls, and queues at venues raised cash and delivered real change.

Jill’s reflections on “going home,” chosen family, and the ethics of care show what happens when art becomes activism, bringing with it compassion, courage and hope.

Subscribe, share this episode with a friend, and leave a review to help more listeners find these stories.

This episode was hosted by Jonathan Chambers and James Alexander

Editing by Hannah Stewart

Music: Mystify created by AlterEgo

Visit our website, https://tvfh.co.uk

Follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/theviewfromherepodcast

Ted Brown, veteran of the Gay Liberation Front and a driving force behind black gay activism in Britain, joins us to trace a path from a civil rights–inspired childhood to organising the first UK Pride, and to a battle many don’t see coming - staying out and safe in elderly care.

We start with Ted’s mother, a Jamaican activist who stood with the US civil rights movement and taught him to read prejudice as a system, not a personal failing. From there, Ted walks us into the early GLF meetings at the LSE, where liberation meant more than law reform. He shares how drag, gender-nonconformity, and the idea of sexuality as a spectrum found space in rooms that were chaotic, joyous, and deeply political. We get inside the strategy debates—CHE’s legal focus versus GLF’s cultural transformation—and the reality of racism and sexism in early gay spaces.

Ted details the founding of black queer institutions, including Europe’s pioneering Black Gay and Lesbian Centre, and the hard lessons from confronting media homophobia during the Justin Fashanu saga. His organising forced a powerful newspaper to rethink its stance, showing how targeted pressure can shift hostile narratives.

Then comes a sharp turn to the present: the quiet violence of care homes that ignore or erase LGBTQ relationships. Ted recounts fighting for his partner Noel’s dignity, the systemic misrecognition of their civil partnership, and the ease with which abuse can hide in “care”. He lays out “Not Going In The Care Closet”, a campaign ensuring no one must hide at the end of life.

This episode was hosted by Jonathan Chambers and James Alexander

Editing by Hannah Stewart

Music: Mystify created by AlterEgo

Visit our website, https://tvfh.co.uk

Follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/theviewfromherepodcast