In 1980 a documentary exploring the lives, medical treatment and legal rights of transgender people was broadcast in the UK on ATV, a regional channel in the Midlands. Open discussion of these subjects was so unusual at the time that the film is likely to have provided a lifeline to isolated trans viewers all over the country.
ATV Logo shown at the beginning of the programme. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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‘What Am I?’ was broadcast on 15 May 1980 on a regional channel, ATV, in the Midlands, England. It was one episode in a series called ‘Format V’, which covered current affairs across the Midlands. For the purposes of this image gallery, I will be using the term ‘transsexual’ or ‘trans’ in place of the term ‘transgender’; while transgender is the terminology we use today, transsexual is what the people in the film use to refer to themselves and others.
Mary meets with a doctor to discuss her transition. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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At the beginning of the film Mary is introduced as a “man living as a woman” and she speaks openly about her life as a transsexual woman and how she got to the point of seeking a medical transition. Throughout the film, all of the trans people who are introduced and interviewed are shown to be happy and living an average life. They explain what their job is and if they have family plans, as well as things that are more trans-specific, like surgery and coming out.
An unnamed doctor who supports transsexuals taking hormones and undergoing surgery. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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All but one of the medical figures in the film go unnamed. The doctor Mary speaks with expresses an understanding and sympathetic view as a professional towards his trans patients. At one point during the film he says, “You want a happier patient after surgery than you had before.” All of the medical professionals in the film take this stance – the happiness of the trans people/patients is the most important thing, and their understanding is that hormone treatment and surgery are the best ways to ensure their happiness.
April Ashley. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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‘What Am I?’ features April Ashley, a trans woman who had been outed by the UK media some years beforehand – in her own book she speaks about being outed, losing her career and having to divorce her husband because at that point, marriage for transgender people was illegal. The narrator highlights that in the week of the film’s broadcast, EU courts were to be making decisions about trans people being able to marry and also being able to change their birth certificate after they had had reassignment surgery.
Dr Paul Raynor. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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We later meet Dr Paul Raynor from Birmingham Children’s Hospital, the only named doctor in the film. He states that it is almost impossible (with the knowledge at the time) to know if a baby will grow up to be transsexual when they are born because there are no physical signs or abnormalities that indicate this. He also briefly mentions intersex people, but acknowledges that being intersex is not the same as being trans.
A document referring to “'S.H.A.F.T.”'. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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While the film did have a significant medical focus, both the doctors and trans people discussed the importance of self help and peer support. The group SHAFT, or Self Help Association For Transsexuals, was founded and run by Judy Couzins, a trans woman. It is very likely that there were people watching this ‘Format V’ episode who had never met or even heard of another trans person before. While it is important to consider the reactions from the general audience to ‘What Am I?’ being broadcast on mainstream television, there is also the impact of trans viewers to consider, to whom it may have provided a potential lifeline.
Hormone prescriptions for transsexual women.. Source: British Film Institute. © The Media Archive for Central England. Public Domain Mark.
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Prior to ‘What Am I?’ being aired in May 1980, ‘A Change of Sex’ on BBC2 was the first documentary featuring a trans person and their transition to be televised in the UK (first in 1979 and again in 1980). It would be another six years before a trans man, Mark Rees, took his case to the European Court of Human Rights regarding the UK law preventing him from being legally recognised as a man; while Rees lost the case, it was recognised by the court that this was a serious issue. In the context of the time, it was clearly radical that a regional current affairs programme in 1980 would so openly, and positively, discuss trans people, their medical treatment and their day-to-day lives.
About the author
Emily Love
Emily Love has recently graduated with an MSc in Applied Gender Studies. She lives in Scotland, working with LGBTQ+ charities and organisations working to end violence against women.