Changing mores.

I remember not that long ago - seeing a programme about a transvestite on main line TV - would have been impossible. When I was in the Merchant Navy in the mid 1960's - there was a big culture of transvestism. Arriving in some god forgotten port, many members of the crew would dress up in their finery and go ashore - to the nearest bar, and make hell. Back in those days it was very much an underground pursuit, and the reserve of such places as the navy. How life has changed, some might think, not for the better. The first programme - part of a new series of dramas on BBC 1 Accused: Tracie's Story written by Jimmy McGovern - had all the tension of a murder mystery - which it was. The main character Tracie/Simon was played to perfection by Sean Bean. Its a difficult line to pull off - trying to be outrageously glamorous, while at the same time having enough authenticity to portray the role. The double life was well captured by Bean - his false persona, creating great problems for him in his professional and transvestite life. In addition there was a terrible sense of loneliness and unhappiness, that the double life was a symptom of. Worth watching.