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Gay news: Worried About The Boy follows the Culture Club star's rise from obscurity to 80s icon
The Boy
Gavin and Stacey's Mathew Horne to star in Boy George biopic
Gavin and Stacey star Mathew Horne is to play Boy George's boyfriend Jon Moss in a new BBC 2 drama about the rise to fame of the former Culture Club singer.
Worried About The Boy will also feature Mark Gatiss (The League of Gentlemen) as pop impresario Malcolm McLaren, Marc Warren (Hustle) as nightclub pioneer and Visage front man Steve Strange, and newcomer Douglas Booth as Boy George - real name George O'Dowd.
The 90-minute film, which goes into production later this month, will follow O'Dowd's exit from the suburb of Eltham and rise from cloakroom attendant at nightclub and New Romantic HQ Blitz to cultural icon of the 80s, taking in his first love affair and meeting with his Culture Club bandmates.
Written by Tony Basgallop (Hotel Babylon, Hughie Green Most Sincerely) and directed by Julien Jarrold (Red Riding, Brideshead Revisited), Worried About The Boy forms part of BBC 2's Eighties season, which also includes The Royal Wedding and an adaptation of Martin Amis' Money.
Controller of BBC drama commissioning Ben Stephenson said: "Worried About The Boy will be an evocative and visually enticing drama about one of our most iconic British pop stars. With its mix of music, fashion and youth, it rounds off our trio of dramas for BBC 2's Eighties season perfectly."
