Boy George helps TV drama turn back the clock

Boy George helps TV drama turn back the clock
Boy George helps TV drama turn back the clock (Image credit: PA)

Boy George has helped stars of a new TV drama about his band Culture Club turn back the clock nearly 30 years. The cast of Worried About The Boy managed to look uncannily accurate partly thanks to George loaning his old outfits from the group's heyday as well as making new prints to recreate the clothing. Gavin And Stacey star Mathew Horne is among the stars of the BBC2 drama, to be screened next month as part of an 80s season. He plays Jon Moss, drummer with the band who briefly dominated the charts on both sides of the Atlantic with hits such as Karma Chameleon and Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The film tells the story of a young Boy George as he become a huge star with his androgynous "gender-bender" look. Actor Douglas Booth, who plays George, revealed the singer contacted him out of the blue - and warned him not to be "camp". George contacted him via Facebook when the news emerged that he had been cast. "The title was 'Well!' - and then he just said 'I hear you're going to be playing me, I'm certainly not complaining... Just want to wish you all the best, I can't wait to see it - just don't be camp... I'm not camp'!" Christine Bateman and Donald McInnes, who worked on Booth's hair and make-up, have been friends of George for many years, and worked on up to five make-up changes a day for the film.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.