I loved Ben in the long call and I love the relationship he had with Jonathan .When Ben came out gay I was very proud to call myself a fan of his… Love the interview stay happy Ben xx
Ben, if you get a chance to see this comment...you spoke of feeling so free, and open after coming out...I think EVERY person who is gay that "comes out" gets that feeling. Before we claim it to the world, and tell everyone without reservation it is a huge secret. Being "in the closet" is a perfect way to put it...the constant lying, and having to remember to keep up the charade that you are interested in women sexually. and remembering all the lies to be able to keep up that charade is number 1 extremely exhausting, number 2. very demoralizing...after a while the guilt of being a "liar" comes home to roost. number 3. you can't really openly love who you want to without being guarded, and not able to have any kind of PDA....it feels like liberation from prison, and the lack of actually living a life at all prior to dropping the "act"....good luck to you, and enjoy finally living life to the fullest...Brian
Thought BA was great in Fleabag but found his acting in The Long Call very emotive, very powerful. Look forward to seeing more of this lovely actor's work.
Well done for your thoughtful and reasoned account of coming out. I’m sure your openness will be an inspiration to people in many ways. Best of luck to you ❤️
Ben has now become one of my new favorite actors. In all that i have seen him in he is one of the most charismatic and talented actors i have seen. Plus he is gorgeous!!!
I genuinely appreciated his openness, hopefulness & transparency. No, not cats! Lol. I'm glad you didn't get hooked into cats movie.... it was bad. Really bad. Lol. The play is glorious.... the movie is not. You dodged a bullet mate. 🇬🇧🏳️🌈🌈👍😘⭐️👏💕❤️🎭 well done....
So important! When he said that growing up he didn’t have any role models or images reflected back at him so he could understand his own feelings better to get to know himself, it affected me because I’ve experienced the same thing.
Thrilling and moving it is this tv series The long call..... beautifully done 👏👏👏👏 I loved it ....the characters and the role they all played ....and of course Ben Aldridge superb part he played....I feel moved and amazed with the whole story so real..... wish you all the best Ben you're a great actor and as a heard you in this interview with attitude very yourself and bright ❤️👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏well done good luck
"claiming his identity and queer actors playing queer roles" Claiming his identity and GAY actors playing GAY roles- fixed it. Stop using slur words. Queer is a slur word
bad word will always be a bad word, especially for generations who got beaten and called like that. Yea queer is not the same as gay since straight people call themselves queer. now, even worse.
@@thezenable if it is not a slur to the individual using it about themselves or anyone who openly calls themselves queer, then let them use it. It’s all I feel comfortable calling myself because I feel it perfectly describes me, since I’m not totally sure of how to identify my sexuality.
Hate the term “queer”. I know it’s popular these days within the LGBT community but it’s a slur to me and many others. That was the word used to dehumanise and bully us.
Totally agree! Sadly though it seems like the younger generations embrace and regurgitate it without any recognition of it being a pejorative or the offence it causes to the older generations who live with life long trauma just because they experience it's use in different times "Get over it!" is about as understanding a comment most made by recent generations when they weren't even born, let alone try to comprehend their elders who faught for the kind of rights and recognition they enjoy today. Most were ostracized or abused for a great portion of their lives. Cpmsequently great many older generation feel disassociated from their community because they in their lifetime will never accept this terms of reference.
It’s mainly the crazy straights jumping on our bandwagon desperate for a unique identity or the pots and pans lovers that call themselves queer anyway. No self respecting homosexual or bisexual would ever do that
Hi Ad Am. The original idea behind labelling yourself as ‘queer’ was to OWN the word. If you use it yourself then it can no longer be used as an insult against you.
He is so beautiful! I’m looking forward to watching this movie as someone who has been through excommunication from their religious element and family.
He's playing Thomas Wayne in Pennyworth and the mustache fits that time and fits his character, but not a fan of the mustache either. Now he is more recognizable with his mustache, it might be difficult to lose it.
I said many years ago to my sister that i was certain Ben was gay from the very first episode of Our Girl. She laughed and said i was so wrong. My observation was not a judgemental one but merely a feeling. I think perhaps his family played a big part in him delaying his sexuality publicity. Anyway, i’m glad he is now comfortable talking about himself.
What an excellent man he is!!! But I hope people will stop using the word 'queer' to refer gay people, even though some of the gay people use it as an 'identity' most of us really don't like that term at all. By the way I totally agree that this new movement called 'gay actors playing gay roles' is a totally ridiculous idea. Some of the best gay movies and shows were played by straight people. Some of the best examples include, Brokeback Mountain, A place to call home, Maurice, etc. It's completely different from cis gender people playing transgender roles, because transgender is a gender, and therefore it's not accurate when played by a different gender. It's not the case when it comes to sexual orientations.
Absolutely loved The Long Call and Ben played the part with both compassion and empathy for someone in that position in life. (Note to Ben)...Please don't use the word queer, it's offensive. Queer definition is - differing in some way from what is usual or normal : odd, strange, weird. Ben you are not odd, you are not strange and you are not weird.
Thanks so much for sharing...I wish I have the courage and bravery like you to live free. Also, hopefully they bring back The Long Calling...love Johnathan and Matthew storyline, ur both beautiful and loving guys. They just needed good marketing and promoter in order to attract investors and viewers. There are viewers out there love to see gay actors representing themselves on screen, and not str8 acting as gay. Good luck❤
Just started to watch 'The Long Call' and am really enjoying it. Then watched the interview above and thought what a great guy and how well he speaks. I have to say I still dislike the word 'queer' which for me always sounds like an insult (a generational thing maybe?). I understand that people want to 'normalise' it but surely in this day and age of political correctness.... need I say more? Anyway, Ben is doing a great job in playing this part.
It’s simply not true there was no gay representation on TV when Ben was growing up. He’s 35, about to be 36, born 1985. Channel 4 already had several weekly gay series from the early 1980s, BBC2 had a weekly gay series in the 1990s, EastEnders had Michael Cashman kissing his boyfriend in prime time evening soap in 1987, we had Boy George in the 80s, Graham Norton from the late 90s and endless gay dramas, movies, series. He’s making out the Long Call is in some ways a breakthrough, but it was fairly routine stuff, to make the gay thing a dramatic issue the plot had to involve a an extreme religious cult where everyone lived in interior design frozen in 1964, despite none of them being old enough ever to have lived like that.
But that’s only a few compared to the straight drama and films even now there’s not really that many big films/ series with substance it’s usually about them coming out and everyone hating them or super sexual. He’s also saying he’s the first gay lead police inspector which he is. He’s literally celebrating it and being happy so I don’t understand your negativity.
Usually when a person make that kind of statement they aren't saying there was literally no representation they mean that they felt there was none or they personally didn't run into it at all.
Declan Bennett who plays Jonathan is also a gay actor so that is good they had gay actors playing gay roles like in Looking with Jonathan Geoff and Russell Tovey
Ben is wonderful in The Long Call and his scenes with Juliet Stevenson are gob smacking. The first gay detective in an ongoing role I ever saw on TV was in the 1998 series Dalziel & Pascoe based on books by Reginald Hill ... the character of Det Sgt Wield was played by actor David Royle.
I came put as gay at 18. At 34 I slept with a female friend and discovered that I had been scared away from women because of childhood trauma of being molested by a teenage girl. I am still find men attractive but relationship wise I'm fully into girls these days.
I love Vera and Shetland so much I still binge watch the whole series. Unfortunately The Long Call just wasn't for me, Martin Shaw was brilliant as always , so was the lady who played his religious mother, and I was suprised to see Anita Dobson. Apart from these I think some of the other characters just did not gel for me. I did stick with it to the end but wasn't for me sadly.
It's about owning the word Queer, by the LGBT community, in a similar way that the 'N' word is re-claimed and owned in Black culture and the 'P' word in Pakistani community.
@@richardsoper777 You've totally dismissed Davis' negative experience of the word as if it's alright now. And these people "reclaiming" the word? Who are they? Because I'm telling you, straight people can identify as "queer" and that isn't the "community" reclaiming the word.
@@theboyjames3065 think you need to re-read my comments. I have not dismissed Davis negative experience, just given some context to the use of the word Queer. After all this was the point of Davis comment and how open people like Ben now use (own) the word Queer. It still may feel raw and negative to some people, but it does not have the same hurtful meaning it once had. Please rethink your comment.
@@phily8093 You were the one who mentioned facial hair in moronic and infantile way. Not me. HOW you phrase a message or post is telling. You have zero sense of IRONY....
I loved Ben in the long call and I love the relationship he had with Jonathan .When Ben came out gay I was very proud to call myself a fan of his… Love the interview stay happy Ben xx
Great, open, transparent interview. Nice chap! Fascinated to watch the show now. Thanks for bringing The Long Call to light for me.
Ben, if you get a chance to see this comment...you spoke of feeling so free, and open after coming out...I think EVERY person who is gay that "comes out" gets that feeling. Before we claim it to the world, and tell everyone without reservation it is a huge secret. Being "in the closet" is a perfect way to put it...the constant lying, and having to remember to keep up the charade that you are interested in women sexually. and remembering all the lies to be able to keep up that charade is number 1 extremely exhausting, number 2. very demoralizing...after a while the guilt of being a "liar" comes home to roost. number 3. you can't really openly love who you want to without being guarded, and not able to have any kind of PDA....it feels like liberation from prison, and the lack of actually living a life at all prior to dropping the "act"....good luck to you, and enjoy finally living life to the fullest...Brian
I’m so happy for this and him and I’m running straight to watch The Long Call.
It's really well done.
Thought BA was great in Fleabag but found his acting in The Long Call very emotive, very powerful. Look forward to seeing more of this lovely actor's work.
Well done for your thoughtful and reasoned account of coming out. I’m sure your openness will be an inspiration to people in many ways. Best of luck to you ❤️
He is simply dreamy.
Hear hear.
Ben has now become one of my new favorite actors. In all that i have seen him in he is one of the most charismatic and talented actors i have seen. Plus he is gorgeous!!!
I genuinely appreciated his openness, hopefulness & transparency. No, not cats! Lol. I'm glad you didn't get hooked into cats movie.... it was bad. Really bad. Lol. The play is glorious.... the movie is not. You dodged a bullet mate.
🇬🇧🏳️🌈🌈👍😘⭐️👏💕❤️🎭 well done....
So important! When he said that growing up he didn’t have any role models or images reflected back at him so he could understand his own feelings better to get to know himself, it affected me because I’ve experienced the same thing.
This was Anne Cleeves most mature book to date and I can't wait for the ITV version!
I hope he’s living his best life now
And hopefully he finds the right man as well.
Thrilling and moving it is this tv series The long call..... beautifully done 👏👏👏👏 I loved it ....the characters and the role they all played ....and of course Ben Aldridge superb part he played....I feel moved and amazed with the whole story so real..... wish you all the best Ben you're a great actor and as a heard you in this interview with attitude very yourself and bright ❤️👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏well done good luck
Just saw the previews of the show on Britbox.
Can't wait.
Will be my next binge.
Love Ben as Thomas Wayne in Pennyworth. Will definitely watch The Long Call..
Straight or gay, that’s one handsome man! (To me better without the mustache.)
He looks a little like Murray Bartlett from Looking.
Binged the series. Excellent story and wonderful casting.
So talented. So sexy. I just have it BAD for Ben Aldridge. I admit it. He is my new favorite actor and my hero.
Love your work Ben, all the best in the future. 🤗
He is young,beautiful,talented and a healthy gay man. I am the opposite (well,gay too) of all above,god it hurts so much....
"claiming his identity and queer actors playing queer roles"
Claiming his identity and GAY actors playing GAY roles- fixed it.
Stop using slur words. Queer is a slur word
It’s been reclaimed and neutered at this point. Queer is not the same as gay. It has a much edgier political component.
bad word will always be a bad word, especially for generations who got beaten and called like that. Yea queer is not the same as gay since straight people call themselves queer. now, even worse.
@@thezenable if it is not a slur to the individual using it about themselves or anyone who openly calls themselves queer, then let them use it. It’s all I feel comfortable calling myself because I feel it perfectly describes me, since I’m not totally sure of how to identify my sexuality.
Not anymore, gorg
Also gay isn’t an identity , it’s a same sexual orientation
I know I am dating myself but I love him in Lark Rise to Candleford. Yes. Daddy suits him.
He is so cute glad he came out he seems much happier….welcome to the 🏳️🌈 family.
I'm happy for you. How inspiring!
Im in luv with him, such a beautiful human
Hate the term “queer”. I know it’s popular these days within the LGBT community but it’s a slur to me and many others. That was the word used to dehumanise and bully us.
Totally agree! Sadly though it seems like the younger generations embrace and regurgitate it without any recognition of it being a pejorative or the offence it causes to the older generations who live with life long trauma just because they experience it's use in different times "Get over it!" is about as understanding a comment most made by recent generations when they weren't even born, let alone try to comprehend their elders who faught for the kind of rights and recognition they enjoy today. Most were ostracized or abused for a great portion of their lives. Cpmsequently great many older generation feel disassociated from their community because they in their lifetime will never accept this terms of reference.
Don't use it then. Simples.
@@greggles_ shut up
It’s mainly the crazy straights jumping on our bandwagon desperate for a unique identity or the pots and pans lovers that call themselves queer anyway. No self respecting homosexual or bisexual would ever do that
Hi Ad Am. The original idea behind labelling yourself as ‘queer’ was to OWN the word. If you use it yourself then it can no longer be used as an insult against you.
He is great in Knock at the Cabin. He is very handsome.
He is so beautiful! I’m looking forward to watching this movie as someone who has been through excommunication from their religious element and family.
He is so gorgeous
love ur work ben....much success awaits ye....
Great video! Thanks for sharing!
He's playing Thomas Wayne in Pennyworth and the mustache fits that time and fits his character, but not a fan of the mustache either. Now he is more recognizable with his mustache, it might be difficult to lose it.
I said many years ago to my sister that i was certain Ben was gay from the very first episode of Our Girl. She laughed and said i was so wrong. My observation was not a judgemental one but merely a feeling. I think perhaps his family played a big part in him delaying his sexuality publicity. Anyway, i’m glad he is now comfortable talking about himself.
That's called gaydar ✨😂
Good All the best comeing from westbury, LI.
We love you ♥️ Ben.
Good one: subbed. Interesting wardrobe… with those looks (& moustache) lots of British Empire drama roles await?
Attitude mag shoot made him look Italian. Maybe the look is for a new role? The Long Call is excellent. Would love a series with these characters.
What an excellent man he is!!!
But I hope people will stop using the word 'queer' to refer gay people, even though some of the gay people use it as an 'identity' most of us really don't like that term at all.
By the way I totally agree that this new movement called 'gay actors playing gay roles' is a totally ridiculous idea. Some of the best gay movies and shows were played by straight people. Some of the best examples include, Brokeback Mountain, A place to call home, Maurice, etc.
It's completely different from cis gender people playing transgender roles, because transgender is a gender, and therefore it's not accurate when played by a different gender. It's not the case when it comes to sexual orientations.
Ben you are amazing,I’m honoured to be a fan of yours.. Always xx
Absolutely loved The Long Call and Ben played the part with both compassion and empathy for someone in that position in life. (Note to Ben)...Please don't use the word queer, it's offensive. Queer definition is - differing in some way from what is usual or normal : odd, strange, weird. Ben you are not odd, you are not strange and you are not weird.
Couldn't agree more. 👍🏻
Thanks so much for sharing...I wish I have the courage and bravery like you to live free. Also, hopefully they bring back The Long Calling...love Johnathan and Matthew storyline, ur both beautiful and loving guys. They just needed good marketing and promoter in order to attract investors and viewers. There are viewers out there love to see gay actors representing themselves on screen, and not str8 acting as gay. Good luck❤
Oh my … what a lovely surprise! Congrats Ben!
He’s so hot and talented
dream weaver i have no idea who this is but so great
Wait just realised that he’s the arse guy in fleabag 😳 fuck is he handsome
Just started to watch 'The Long Call' and am really enjoying it. Then watched the interview above and thought what a great guy and how well he speaks. I have to say I still dislike the word 'queer' which for me always sounds like an insult (a generational thing maybe?). I understand that people want to 'normalise' it but surely in this day and age of political correctness.... need I say more? Anyway, Ben is doing a great job in playing this part.
It’s simply not true there was no gay representation on TV when Ben was growing up. He’s 35, about to be 36, born 1985. Channel 4 already had several weekly gay series from the early 1980s, BBC2 had a weekly gay series in the 1990s, EastEnders had Michael Cashman kissing his boyfriend in prime time evening soap in 1987, we had Boy George in the 80s, Graham Norton from the late 90s and endless gay dramas, movies, series. He’s making out the Long Call is in some ways a breakthrough, but it was fairly routine stuff, to make the gay thing a dramatic issue the plot had to involve a an extreme religious cult where everyone lived in interior design frozen in 1964, despite none of them being old enough ever to have lived like that.
Thank you!!! Yawn yawn interview!
But that’s only a few compared to the straight drama and films even now there’s not really that many big films/ series with substance it’s usually about them coming out and everyone hating them or super sexual. He’s also saying he’s the first gay lead police inspector which he is. He’s literally celebrating it and being happy so I don’t understand your negativity.
Usually when a person make that kind of statement they aren't saying there was literally no representation they mean that they felt there was none or they personally didn't run into it at all.
Declan Bennett who plays Jonathan is also a gay actor so that is good they had gay actors playing gay roles like in Looking with Jonathan Geoff and Russell Tovey
Beautiful human being.
very cute young man indeed. good luck for your future.
To thine own self be true.....Who cares what others think....
His accent is so hot💀
So frustrating that all the gorgeous actors seem to be gay. Love your work Ben, wishing you every success in your future. 🤗
Ben is wonderful in The Long Call and his scenes with Juliet Stevenson are gob smacking.
The first gay detective in an ongoing role I ever saw on TV was in the 1998 series Dalziel & Pascoe based on books by Reginald Hill ... the character of Det Sgt Wield was played by actor David Royle.
He’s claimed a dodge tache, too.
Ben and Lacey our girl miss they
I came put as gay at 18. At 34 I slept with a female friend and discovered that I had been scared away from women because of childhood trauma of being molested by a teenage girl. I am still find men attractive but relationship wise I'm fully into girls these days.
Ben ❤❤❤❤❤
he resembles Kevin kline in the big chill
Cats did it for me too!
Damn he's a sexy looking man with that moustache
Very good looking
He's so fine
His moustache makes him a daddy
He's looking very 1981-85.
Us too
I love Vera and Shetland so much I still binge watch the whole series. Unfortunately The Long Call just wasn't for me, Martin Shaw was brilliant as always , so was the lady who played his religious mother, and I was suprised to see Anita Dobson. Apart from these I think some of the other characters just did not gel for me. I did stick with it to the end but wasn't for me sadly.
Ben is absolutely gorgeous, his face, voice, personality. The tash though, I don't like it.
I like this and Ben very much, but,I don't like the word queer.Maybe because I was called that in school.
It's about owning the word Queer, by the LGBT community, in a similar way that the 'N' word is re-claimed and owned in Black culture and the 'P' word in Pakistani community.
@@richardsoper777 You've totally dismissed Davis' negative experience of the word as if it's alright now. And these people "reclaiming" the word? Who are they? Because I'm telling you, straight people can identify as "queer" and that isn't the "community" reclaiming the word.
@@theboyjames3065 think you need to re-read my comments. I have not dismissed Davis negative experience, just given some context to the use of the word Queer. After all this was the point of Davis comment and how open people like Ben now use (own) the word Queer. It still may feel raw and negative to some people, but it does not have the same hurtful meaning it once had. Please rethink your comment.
@@richardsoper777 Can you, then, explain to myself (and Davis) what it now means?
@@theboyjames3065 Queer is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or not cisgender.
Dodged a bullet on Cats!
Love you!
Go man!
What a cute man.
salieron conservas, por decir lo menos.
Inner daddy
Marry me Ben!!
👏👏👏
That was boring,he may have the looks,but that's about it.
👍👍👍
Moustache is in....even hotter if it's pencil-type.
comentario a lo margaritazavala jajaja
so the father of batman was gay...hum,hum
What movie?
Wow - this interview is boring!!
Are his parents Italian or Spanish ?
Why? Because he's got a moustache? 🙄
@@phily8093 So YOU think ONLY Italian or Spanish men have some kind of facial hair ? 😌
@@kllwc7772 no. I was wondering on what superficial basis you asked that question.
@@phily8093 You were the one who mentioned facial hair in moronic and infantile way. Not me. HOW you phrase a message or post is telling. You have zero sense of IRONY....
@@phily8093 You have a troll-like vibe about you...
Cute
Who cares...
Why you here then you freak
Who?
That mustache is terrible.