Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Hobbes1013 The main character, Henry, is as unapologetic as it gets. He couldn't care less about what others think of him, and doesn't crave approval at all. At least, that's what he projects and how he'd describe himself. The whole series is like that. Daring and totally unafraid to be offensive (and this will be very offensive to some) Cucumber is an extraordinarily raw and honest look at gay sexuality in an over-sexualized world. A world where the bad one and the victim aren't necessarily who you think, at first. A very worthwhile journey.

Five5Creative Anyone who vilifies this show because they feel it paints a "stereotypical" or "negative" portrait of what gay men are like are either painfully naive or living in denial. This show is not only frighteningly accurate but smartly written, beautifully shot, superbly acted and stylishly edited.As a 47 year old gay man, I found this (unlike many other gay-themed TV series) to, at long last, finally depict characters with which I am familiar and with whom I identify on many levels.It's both raw and honest and yet tempers the darker aspects of gay life with humor and respect.As much as we would like to be perceived as no different than our straight counterparts, the reality is we are different. And for good or ill, most of us gay folk do indeed behave in the manner that is depicted in this show. It was refreshing to not see our lifestyle sugar coated.In our fight for equality, too often we try to pretend that things are not what they appear. But they are. They always have been, and they always will be. Gay men are, after all, men. And men have a single-mindedness when it comes to behavior and desire. If this show was about straight guys, we'd all say, "Well yeah. Men behave like that." But because it's specifically about gay men, so many would like to say "gay men don't really behave like that." But we do. That is the harsh reality we need to accept.I've been out since I was 20 years old. In the 27 years of being an out (and proud) gay man, I have seen and encountered all of these characters in my life and still, to this day, see and encounter them. Stop cry-babying that this show perpetuates negative stereotypes. If you don't like what you see in this show, then don't watch the show. But you will see no different in the real world. This is gay life. We love, we lose, we win, we make mistakes and we have sex... a lot of it if we're lucky. And when we're not having sex, we're looking for it. Not because we're gay. But because we're guys. Cucumber depicts what men do and how men behave when those men happen to be gay -- the joy, the misery, the heartache, the loss, the triumphs, the failures, the sex and the never-ending quest for it.That is the reality of the world we live in. Sorry if you find that harsh. That's what happens when a mirror is held up and you don't like what you see. I personally had no problem with what I saw when I watched this show. I make no apologies for who I am and what I do. I'm far from a minority of one in that respect.The problem is not with what this show portrays. The problem is that the portrayal is accurate. And that problem is, quite frankly, our problem and no one else's.Learn to live with it.

dcscribe8860 Back during the long-anticipated, yet ultimately disappointing (for me) debut of RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE, Season 7, CUCUMBER AND BANANA were given a sneak preview that my DVR programming had also picked up. I was tremendously underwhelmed by the RPDR debut, and was sorely tempted because of that experience, to delete everything, including the preview. However, because I try not to make snap judgments about the first episodes of shows, I decided to go ahead and give C&B a shot. Maybe I shouldn't have. I found it too loud, frenetic, stereotypical bordering on the insulting and maybe even homophobic, with unlikable characters that I could find nothing in common with. And THAT was just CUCUMBER. Don't even get me started on how I felt about the follow up of BANANA. This was sometime back in March, if I recall correctly.SO...fast forward to NOW. When my partner asked about watching something for the evening, I suggested that I had taped the 'official' premiere of C&B. I had described it to him before, and not in a very complimentary way, so I was surprised that he agreed to watch it with me. I did qualify beforehand, that if it stunk to high heaven, we could always bail out and watch something else.Wonder of wonders...we watched both parts, he for the first time and I for the second, and we both actually ENJOYED it (in spite of the ridiculous censoring of certain visuals and dialogue that were very easy to see and/or lip-read what was going on.)So, what changed for me this time around? What made me give C&B a second chance?TIME, for one thing. Not being a Doctor Who fan (though I was crazy about TORCHWOOD), I was still somewhat familiar with Russell T. Davies writing style from that and also the original version of QUEER AS FOLK. And here's the thing. Viewers need to recognize that like any other popular nighttime entertainment, C&B presents a stylized, heightened version of what we know to be real life: people, situations, consequences. Straight people know not to look to television or film for saintly, pristine, accurate depictions of the IDEAL life they imagine they have, or would like to have. Why should the situation be any different for gay men, be they middle-aged or young, living in Manchester? Real life IS complicated, messy, absurd. People make complicated, messy, absurd decisions from motivations that are likewise. I've had TIME, as I mentioned before, to reflect on all of this. I don't believe that gay men think any more or less of sex than straight guys do. Same with actually engaging in it. Part of the reason why I didn't respond well to Henry and Lance and their colleagues, was because I wasn't ready to acknowledge the more truthful components of their relationship and the interaction with their mates, co-workers, etc., that resonated sympathetically with what my partner and I go through. RTD has done a brilliant job with that part. And with BANANA, the 'flip side of the album', so to speak, it was easier to identify some of the traits of people I knew when I was in my early teens to twenties, with the exploits of Freddie and mostly, Dean...not to mention a few of those same qualities I saw in myself at that age. The reviewers that charge these shows with some kind of blatant irresponsibility should take a couple of deep breaths and reexamine their extreme reactions to what they've been watching. Is it the writing or acting they're responding to? Because in my not-so-humble opinion, both are pretty much above reproach. Or is it a nerve being struck with some of the more truthful aspects of the characters and situations being presented?Personally, I don't need or want a show that paints all gay men as some kind of sexually, morally and fiscally responsible saints, who all have adopted kids or beautifully blended families, with the neat little white picket fenced house, the minivan, the two great jobs, the fully loving and supportive families. Please. We know some of that exists, but if that's all you want to show me, SHOOT ME NOW. REAL DRAMA COMES FROM REAL LIFE. And vice versa. Gay men think about sex a lot. MEN think about sex a lot. PERIOD. And sometimes, actually more than that, it can affect what decisions they make and what actions they take. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes not so much. A quote I heard recently perfectly sums up what is at the core of C&B. And that is taking into account the Three Most Important Keys To Living A Successful Life: TIMING, ADJUSTMENT and CONSISTENCY. The ongoing, engaging scenarios that will continue to unfold in these two shows, will be a lesson on how the characters apply those three principles to their own situations. Or not. And how well they do with the outcomes.

Prismark10 Russell T Davies returns to the world of adult television and more specifically drama about gay life after some years spent writing for Time Lords, Time Agents and former companions of Time Lords.Cucumber has so far received mixed reviews about middle aged gay life in Manchester and underwhelmed in the ratings. Viewers were unsure whether it was a comedy, drama, satirical or just bittersweet. However RTD for episode 6 had a trick up his sleeve and certainly has hit the right notes and of course time travel is involved!The opening scenes sees Lance (Cyril Nri) in the supermarket and the screen is emblazoned with the words 'Lance Edward Sullivan: 1966 -­ 2015.'Surely not and we have been here before. Series 2 Doctor Who had Rose Tyler stating at the beginning of the penultimate episode: 'This is the story of how I died.'We have flashbacks to the beginning of Lance's life from the moment of birth and as he grows up accompanied by the sounds of the Eurythmics and later Annie Lennox, because things move on. You see a teenage Lance trying to get a rid off a copy of Playgirl obviously feeling guilty about liking pictures of male flesh. As he goes to University he has a girlfriend which leaves him unfulfilled. He finds his true self when he meets teenager. However coming out to his dad means Christmas's at a friends house as his dad refuses have him and his boyfriend in the house until that one year he pops up alone. His dad those thaw eventually inviting Lance and his latest boyfriend in one Christmas.Lance is a fun loving, party going guy. He is in marketing, moves to Manchester and eventually meets Henry, the love of his life which as we find in this series eventually becomes messy due to commitment issues by Henry. Here we see Henry declaring his love to Lance which Lance rebuffs and goes off with the handsome but unsuitable and unpredictable Daniel (the confused straight guy). Despite a ghostly warning to leave him and head a different road Lance just finds Daniel too handsome to abandon him. Daniel is overcome with guilt of having gay thoughts after he ejaculates leading to the fatal blow.This episode was directed by Alice Troughton (a series 4 Doctor Who director) and reminds me much of another Series 4 story, Turn Left and I am sure we have the same sound effects used in that episode when we had flashbacks of Donna's alternate time-line. Whereas Donna did correct her wrong turn no such luck for Lance.In terms of RTD's writing style despite one show being a family science fiction show dealing with Daleks destroying the universe and the other an adult drama dealing with the sexual frustrations of middle aged gay men, you cannot help noticing the same beats in the writing, the change of genres makes no difference in quality.Davies did mention in an interview that despite changes in law which now allows gay marriage for example, he still wanted to deal with the issue that it is still dangerous living a life of a gay person in Britain.