Celebrating Pride month with the best LGBTQ+ stories on Virgin TV

June is Pride month, an opportunity to celebrate LGBTQ+ people everywhere, and we’re doing just that with our collection Going All In For Pride.

Pride allows us to celebrate the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ people with joy and triumph, but also provides a time to reflect on the community’s decades-long struggle for civil rights and equality – and the challenges they still face.

All month long Virgin TV will be hosting a curated collection of programming, available to watch on demand. Read on to find out what you can watch in Going All In For Pride and find out more about Pride here.

Stream it now in On Demand > Really

The UK’s most celebrated diver has faced plenty of challenges in his career, from coping with fame at an early age to the death of his father. Then, of course, there’s the issue of his sexuality – something that Daley never particularly wanted to hide, but was advised against making public. This film, which chronicles his journey from a Plymouth pool to multiple Olympic Games, is the story of Daley’s emergence as both a hugely successful athlete and a modern gay icon. By the way, 1.6 seconds is the time it takes to hit the water when diving from the 10m board.

Stream it from Monday 23 June in On Demand > TLC

Brian Dowling went from Ryanair cabin crew member to media personality after winning Big Brother in 2001, becoming a much-loved fixture on screens in the UK and his native Ireland. But when he and his husband Arthur Gourounlian announced that they were expecting a child, with Brian’s sister Aoife acting as surrogate, they faced unexpected opposition. This look at their path to parenthood is a moving story, but one that also prompts questions about Irish society and whether attitudes and laws have kept pace with advances in science.

Stream it from Saturday 21 June in On Demand > National Geographic

Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, on the space shuttle Challenger in 1983. But beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret. Revealing the romance and sacrifices of their 27 years together, Ride’s life partner Tam O’Shaughnessy tells the full story of this complicated and iconic astronaut for the first time. Directed by Emmy Award-winning film-maker Cristina Costantini.

Available to buy now on Virgin Media Store. Cert 18

Former James Bond star Daniel Craig is sensational in this passionate movie from Challengers director Luca Guadagnino, an adaptation of a novella by William S Burroughs. William (Craig) is a dissolute American living in Mexico City, drifting from one sordid encounter to another until he becomes infatuated with Eugene (Drew Starkey, Outer Banks). Their relationship intensifies – but it goes off the rails when William takes Eugene to the jungles of Ecuador in search of a psychedelic agent that will enable him to read his lover’s mind. Infused with Guadagnino’s signature longing and melancholy, it’s a stylish treat.

Stream season 3 now in On Demand > Sky Comedy. Seasons 1-2 also available

One of the best things about this continuation of Sex And The City is the way Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) has progressed along the path of her true sexuality. It’s been messy, funny, melancholy, nuanced and tied up with an awful lot of life events gay people will know all too well, as Miranda slowly extricates herself from the social norms she fell into without ever really desiring them. Her relationship with Che (Sara Ramírez) hasn’t been perfect, but it’s allowed us to see the true Miranda, while her bonds with besties Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) have remained strong.

Stream series 1 from Tuesday 24 June in Apps > ITVX

Comedian and musician Jordan Gray turns her hand to sitcom writing in this much-anticipated new series. Gray plays Liv, a transgender supermarket worker who’s hired for the night shift by store manager Simon (Nick Frost, Hot Fuzz) after he inadvertently offended LGBTQ+ people. Realising that this makes her unsackable, the chaotic Liv resolves to turn the night shift into her own personal playground and the hijinks that ensure are memorably riotous.

Stream it in On Demand > Sky HISTORY

The warriors of Sparta have been celebrated for centuries, notably in the film 300. But they were twice defeated by a unique fighting force known as the Sacred Band of Thebes. Formed in 379 BCE, this elite division was made up of 150 pairs of male lovers, and their warlike prowess helped Thebes break free from Spartan influence and become the most powerful city-state in Ancient Greece. Their accomplishments have often been overlooked – or more accurately, covered up – by historians but this new film honours them while exploring the ancient world’s approach to sexuality, which differed significantly from modern thinking.