Joel Fry: Gay-vague at the Time Hotel, gay subtext in 1950s London, "not gay" in ancient Rome. With lots of butts, but are there any dick pics?

 

Last night we watched the Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special, "Joy to the World." 

It started out fine: In the 45th century Time Hotel (with portals leading to different historical periods), the time-and-space jumping Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) flirts with security guard Trev (Joel Fry).  They notice a guest with a briefcase chained to his wrist.  

While the Doctor is off somewhere, we learn that whoever has the briefcase is compelled to pass it on to someone closer to a mysterious goal.  Then they disintegrate!  

You guessed it -- Trev gets the briefcase, passes it on to Joy, and dies.  

The Doctor spends the next year working at a 2024 London hotel (for reasons too complicated to explain) and falling in love with Anita, the manager.  Then he returns to the Time Hotel (where only a few seconds have passed) to solve the mystery with Joy.  Who lives. 

Why on Earth couldn't he have had the adventure with Trev?  Why does it always have to be a woman?  Especially since this version of the Doctor is supposed to be gay -- a gay guy who flirts with someone for five seconds, then spends a year in a heterosexual romance?    

Since Trev seems to respond to the Doctor's flirtations -- during the two minutes before he is disintegrated -- and we have some buns and dicks of actor Joel Fry available, I wanted to see if he has played gay characters before, or is gay in real life, or both.

The graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts has 60 acting credits listed on the IMDB.  Searching for "Joel Fry" and "gay character" yields six possibilities:

Our Flag Means Death (2022-23):  Many of the characters in this historical comedy are gay, including "gentleman pirate" Stede and his boyfriend, infamous pirate Blackbeard.  Joel Fry's Frenchie, who describes the pirate adventures in song, has no specified sexual identity, although he shares a a cabin with Wee John (Kristian Nairn), leading to some shipping from fandom.

Cruella (2021):  In a prequel to 101 Dalmatians, the Disney villain teams up with, then betrays, two "honorable thieves," Jasper (Joel) and Horace (Paul Walker Hauser).  They have been "companions" since childhood.  Neither engages in a heterosexual romance: a gay subtext couple.  

Benjamin (2018):   Struggling filmmaker Benjamin (Colin Morgan) is having an off-on relationship with Noah (Phenix Broussard), stymied by his penchant for cheating, notably with Henry (Jack Rowan, below).  Stephen (Joel) is his best friend.

 Stephen tries to spin a stand-up routine out of his childhood trauma, and ends up having a mental breakdown.  Maybe he's gay, too, but probably not, and the film itself is stuck behind paywalls and 7-day free trials.

 

Plebs (2013-19): A Britcom about three dude-bro roommates in ancient Rome, like Workaholics with togas and no gay subtexts.  The only gay-themed episode is 2.4, "Patron."

In the public toilets, an older man named Gaius (James Fleet) seems to be picking up the aspiring chariot-racer Stylax (Joel),  sitting too close, complementing his grip.  He offers to become the boy's patron (paying for his training).

Cut to a montage of Gaius dining with Stylax, buying him a gift, training him in charioteering, and making a lot of sexual double entendres.  The roommates think that Gaius is gay, and interested.  Sylax scoffs -- impossible!  Gay people do not exist!  -- but eventually agrees with them, and decides that if he wants the patronage, he'll have to pretend to be gay.

"Your training is coming along.  In a few weeks, I'm going to enter you...in a race.  But if I'm going to be your patron, you have to go all out.  Do you understand?"

Stylax nods, and tries to kiss Gauius.  He's horrified!  "I have a wife and kids!"

"I'm not gay!" Stylax clarifies.  But Gaius is already running away.

More after the break

Later Gaius looks up Stylix.  He's left his wife, and he's ready for romance, "you brave, beautiful boy."  

Stylax repeats that he's not gay, but Gaius doesn't believe him.  "Let's go to my villa on Lake Como tonight."

Stylax hears "Lake Homo."

He decides to go through with it, but runs away at the last minute.

Nothing wrong with rejecting a romantic proposal, but running away in terror?  Presenting "gay" as something outlandish, as a horrifying "accusation," as something that must be kept hidden, doesn't sit well.  Compare the Workaholics guys' response when they are tricked into thinking they had sex with each other.   I'd give the episode a D.

Slap (2013): A short about "two men on a collision course," starring Joel and Nathaniel Martello-White, who is also the writer and director.  They could be colliding in violence or romance, but I can't find the film itself or any description except that it's surreal and satirical.  

Trollied (2011-13): A workplace sitcom set in a shopping center (a trolly is a shopping cart). Joel plays a mild-mannered, over-eager worker.  No girlfriend is mentioned on the fan wiki, so he can be identified as gay through "lack of expressed heterosexual interest," but he may have gazed at girls at some point.

That's it.  One probable gay character, some subtexts, and a straight guy "mistaken for gay."  

At least he's gay in real life, right?

  Joel doesn't have a social media presence, but he goes to a lot of events with a girl named Kristina, so I'll say straight.

But at least we have some dick pics, right?

I found two online.  Wait -- that's not Joel Fry, it's Devin Beckles.

Nope, Eric Andre.

So a straight guy with minimal gay representation on screen and no dick pics?  I should have researched Samuel Sherpa Moore and Phil Baxter, who played Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hilary, the first people to reach the top of Mount Everest.  

Samuel Sherpa-Moore, the great-grand nephew of Tenzing Norgay, has locked his social media, but he doesn't mention a wife or girlfriend in interviews, and Phil Baxter has some nude photos online.  

Wait -- that's Phil Dunster, not Phil Baxter, and it's not even his real cock, it's a Boymaster Fake.

Grrr.

See also:  Lenny Rush: Doctor Who's buddy, the Artful Dodger's boyfriend. a gay-vague vampire. With a lot of acting awards and co-star d*cks

The New Doctor Who, Season 2: The gay doctor fights robots and cartoon characters, and gets a girlfriend. With bonus Groff and Projectionist penises

Workaholics Episode 5.5: Penis jokes and buddy-bonding at a Gay Pride party

Studs from the Steppes: Twelve Mongolian musclemen, Uzbek boyfriends, and Kyrgyz cocks