Is BBC’s Posed based on a true story? The real life events that inspired the series comes from a revolutionary 1990 documentary about 1980’s New York ball culture

IT’S big and bright and colourful and it’s coming to your screens TONIGHT.

Posed explores 1980’s ballroom in New York and all its flamboyant characters but is it on a true story? Let’s find out…

Is BBC’s Posed based on a true story?

It’s easy to see why fans might think that the characters from the new TV show are based on a single true story.

From the trailer alone, we were introduced to some very real characters so it makes sense that they drew inspiration from specific people in history.

But although the show doesn’t draw on a singular true story, it is based on the general ballroom scene of 1980’s New York.

And it seeks inspiration from revolutionary 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning which explores African-American and Latino culture between 1986-1989.

Some of the houses and characters are actually named after and inspired by the real characters from the documentary such as the inventor of voguing – Jose Gutierez Xtravaganza, and Sol Pendavis Williams of the House of Pendavis.

What is Pose about?

The groundbreaking US series is about the underground world of 1980s ball culture, set at the height of the Aids epidemic.

Black transgender woman Blanca Rodriguez works at a nail salon by day and serves as a member of the House of Abundance by night.

The House of Abundance is a bunch of outsiders who steal shocking gowns from the Brooklyn Museum to drag up for a ball

After receiving a life-changing medical diagnosis, Blanca becomes determined to open her own house.

She starts by taking in 17-year-old Damon, a talented dancer.

What has the response been like to Pose?

Pose was released in the US in 2018, and has received positive reviews.

Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson described the series as “an engaging portrait of dark days met with merriment. Pain and perseverance are sewn together to create something humble yet fabulous—and, it should be shouted over all the show’s loud and glorious clamour, very much long overdue.”

Meanwhile, Vulture’s Matt Zoller Seitz praised the series’ ambition, aesthetic, and spotlight on minorities saying, “it shows American audiences a world that has never been visualized on television at this length and at such an obviously grand budget level.

“The camera swings and swoops, glides and tumbles as in a Scorsese epic like Gangs of New York; in both the outdoor street scenes and indoor crowd scenes, it’s obvious that FX has spared no expense to get the clothes, the cars, the streets, the business signs, and even the distinctive yellow-brown glow of streetlights correct.”

When is Pose on TV?

The first series of hit TV show Pose is finally heading over to the UK after airing in the US in 2018.

You can catch the first episode of Pose TONIGHT (March 21, 2019).

The eight episodes will air on Thursdays on BBC Two at 9pm and are just over an hour long.

After it has been on you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer.