Were there any gay characters in the original 1960s Summer Holiday (Cliff Richard) film?

[TheAverageJoanne]

Has anyone seen the original film and can recall if there were any gay characters? I'd imagine not as it's from the early 60s when it was technically illegal.

I'm asking because I went to see a stage version of it last night and there were two gay characters.

Edited to add this is not a goady post, froth or anything else, simply curiosity. I can't find anything on line.

I don't recall however Melvin Hayes often play effeminate roles

It's certainly camp. But no, it was a standard hetero love story I think. But there was a girl who dressed as a boy I think? But I think it might have a gay following because of its campness. So maybe that's why they focussed on that.

I mean as you say, people could've been gay but as it was illegal and/or morally frowned on they wouldn't have explicitly included it.

Watched it a few times and don't remember any gay characters unless it was quite nuanced.

It’s camp and I’ve seen ‘Batchelor Boy’ adopted as a gay anthem. It’s on AppleTV at least, probably other streaming services, if you want to check.

They'd deffo bring in some gay characters for a modern audience, because half that audience would be gay! It NEEDS gay characters!

Was it good?

It was fabulous yesterday, we really enjoyed it!

Nobody was gay. Ever. Until recent times. It was illegal so no one was going to portray gay people in films even though half the cast probably were. Cliff still hasn't come out. It wasn't until the 80s that Mercury, Elton and George Michael came out and found out that no one cared/was surprised and those artists were even more popular.
John Inman was a figure of fun in Are you being served. A TV gay stereotype

And even John Inmans character was never openly gay or even confirmed as gay, just innuendo. I'm free

They would absolutely not have had any openly gay characters in a film in those days but if it were made today, there certainly would be - and probably a drag queen or two as well.

It was not "technically" illegal. It was illegal. Prosecutions were frequent and the penalties severe and could be life-ruining.

There were no gay characters in the original (which I saw when it came out).