One of the UK's public service broadcasters, Channel 4, is to televise one of the first same-sex marriage ceremonies (as opposed to civil partnerships) on March 29, the first day for such weddings unless a "special licence" is issued to a couple beforehand (they would need a good reason like an illness likely to be terminal in the near future or a member of the armed forces going on a dangerous posting like Afghanistan). The program will take the form of a musical narrated by gay activist, actor, writer, technogeek (all round Renaissance man) Stephen Fry.
Channel 4 is to celebrate the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales later this month with a musical gay wedding, hosted by Stephen Fry.
On March 29, the day the law takes effect, grooms Benjamin Till and Nathan Taylor will marry for real in the televised musical ceremony.
The couple are writing the music for ‘Our Gay Wedding: The Musical’ themselves, and the show will include sung vows, musical readings, and ensembles featuring the whole congregation.
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Channel 4 was the third UK analogue TV network (after the BBC with One and Two and ITV companies with the regional franchises for "Channel 3"). It was first established as a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority by Margaret Thatcher who did not realize that this meant it was nationally owned (as it had no other owner) and is now a corporation in a rather similar way to the BBC despite being funded from advertising and its other income. Among other areas, it has a movie production arm, Film4 and a digital channel showing movies with the same name. Film4 was a production partner in "12 Years a Slave".
Among other things, it changed its logo during the Winter Olympics to incorporate the colors of the rainbow flag to protest the legal changes in Russia and used this as its "station ident".