Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer spoke on Cam’s romantic storyline (BBC)

Tracy Beaker star Dani Harmer has shared how shocked she was that Tracy’s adoptive mother Cam (Lisa Coleman) married a man when she thought she was clearly a lesbian.

Baby gays who watched the kids-in-care show’s original run were disappointed when Cam settled down and married Gary, a man, in the series finale of The Story of Tracy Beaker in 2005.

Wrongs were finally righted, however, when the 2021 reboot series My Mum Tracy Beaker saw her, now divorced from Gary, marry a woman.

“We don’t talk about Gary, alright?” Harmer told Gaydio on 27 June when asked about the heterosexual union. “I’ve got a t-shirt that says: ‘We don’t talk about Gary.’”

Harmer then recalled her shock at the rogue decision from the show’s writers.

“Look, when that script came through, I remember being with Lisa, who plays Cam, at the time, and I remember both of us looking at each other, going, ‘I’m sorry, is Gary a female name for another lesbian?’”

She continued: “Because Cam is a lesbian… Bearing in mind I was only, like, 15, 16 at the time, we were both so confused. I do remember there being a meeting with the writers and producers being like, ‘Sorry, how are we marrying Cam off to a man when she is a lesbian?’”

Harmer went on to praise the early naughties’ show’s approach to diversity and representation, saying it was “one of the first programmes to really come out and just show such inclusion”.

“It was female-led, it was so punchy, and it was really about something, you know?” she said.

“There was a character for everyone as well. You could really see yourself represented on that screen. I don’t think, apart from Grange Hill and Byker Grove, there hadn’t really been that being seen on kids’ TV before. So I think that really resonated.”

Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.

Please login or register to comment on this story.