A Change of Sex (1979)

Julia Grant discusses her life as a transgender woman in 1979 in the BBC docuseries A CHANGE OF SEX. According to the BBC, this was the first mainstream series to document a person’s transition on British television. There are five episodes, which follow Julia from 1979 to 1999.

A CHANGE OF SEX

1979 -1999. UK.

Air date: June 25, 1979

 Director: David Pearson

Featuring: Julia Grant

The first film, titled “George: The Big Decision,” premiered as an episode of BBC’s Inside Story and features a mostly positive look at Julia and her journey in attaining gender affirming care. The episode received much public interest and reached nine million viewers; because of this two additional episodes were then created and released in 1980.

In episodes two and three, “Julia: The First Year” and “Julia: My Body, My Choice,” Julia discusses the positive and negative aspects of becoming a public figure and is also following the legal steps necessary in her transition. She is seeing a psychologist, but also considering other options as it becomes clear he has no intention of helping her. Life seems to become more challenging, but then things turn around; Julia finds a new home within the queer community, a supportive boyfriend, and a new psychologist who approves her request for gender affirming care.

Episode four, “The Untold Story,” jumps from 1980 to 1994 and Julia discusses the difficulties in her life. Then, in 1999, things have turned around and we see Julia opening a new business and preparing for her wedding.

A CHANGE OF SEX isn’t Julia’s complete story, unfortunately, because the BBC decided not to continue the series. But, despite that, it captures the journey of a brave woman during a time that wasn’t exactly kind to queer and trans people.  You can read more about Julia’s life in her two autobiographies: “George & Julia” (1980) and “Just Julia” (1994). The complete series is also streaming in the UK on BBC iPlayer and SkyTV – you can also find it on YouTube.