Revelations was a late-night soap opera created by Russell T Davies, Brian B. Thompson

Brian B. Thompson

Brian B. Thompson is a British television and radio writer whose work includes BBC1 children's show Byker Grove, for which he penned over 50 episodes. He also created the continuing detective series Trueman and Riley, broadcast on BBC7 and BBC Radio 4...

, and Tony Wood and starring Judy Loe

Judy Loe

Judith M. "Judy" Loe is an English actress. She was the widow of actor Richard Beckinsale and is now married to director Roy Battersby...

 and Paul Shelley

Paul Shelley

Paul Shelley is an English actor.Shelley trained at RADA and has mainly worked in the theatre as a classical actor...

, and aired in a limited number of ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 regions between 1994 and 1996. The series is family drama about the family of the priest Edward Rattigan (Shelley) and his wife Jessica (Loe). It follows and critiques the organisational structure of the Anglican Church at the turn of the millennium.

Notably, it contains an episode in which a female vicar, Joan (Sue Holderness

Sue Holderness

Sue Holderness is an English actress. Since 1985 she has played the role of Marlene Boyce in the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its spin-off The Green Green Grass .-Career:...

), comes out as a lesbian in a two-hander

Two-hander

Two-hander is a term for a play, movie, or television programme with only two main characters. The two characters in question often display differences in social standing or experiences, differences that are explored and possibly overcome as the story unfolds....

 with Mary Beckett (Carole Nimmons). It was the first LGBT character for Davies, who would later go on to create and produce the gay-centric series Queer as Folk

Queer as Folk (UK TV series)

Queer as Folk is a 1999 British television series that chronicles the lives of three gay men living in Manchester's gay village around Canal Street. Both Queer as Folk and Queer as Folk 2 were written by Russell T Davies...

, Bob & Rose, and Torchwood

Torchwood

Torchwood is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. The series is a spin-off from Davies's 2005 revival of the long-running science fiction programme Doctor Who. The show has shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growing audience, moving from...

. Davies attributes the storyline to the "pressure-cooker nature" of the series leading to larger storylines, and the recent ordination of female vicars in the Church of England

Ordination of women in the Anglican communion

The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has become increasingly accepted in recent years.-Introduction:Some provinces within the Anglican Communion, such as the Episcopal Church in the United States of America , the Anglican Church of New Zealand, the Anglican Church of Canada and the...

; Davies recalls that "when they introduced women to the church, I was thinking 'Yes! We can do a lesbian vicar!'".