What It Feels Like for a Girl (2025)

The fictionalisation of Paris Lees's memoir is a joyous examination of class, masculinity and gender identity. The critic highlights the strongly realised central character Byron and the series' timely mix of humour, darkness and celebration of identity in a working-class context.

In this coming-of-age tale based on a memoir by Paris Lees, Byron is stuck in a boring Nottinghamshire town dreaming of a different life; a dalliance with sex work leads to Nottingham’s queer underground and a gang of outsiders offering new possibilities.

This fearless and compelling TV adaptation of Paris Lees’s memoir shines thanks to Ellis Howard’s performance, with surreal and thrilling sequences amid sex, drugs and 2000s dance music. It doesn’t gloss over the messy, harrowing bits of teenage transgression and identity.

The series is an extraordinary, deeply disturbing and fearless adaptation of Paris Lees’ memoir about a wild, witty teen’s chaotic coming-of-age involving sex work and queer friendships. It delivers a resolutely unsentimental tale of moral ambiguity and transition, rewarding viewers with a complex psychological portrait despite some conventional elements at the end.

The BBC Three adaptation is an addictive, shocking and gripping coming-of-age drama with raw, bawdy energy and a magnetic central performance. It features lewd and explicit scenes but ultimately feels like a real-life fairytale, though the happy ending is somewhat trite.

This BBC3 series is a raw, funny, fearless, heartbreaking and occasionally disturbing coming-of-age drama that is well acted and not just another YA story. It stands out despite surrounding controversy over its subject matter and title.

The critic calls it the most important LGBTQ+ series since It's a Sin, praising its smart, well-rounded portrayal of trans joy, love and acceptance amid noughties challenges rather than focusing solely on trauma. They single out the phenomenal cast led by Ellis Howard's extraordinary performance and the authentic recreation of queer nightlife.

The critic calls the series one of 2025's best new shows, praising its raw, raucous coming-of-age story adapted from Paris Lees' memoir and its vivid capture of Nottingham's early-2000s club scene. They single out Ellis Howard's lead performance for conveying Byron's evolving identity and complex teenage personality with tenderness, empathy, and humor.