I found out about Operation Spanner from a TikTok and immediately became obsessed.

Not because I felt a deep moral responsibility to preserve an overlooked chapter of

queer history. I just panicked that Russell T Davies might get there before me.

 

What began as a casual bit of late night scrolling has become a two year obsession

with the UK's largest investigation into consensual gay BDSM. Since then, I've visited

archives, argued with the Metropolitan Police, posted letters to strangers, infiltrated

Facebook groups, joined Runnymede Meccano Guild and become far too invested in a

story most people have never heard of.

 

Part queer history, part live investigation, and part cautionary tale, Hurts So Good

explores the legacy of Operation Spanner. The show traces an increasingly obsessive

search for a story that doesn't seem to want to be told. Performed by a cast of four,

fuelled by archive fever and an alarming quantity of Black Forest gateau, HSG asks what

we're really looking for when we go digging through the past.

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Information Pack 2026