How TV series 'I Love Dick' converted Kevin Bacon into a small screen lover

While other A-list actors were making the move to TV a decade ago, Kevin Bacon held out. Today his roles in 'The Following' and 'I Love Dick' have kept his name in lights. So, what changed?

"It's a combination of things," Bacon says. First, there was his wife Kyra Sedgwick's role as deputy police chief Brenda Johnson in The Closer. Then there was the shrinking number of movie scripts piquing the star's interest, "a function of writers making the move to TV, I guess".

Bacon says it was tough at first. "There used to be a clear line between TV and movies, and I wanted to be a movie actor. But once I took the plunge, the scripts I read were fantastic."

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Shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, Deadwood and Six Feet Under ushered in "intelligent TV where characters are given a chance to develop", Bacon says. Shows such as Girls, Transparent, and I Love Dick were able to engage with topics that weren't previously considered TV-suitable fare.

"I Love Dick includes a lot of different versions of sexuality - gay, straight, everything in between. Some of the sex is tender, some is rough. Hopefully, the takeaway is that sexuality takes all kinds of forms, and as long as nobody is getting hurt, it's okay," Bacon says.

"There's been a lot of talk about a really strong feminist message in the show, but I also think there's a humanist one about love and the varying forms it can take," he adds. "We talk about pretty heady concepts but I like to remind people that it's funny and it's sexy, too."

WATCH the trailer for I Love Dick

• 'I Love Dick' will premiere on Amazon Prime Video today. Customers who are not already Amazon Prime Video members can sign up for a free seven-day trial at PrimeVideo.com

• This article was originally published in The Times.