George Michael Outed starts tonight at 10pm on Channel 4.

In 1998, in Los Angeles, George Michael was arrested for committing a lewd act in a public toilet. It could have been career ending, but it became a defining moment of gay liberation. George Michael: Outed tells the thrilling inside story of how George turned disaster into a PR coup in a landmark moment for queer politics. Featuring never-before broadcast audio of George and interviews with his inner circle - his partner at the time, Kenny Goss, and cousin and business partner Andros Georgiou - this two-parter reveals how George took on the tabloids and won. As the media descended on George's Hollywood home, the film meets the journalists who got the first tip-off that George's 'secret' was about to be revealed. Kevin Smith, founder of Splash News, an agency renowned for breaking celebrity scandals, reveals that 'the gloves were off, the moment the news was out'.

But why was it a secret? The first episode looks back to earlier in George Michael's career, when the young pop pin-up faced a stark choice. As former manager Simon Napier-Bell explains: 'It would probably be better if George wasn't gay'. As the eighties progressed and the AIDS crisis turned into a moral panic, former Communard Richard Coles recalls: 'If you were nervous about how you might be perceived as a gay man in 1982, by 1986, you would have perhaps more reason to be'.

Or as George revealed later, when established as an international star: 'If you have the option of hiding, when you're more successful than you ever dreamed you're going to be, what are you gonna do?'Exec Prod: Ed Coulthard; Series Prod: Caroline Miller; Series Dir: Michael Ogden; Prod Co: Blast

The concluding episode is on Channel Four tomorrow night.

Both episodes will be available to watch on All 4 straight after episode one goes out.

There is also a trio of short films as part of this series available as All 4 Exclusives: Outed Stories: Andrew Hartle, Outed Stories: Harvey Proctor, and Outed Stories: Terry Dunning.