Directed by Adrian Shergold, the film centres on the experiences of several gay men during a 36-hour period in the Clapham area of London and the consequences when their lives collide.
From a civil partnership ceremony to a heated dinner party, five stories are woven into London from school and work, to bars and clubs, during one hot summer's night.
The film opens with the audio of a weather report highlighting a current heatwave (something referred to intermittently in later dialogue), while the main characters and storylines are briefly introduced; Danny (Jared Thomas) is shown walking down a deserted tunnel in school uniform, Robin (Rupert Graves) is heading into the Channel 4 studios, 14-year-old Theo (Luke Treadaway) takes books from his locker at school and Terry (Paul Nicholls) is at work, driving while listening to headphones.
This is interspersed with scenes from Will (Richard Lintern) and Gavin's (Stuart Bunce) civil partnership, as the two tie the knot and Alfie prepares to act as a waiter for the event.
Back at the civil partnership, Will clearly takes a shine to the young waiter, Alfie (David Leon).
They make eyes at each other and eventually start a conversation, only for this to be interrupted when a friend of Alfie's turns up and Terry disappears home with someone else.
As the guy begs for mercy, Terry repeatedly kicks him, forces cigarette butts in his mouth, verbally abuses him, and urinates on him.
Once inside, Theo continually makes up reasons to stay, wanting to chat about history and asking for glasses of water.
It is clear that both are sexually interested in each other, but Tim doesn't want to get involved with someone underage who should be "home for your mum and dad" and continues to try to get rid of him.
The dinner party is disturbed by an ambulance arriving, someone else having found Alfie's heavily bruised body on Clapham Common.
Terry returns home to his nan who is asleep in bed, while the dinner party discussion turns to gay men and sex in public places.
The conversation clearly makes Robin uncomfortable, as Marion rants on about a perceived tendency to "push it [homosexuality] in your face".
Belinda, clearly still upset by the beating that has occurred outside, breaks up the argument, making the point that "no one deserves to be treated like that", regardless of whether he was a straight man walking through the park or "sniffing around and fucking like a dog in the bushes".
Robin repeatedly insists, both on leaving the dinner party the night before and again the next morning, that Julian should report anything he saw in the toilets to the police.
(in alphabetical order) The drama was shown as part of a short season by Channel 4 to mark the 40th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales.
[1] Interviewed in The Telegraph, writer Kevin Elyot said he did not intend a drama that lectured viewers: "This film is absolutely not that,...I never, ever – I hope – point the finger.
Variety magazine's Dennis Harvey wrote that "Clapham Junction is an intelligent and engrossing ensemble drama...", but added that it was "...marred just a bit by narrative over-rigging in Kevin Elyot's otherwise sharp, deft script.
The assailant, Terry, played by Paul Nicholls, tells his victim he hates the Pet Shop Boys as he assaults him.
In addition to the deletion of the Pet Shop Boys track on the DVD release, the two Dusty Springfield songs featured in the original broadcast, "Some of Your Lovin'" and "The Look of Love" were replaced.