BBC Two sitcom Boy Meets Girl will be the first UK programme to show a transgender person in a lead role.

It is a conventional love story where transgender actress Rebecca Root who plays Judy, a transgender woman, falls in love with Leo, played by Harry Hepple. 

Together the couple battle any prejudice against their relationship.

Speaking to the RTS, Root said: "No longer side-lined in a minor role, or acting as the punchline in a string of feeble gags about gender identity, Judy is warm, witty, loving and human." 

Writer Elliot Kerrigan created the programme for The Trans Comedy Award, launched by Trans Comedy and BBC Writersroom, to find a positive representation of transgender characters.

Root added: "That she [Judy] is trans is simply another facet of her personality. Add to this the fact that the actor playing her is also trans (ie, me), and you get a portrayal of the trans experience which is finally close to reality."

Aged 34, Root had a supportive family base around her when she changed her name and told everyone about her true identity.

She has also starred in British film, The Danish Girl starring Eddie Redmayne who played a transgender woman. The film received controversy as a transgender artist did not play his character.

Yet from Emmy Award nominee Laverne Cox in Orange Is the New Black to Root's new role, transgender stars are beginning to be accurately portrayed on television.

Tune into Boy Meets Girl on Thursday 3 September at 9.30pm on BBC Two.