It's a Sin - Revision history

LGBT-HP: Add Unreferenced notice – no inline citations; viewing figures, THT testing-kit numbers and Davies casting quote need sourcing

2026-07-20T12:07:14Z

Add Unreferenced notice – no inline citations; viewing figures, THT testing-kit numbers and Davies casting quote need sourcing

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:07, 20 July 2026
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			{{Unreferenced\|date=July 2026}}
	'''''It's a Sin''''' is a five-part television drama written by [[Russell T Davies]] and broadcast on Channel 4 from 22 January to 19 February 2021. Set in London between 1981 and 1991, it follows a group of young friends — most of them gay — as the HIV/AIDS epidemic takes hold and changes everything. The series became one of the most watched and critically acclaimed British dramas in years, and provoked a measurable surge in HIV testing across the UK.		'''''It's a Sin''''' is a five-part television drama written by [[Russell T Davies]] and broadcast on Channel 4 from 22 January to 19 February 2021. Set in London between 1981 and 1991, it follows a group of young friends — most of them gay — as the HIV/AIDS epidemic takes hold and changes everything. The series became one of the most watched and critically acclaimed British dramas in years, and provoked a measurable surge in HIV testing across the UK.

LGBT-HP: Remove redundant LGBT history category

2026-07-20T09:17:21Z

Remove redundant LGBT history category

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:17, 20 July 2026
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	[[Category:Television]]		[[Category:Television]]
	~~[[Category:LGBT history]]~~
	[[Category:AIDS]]		[[Category:AIDS]]
	[[Category:Channel 4]]		[[Category:Channel 4]]
	[[Category:2021]]		[[Category:2021]]

LGBT-HP: Expand historical connections: Dursley McLinden — Phantom, Pink Palace, West End Cares, Jill Nalder flatmate

2026-07-20T08:18:58Z

Expand historical connections: Dursley McLinden — Phantom, Pink Palace, West End Cares, Jill Nalder flatmate

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 ==Historical connections==
-The character of Jill Baxter (Lydia West) was drawn loosely from [[Jill Nalder]], a real person who was a close friend of Davies. Nalder appears in the series as Jill's mother. The character of Ritchie was partly inspired by actor Dursley McLinden, who died of AIDS in 1995 and had appeared in the original ''Doctor Who'' era. A tribute to McLinden is woven into Episode 4.
+===Dursley McLinden===
 ==Reception==

LGBT-HP: New article: It's a Sin (2021), Russell T Davies, Channel 4 AIDS drama

2026-07-20T08:13:46Z

New article: It's a Sin (2021), Russell T Davies, Channel 4 AIDS drama

New page

'''''It's a Sin''''' is a five-part television drama written by [[Russell T Davies]] and broadcast on Channel 4 from 22 January to 19 February 2021. Set in London between 1981 and 1991, it follows a group of young friends — most of them gay — as the HIV/AIDS epidemic takes hold and changes everything. The series became one of the most watched and critically acclaimed British dramas in years, and provoked a measurable surge in HIV testing across the UK.

==Background==

[[Russell T Davies]] drew on personal experience and memory in writing ''It's a Sin''. He moved to London from Wales in 1981, the year the series begins, and lived through the decade the drama depicts. The title comes from the [[Pet Shop Boys]] song of the same name.

The series was originally conceived as eight episodes but Channel 4 commissioned five. It was rejected by both BBC One and ITV before Channel 4 executive Lee Mason championed it. Filming took place primarily in Manchester, with additional locations in Liverpool, Bolton, Eccles, Bangor and Rhos-on-Sea (standing in for the Isle of Wight). The production company was Red Production Company; Peter Hoar directed all five episodes.

Davies made a deliberate decision to cast primarily gay actors in gay roles, stating he wanted to "create a safe space where gay actors could voluntarily come in and be themselves."

==Cast==

===Principal cast===

*'''Olly Alexander''' as Ritchie Tozer, a drama student from the Isle of Wight with ambitions as an actor
*'''Omari Douglas''' as Roscoe Babatunde, a young man who has left his religious Nigerian family
*'''Callum Scott Howells''' as Colin Morris-Jones, a quiet Welsh boy working in a Savile Row tailor's
*'''Lydia West''' as Jill Baxter, the group's loyal and tireless straight friend
*'''Nathaniel Curtis''' as Ash Mukherjee

===Supporting cast===

*'''Keeley Hawes''' as Ritchie's mother Valerie
*'''Stephen Fry'''
*'''Neil Patrick Harris'''
*'''David Carlyle'''
*'''Shaun Dooley'''
*'''Tracy-Ann Oberman'''

==Plot==

The five episodes track the group of friends across a decade, beginning in 1981 when they share a flat in London (which they name "the Pink Palace") and ending in 1991 as the AIDS epidemic has transformed gay life in Britain. The drama depicts the communal joy and political anger of that generation alongside grief, denial, stigma and loss.

Each episode covers roughly two years, moving through the emergence of AIDS as a news story, the government's response (or failure to respond), the early deaths, the activism, and the particular cruelty with which gay men's families sometimes reacted to their illness.

==Historical connections==

The character of Jill Baxter (Lydia West) was drawn loosely from [[Jill Nalder]], a real person who was a close friend of Davies. Nalder appears in the series as Jill's mother. The character of Ritchie was partly inspired by actor Dursley McLinden, who died of AIDS in 1995 and had appeared in the original ''Doctor Who'' era. A tribute to McLinden is woven into Episode 4.

==Reception==

''It's a Sin'' received near-universal critical acclaim. It holds a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 91. ''The Guardian'' called it a "poignant masterpiece"; Den of Geek described it as "Davies' best yet; a joyful tribute to lost lives." Elton John called it "a triumph of creativity and humanity."

The first episode drew 5.02 million viewers on linear broadcast. Within weeks it had accumulated 6.5 million views on All 4, making it the platform's most-binged series to that point; by March 2021 it had reached 18.9 million views.

==Impact==

The series produced one of the most direct connections between a piece of drama and a public health outcome in British broadcasting history. The Terrence Higgins Trust reported that 8,200 HIV testing kits were ordered in a single day following broadcast — nearly three times the previous daily record of 2,800. A "La" T-shirt (using the characters' catchphrase) raised £100,000 for the charity.

==Awards==

''It's a Sin'' received 12 BAFTA nominations in 2022, including Best Mini-Series. Among its wins:

*BAFTA Television Craft Award: Best Director Fiction (Peter Hoar)
*Writers' Guild of Great Britain: Best Long Form TV Drama ([[Russell T Davies]])
*RTS Programme Awards: Limited Series; Writer – Drama; Actor (Callum Scott Howells)
*GLAAD Media Award: Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series
*Edinburgh International Television Festival: Best Drama
*Monte-Carlo Television Festival: Best Series
*Banff Rockie Award: Program of the Year
*Venice TV Awards: Best Series

==See also==

*[[Russell T Davies]]
*[[Jill Nalder]]
*[[AIDS crisis]]
*[[It's a Sin (Pet Shop Boys song)]]

[[Category:Television]]
[[Category:LGBT history]]
[[Category:AIDS]]
[[Category:Channel 4]]
[[Category:2021]]