It's a Sin

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

Dursley McLinden

The leading character Ritchie Tozer, played by Olly Alexander (of the band Years & Years), was based on Dursley McLinden (1965–1995), a West End actor who was Jill Nalder's best friend and flatmate. McLinden grew up in the Isle of Man and trained at Mountview Theatre School in London — the same school as Nalder. They shared a flat together that their circle called "the Pink Palace."

McLinden's stage career included Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre (1988), where he played Young Ben alongside Daniel Massey and Eartha Kitt, and from 1992 until his death he was part of the company of The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre, where he understudied the role of Raoul. His final performance in that role fell on the night before his thirtieth birthday. He also appeared on television, notably as Sergeant Mike Smith in the Doctor Who story "Remembrance of the Daleks" (1988) — the story behind the Doctor Who tribute woven into Episode 4 of It's a Sin.

McLinden was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1990 and became one of the driving forces behind West End Cares — the theatrical HIV/AIDS fundraising organisation he co-built with Jill Nalder and performer Jae Alexander, raising money through cabaret nights at Smith's restaurant in Covent Garden. He continued to fundraise and perform until weeks before his death on 7 August 1995, aged 30.

Russell T Davies met McLinden through Jill Nalder. In writing It's a Sin, Davies drew directly on McLinden's life, personality and death. Olly Alexander has said that he captures "Dursley's sense of mischief, his bravery and his spirit." A 2024 documentary, Looking for Dursley, was produced for the Doctor Who: The Collection Season 25 Blu-ray release.

Jill Nalder

The character of Jill Baxter (Lydia West) was drawn from Jill Nalder, who shared the Pink Palace flat with Dursley McLinden and was at the centre of the friend group the drama depicts. Nalder appears in the series playing Jill Baxter's mother — her own daughter, fictionally. When actress Lydia West met Nalder at the read-through, she later said she found it impossible to maintain eye contact during their shared scene.

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)