20 years on from his groundbreaking masterpiece Queer as Folk, Russell T. Davies returns with another riotous drama that is equal parts tearjerking and profound. This time, instead of delivering a boisterous series that celebrates gay urban life, Channel 4’s It’s a Sin, in short, explores the effects of AIDS on the gay community in the 80s – without losing any of Davies’ signature gusto. Transporting us to the 1980s where the Pet Shop Boys and Eurythmics blast through retro record players and Hi-Fi speakers, we’re introduced to three young gay men, Richie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin (Callum Scott Howells), who all move to London in search of themselves while enjoying every freedom the city has to offer. But with the threat of a new disease travelling across the Atlantic, shadows begin to form over their paradise and by the end of the first episode, their glorious new fantasy slowly starts to crack.
While fear, shame and grief, already bears down over the lives of the eccentric young people at the centre of the show as they deal with their sexuality in areas of work and family life, and with little information available about the AIDS virus, the group and the gay community are shunned from society with stigmatisation and false information abound. Similar to that of today, whereby the government’s mishandling of a fatal illness leads to ostracism and slander, Davies explores the starry-eyed ambitions of the group and grief experienced by the queer community in the 1980s.
Sets across a time span of 10 years, we’re thrown into the devastation as a result of the AIDS pandemic, and while the show does only deliver what probably is the tip of the iceberg, be prepared for an emotional and tearful ride…
