A new British drama series.

[Talo Segura]

It's A Sin - 1980s Young gay and AIDS.

[Zombie]

Hmm, disappointing the three leads all seem to be gay stereotypes

That wasn’t so with RTD’s 1992 original and groundbreaking Queer As Folk

Have to wait until airs on Channel Four 

[W_L]

@Talo Segura and @Zombie

Well, I hope a US cable network like showtime or HBO steals the idea and make it over the top  

UK series are good for breaking ground, but I feel like when they come over to the US, there's a certain up-scaling to the shows gay dynamics: Queer as Folk and Shameless were okay UK series, then went over the top in the US.

I think the US QAF is still amazing even decades later (the scene of Brian and Justin going at it in the 1st episode is still sexier in 30 seconds than most adult entertainers in 30 minutes ), I still hate the series finale and it's open-ended devolution down to a lonely dance.

 

[Marty]

Interesting piece by It's a Sin screenwriter, Russell T Davies, in today's Guardian, which looks back on his memories of the emergence of AIDS back in the early1980's, and why he decided to eventually write this series:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/jan/03/russell-t-davies-i-looked-away-for-years-finally-i-have-put-aids-at-the-centre-of-a-drama

Opening lines:

There are things I can’t say here. Men I dare not name. The first man I ever had sex with. A man I loved for three months in 1988. That hilarious friend I spent a mad week with in Glasgow. All of them dead, now. And they all died of Aids.

But I can’t say their names because their families said they died of cancer or pneumonia. And they maintain that story to this day. Even now, I’ve had to change a few details in those opening sentences, just in case. The stigma and fear of Aids was so great that a family could go through the funeral, the wake and then decades of mourning without saying what really happened.

[Zombie]

Well 22 January is the day 

It’s a Sin premiers in the UK Friday on Channel 4, and next day in Australia 

In a radio interview on Monday RTD said it’s taken him 5 years to write this. As Marty said, he has used his own experiences of “growing up” in the 80s together with his friends (many of whom are now dead) so it’s going to have that authentic thread of a “personal life” that no writing mass production team can ever replicate, and there’ll just be five episodes. That’s it.

This is the key difference with UK v US shows - UK shows are generally written by one person or a writing partnership, while US shows are written by teams to keep the money rolling in for the production companies. So if there is a US “remake” then it will be a totally different show and probably run for 5 seasons 

Interestingly (controversially?) RTD said he feels strongly that gay parts should be played by gay actors. One of the three leads, Olly Alexander, would probably qualify as a 100 footer, but I don’t know about the others.

 

Edited January 21, 2021 by Zombie

[Zombie]

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Edited January 21, 2021 by Zombie

[Zombie]

It’s a Sin starts in 1981

Three of the young lead guys escape their provincial family homes to live in London, starting work / college, making friends, having sex (or not)
Sharp script from RTD and great cast - period-authentic, shocking (the attitudes, the ties, the first death), the humour, the hedonism, the innocence, the ignorance, the rumours (gay flu, GRID), the denial, the fear, the shame - and the fun
Recognisable, but also alien
Like a parallel universe
Our past but largely forgotten
Because so many died

First gay pub scene has the mandatory 1981 hit Tainted Love iconically covered by Soft Cell (Marc Almond and David Ball) with a fabuloso video
 

 

[Mawgrim]

Just binge watched the whole series. Great drama that will make you laugh, cry and remember those terrible times. 

[Zombie]

just watched the final episode of Russell T Davies’ five part It’s A Sin and I’m a bit of an emotional wreck

RTD took 5 years to write it, and a whole lifetime’s experience to be able to write it

He insisted all the gay parts were played by gay actors so the sashaying was REAL baby! 

if you get the chance to see it you should

for the emotions, the laughter, the tears - you will cry - but more than anything the humanity