“The official history of the world says that men like us have always been hidden away in secret, but then there’s the real world where we’ve been living, together, for all this time.”
In a dinner table scene, Neil Patrick Harris summarises It’s A Sin in a sentence, a brand new five-part series from Channel 4 and streaming on HBO Max. Set in London amid the AIDS epidemic in the '80s, the show hinges around five friends living together over a decade, from 1981 to 1991.
Written by Queer as Folk creator Russell T. Davies (also responsible for the resurrection of Doctor Who) and directed by Peter Hoar, It’s a Sin begins in 1981, the same year as the first reported case of AIDS in the UK (although some reports say 1979). Davies based the show on his own experiences and those of his friends, and wanted to create a tribute to the men who died during the epidemic, many of whom have been erased from history or simply reported as statistics and numbers, not real people with real lives, loves, friends, careers, and dreams.
First, we meet Ritchie Tozer (Olly Alexander), who moves to London from a small town on the Isle of Wight, where his family don't know he's gay. There’s Jill Baxter (Lydia West), who befriends Ritchie at college over their shared drama ambitions, and there’s fellow performance student Ash Mukherjee (Nathaniel Curtis). There’s Roscoe Babatunde (Omari Douglas), who wants to manage the local LGBTQ-friendly bar. And there’s Colin Morris-Jones (Callum Scott Howells), who starts a job at a Saville Row tailor after moving from Wales. Despite their different family backgrounds they find solace in the Pink Palace, a wonderfully shabby apartment and a safe haven for them to discover and celebrate their true selves, and also just live their daily lives without rational fear.
Over 10 years, the characters grow up, fall in love, have sex, throw parties, get heartbroken, read the paper over breakfast together, get jobs and promotions, and generally just live their lives as bright, ambitious, young people. But as systemic homophobia runs relatively unchecked and state-sanctioned discrimination continues in the UK, the AIDS epidemic makes its way from the U.S. — without the necessary information or government and medical support to combat it, and with every last drop of social stigma attached.
The show’s core strength comes from its brilliantly talented newcomer cast bringing realistic unpredictability, humanity, and integrity to multi-dimensional characters, who navigate a world stacked against them. They have plans, ambitions, and love each other to bits — and also just want to throw a great house party. Years and Years lead singer Olly Alexander brings charm and intensity to his role as Ritchie, who internalises his anxieties, replacing them with theatrics and genuinely funny moments that make his journey all the more moving to watch.
Omari Douglas is practically flawless as Roscoe, stealing every group scene, using humour to survive pain, and bringing nuanced emotion to truly moving moments. Lydia West gives a remarkable performance valiantly keeping the group together as Jill, Nathaniel Curtis quietly pours his heart into every scene as Ash, and Callum Scott Howells perfects the endearing, shy awkwardness of Colin.
While the show features some big names too — Neil Patrick Harris and Stephen Fry make strong supporting characters as tailor Henry Coltrane and MP Arthur Garrison, respectively — they by no means upstage the young leads, but are given more than a few striking moments to throw down their lauded acting talents. And even more strong performances come from Bodyguard's Keeley Hawes and The Stranger's Shaun Dooley as Ritchie's parents, while David Carlyle is superb as the gang's beloved friend Gregory/Gloria.
Although the context is serious and steeped in historical fact, It’s a Sin is at its core one big party, a group of friends having a ball finding their independence, albeit amid the creeping dread of the epidemic. Music blares from every corner — the show shares its name with the Pet Shop Boys single “It’s A Sin,” which features — with dreamy ‘80s classics from Blondie, Wham, Soft Cell, Queen, Kim Wilde, Gwen Guthrie, Enola Gay, Kate Bush, and Kelly Marie reminding us firmly when we are, and Murray Gold’s electronic pop score (reminiscent of Sex Education) continuing this energy.
But while the Pink Palace becomes a haven of safety, fun, acceptance, and well, just everyday housemate living, real life events swirl around and directly affect the group.
As the epidemic makes its way from America to the UK, many of the characters refuse to believe in a deadly “flu” disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual men. This echoes the U.S. and the UK's real refusal to acknowledge the epidemic in its earlier years, and the overtly demonised or basically non-existent media coverage in both countries. “Don’t be ridiculous, that would be all over the news,” says Ritchie at a party. U.S. President Ronald Reagan only mentioned AIDS publicly for the first time in 1985, four years after the crisis began (and after his administration shockingly treated it as a joke), and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher attempted to block public health warnings about AIDS. "If we had heterosexual boys dying in these numbers, the world would have stopped. There’d be uproar, there’d be riots,” says Jill’s mum in the show.
"We’ve got this great big killer disease and it’s happening in silence."
It's a Sin consistently demonstrates how rife with panic, fear, shame, and silence the AIDS epidemic was for gay and bisexual men, a combination of the real social and financial repercussions attached to asking for help — the Equality Act 2010 protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination at work would only come into play decades later — alongside the lack of available information (not to mention misinformation). It’s the 1980s: there’s no NHS website to read about symptoms and prevention, no social media to check in with friends to see how they’re doing. “I’m trying to find some stuff about AIDS,” says Jill. “Because there are boys dying all over the world from sex and I want to know why. No one really knows. No one knows anything. And there’s nothing in the library, there’s nothing on TV, there’s nothing in this entire country, there’s no information anywhere. We’ve got this great big killer disease and it’s happening in silence." The UK's infamous “Tombstone ad,” (part of the nationwide "Don't Die of Ignorance" campaign to scare people into being proactive about their sexual health), makes an appearance in the show, but not until later on.
It’s A Sin reminds audiences of the abhorrent treatment of patients during this period. Davies includes many scenes in which men are left to die alone in silence, whether in hospitals or at home, away from support and friends, and treated without respect or dignity. They’re treated as highly contagious without proper evidence, physically removed and hidden from society, sometimes locked away like prisoners — medical practitioners using legislation like the real Public Health Act 1984 to justify their cruel detainment treatments for people with AIDS. Men are left to suffer in silence, feeling unable to tell their friends and family, or ask their doctors for help.
The deliberate erasure of LGBTQ+ stories at the time had government backing. Margaret Thatcher’s abominable Section 28 — a 1988 law passed to "prohibit the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities" which stopped schools "promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship" — is given real-life demonstration in the show to remind us of the state-sanctioned erasure of LGBTQ+ people from literature and history. As it's history, it's not really a spoiler, but there's a scene in which Ash describes being made to check through a school library to “remove any books or material that promote a homosexual lifestyle.”
“I found nothing,” he says, after checking Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, history books, Disney, sport, religious texts, everything. “I looked at all the vast halls of literature and culture and science and art, and there is not the slightest danger of any child ever being ‘infected’ because there’s not one gay man or woman anywhere. There is nothing. There is nothing. That’s what you’re protecting them from.”
Section 28 was repealed in 2003, but this erasure of LGBTQ+ stories from history still has impact.
Notably, the show includes the subtle wave of daily microagressions still being experienced by people of colour to this day, on top of those experienced by those in the LGBTQ+ community. Davies' script constantly drops racist comments and actions from white characters throughout the episodes that reveal internalised racism and homophobia even between close friends and family.
It’s a Sin is a beautiful, joyful, deeply sad, and stunning tribute to those lost in the AIDS epidemic, whose lives were cut short while society attempted to hide them away. But as well as reminding us of those who died, the series celebrates them as people who lived their lives to the fullest, discovering and exploring their true selves and identities — and who were loved all the more for it.
It's a Sin is airing weekly on Channel 4 and streaming on All4 in the UK and HBO Max in the U.S. from Feb. 18.
