Grazia Review: It’s A Sin, Russell T Davies’ 1980s AIDS Crisis Drama

There is no possible way that Russell T Davies, the sublimely gifted creator of It’s A Sin, could have known that a drama about one pandemic would drop into the chaos of another. But here we are. It’s A Sin comprises five vital, vibrant episodes set against the first decade of AIDS ravaging gay London. It does for the untold stories of gay men and our friends between 1981-91 – when the papers hated us, the church scourged us and schools banned us – what Steve McQueen’s Small Axe did for Black Britain. It will break your heart, repeatedly.

Davies introduces his key players with exhilarating storytelling skill. Thatcher’s Britain has just bedded in and the fabulous pop music of the moment is peaking. Ritchie leaves a perfectly rendered, uptight suburban semi on the Isle of Wight to go to university in London. Colin flees the Welsh valleys for a tailoring apprenticeship under a sleazy boss on Savile Row. Roscoe steals away from his maniacally religious family to find a god (or at least a few Adonises) he can more fittingly worship. They are all circuitously introduced by mutual friend Jill, a chorus figure who anchors the story perfectly.

To aggregate the currency of death, we must first know the value of life. Davies throws his rawest, most elemental telly energy at the screen. In what is essentially a flat-share set-up, he manages to cram in one orgy montage, one drag catwalk down a flinty backstreet and the venerable Neil Patrick Harris, as Colin’s kindly employer, assuring his charge that he can trust him with the secret of his sexuality, before shouting across a busy pub, ‘One more pint for the bender, please!’

Davies’s feeling for the casual homophobia of the times is flawless. His understanding of the weight of history hanging on the shoulders of these men, their misguided families and the kindness of strangers is beautiful. Fabulous Years & Years singer Olly Alexander is given the role of his life, turning Ritchie from obnoxiously broad to painfully small within the cracks of his gobstopper smile. The creator deposits secrets and lies around his script like a detective uncovering clues from the past. This is what happened to a decimated generation, when desire and death crossed paths. It’s 2021’s first stop-the- clocks moment. Pay attention.

It's A Sin is on Channel 4 from 22 January at 9pm

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