It's A Sin (RTD AIDS Drama)

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

On a lighter note,

Spoiler alert

that brief recreation of a fictional 1988 episode of Doctor Who was lovely. The picture quality, costumes and scenery were very accurate. It wasn't overdone. RTD knows his Who, of course, he's a stickler for that sort of detail.

[close]

[Bently Sheds]

WORST. SEAGULL. EVER.

[Malcy]

Read earlier that the woman who plays Jill's mum is who Jill's character is based on.

[imitationleather]

Watched it all in one sitting with my missus last night. Something that never happens anymore, because my attention span is totally shredded to pieces.

Absolutely loved it. Was fighting back the tears by the end. Another thing that never happens anymore, because I am void husk of a human. Can't remember the last British drama I enjoyed so much.

I've always been a fan of RTD's non-Who stuff, and I thought Cucumber was very strong. However this blows pretty much all of it out of the water.

[poodlefaker]

Couple of thoughts:

People look too healthy and buff
How they interact with each other is rooted in the present

Also the way they speak; not so much specific language (although I don't think people said "I was like..." in 1981), more their speech patterns - difficult to pin down.

[M-CORP]

Saw the first ep on Friday and was going to watch it go out weekly on Channel 4, because I'm old-fashioned and snobbish and believe TV should still be experienced at a set time by everyone. But then five weeks proved to be too long to wait so I set an All 4 account and have just watched the whole series. Yeah, I have me principles, me.

Anyway, as everyone else has said, it's glorious. It isn't preachy, its characters are three-dimensional, it surprises you over and over again (very rare in TV when the same old ground gets trodden over again and again), and it makes you feel for these people going through the shit that they do. Crucially, like anything else RTD has done, there's just the right balance of humour and bleakness.

I also loved little touches - like how

Spoiler alert

every episode ends with a death, until ep 4's defiant 'I've got some news for you, and now I've found the words - I'm gonna live!'

[close]

Or the end to episode 3, where

Spoiler alert

you think Ritchie has got a positive test and is about to confess when in fact he never got the result, and everything that was set up to imply Ritchie's result outcome, like the recurring motif of the guillotine on the stage and Roscoe's joy at being negative.

[close]

Obviously RTD is a bastard for

Spoiler alert

killing off the most likeable characters first - I personally was rooting for Colin and Henry in episode 1 -

[close]

and I could pick nits about things that irritate me about modern TV in general like the overuse of music and the overly glossy and synthetic-looking cinematography, but eventually I forgot about that minor guff. Overall this show just reaffirms Russell T Davies' status as one of the greatest TV writers this country has right now.

[kitsofan34]

Haven't watched this yet, though intend to start tonight. I've been so impressed with RTD's post Doctor Who career. I was never a massive fan of his "Who" era, though loved his Torchwood special, but yeah, really love how he's dedicated himself to almost exclusively LGBT stories. His one duff note for me was Years & Years, which I remember was roundly praised on here, but I've loved Cucumber and A Very British Scandal, and have a good feeling about this one. Particularly odd considering I much preferred Steven Moffat's incarnation of Who, but have found his work since then (Sherlock, Dracula) nauseating.

[Thomas]

Just finished watching this. Heartbreaking and bright and funny. RTD is so adept at distilling big, global themes in intimate settings.[nb]like kitso above, I prefer Moffat-Who on the whole, but RTD's scenes in flats and kitchens and cafés were always brilliant.[/nb]

How many times has Russell Davies written about some gay people getting on while being gay?

He talks about why he's proud to be described as a gay writer writing about gay things in this great interview with fanboy Frank Skinner:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiEibDxYkKA&t=12m26s

I learned a lot from RTD's book The Writer's Tale. It is Who-centric, but I gleaned so much about writing in general - two things that stick in my mind are the realism of characters acting selfishly - whether goodies or baddies, likeable or nasty - and the idea that realistic conversations tend to be a pair of competing monologues.

[sevendaughters]

finished this last night. I didn't much like the last episode and thought it was quite confused and not in an intended way. The show needed more time to breathe and a lot of corners were cut.

[Thomas]

I couldn't tell but did the

Spoiler alert

Daleks get the crystal

[close]

in the end?

[kitsofan34]

Fucking hell that was brutal.

Spoiler alert

Jill going into that random patient's room particularly got me.

[close]

I really despised the "La!" thing they kept doing, but otherwise very very few complaints. Astonishing work by RTD.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

I also felt the last episode was just slightly anticlimactic.

The thing with Ritchie saying he had

Spoiler alert

knowingly had unprotected sex after his diagnosis needed more exploration I think. It's despicable behaviour but because he was on his deathbed it was brushed over - surely at least some people would find that unforgivable?

[close]

[Thomas]

Spoiler alert

Jill and Ash seemed to react differently to that - Ash looked taken aback, and didn't say anything, but Jill - after a brief hesitation - was quick to comfort Ritchie (because, as you say, he was on his deathbed). Jill brought it up again in her angry speech to Ritchie's mum, and used stark phrasing,[nb]

Spoiler alert

'he killed people'

[close]

[/nb] but tracing the blame back to his home environment.

[close]

If it was

Spoiler alert

'brushed over'

[close]

, it was done so by the characters present for their own reasons - but I think we're left to think about the implications ourselves.

[lipsink]

Spoiler alert

Maybe I misunderstood that moment. I thought he had slept with people after he knew his boyfriend was ill and it was likely he had it too, but before he got his actual diagnosis?

[close]

[Thomas]

That was my understanding, too -

Spoiler alert

that he 'knew' he had it, prior to his actual diagnosis, but didn't want to truly admit it to himself.

[close]

I'd have to rewatch it to check, though. It might be ambiguous.

[sevendaughters]

His "I had loads of fun" monologue with gently zooming camera and stirring music was ill-advised and in COVID times doubly so

[famethrowa]

the clod hopping granny clap beat of one of the many cheap pop classical medley records that were stinking up an otherwise great chart year

hey woah woah who's dissing fucking Hooked On Classics?? There's my musical education right there, thanks very much.

[Emotional Support Peacock]

That was my understanding, too -

Spoiler alert

that he 'knew' he had it, prior to his actual diagnosis, but didn't want to truly admit it to himself.

[close]

I'd have to rewatch it to check, though. It might be ambiguous.

I see your point, the

Spoiler alert

diagnosis was not clear to us. From what he said maybe I wrongly assumed he'd eventually decided to find out for sure and continued shagging around after.

One thing is for sure, it really made me despise Keeley Hawes's character very effectively.

[close]

[Mister Six]

(although I don't think people said "I was like..." in 1981)

Victoria Wood?

[Bob-Kate]

In episode five,

Spoiler alert

that almost entirely continuous scene of Keeley Hawes marching through the hospital corridors, as she struggles to accept what's happening, was mesmerising.

[close]

Indeed.

Spoiler alert

Keeley gets better and better, especially when she plays against type. Marvellous (in RTD's voice) acting and writing. It's brave, and difficult, to show the sheer jumbled confusion at a time like that.

[close]

Binged it over a couple of days. Wanted to spend more time getting to know the characters. Could have had an entire series on each of them.

[bobloblaw]

Fucking hell that was brutal.

Spoiler alert

Jill going into that random patient's room particularly got me.

[close]

I really despised the "La!" thing they kept doing, but otherwise very very few complaints. Astonishing work by RTD.

the 'la' thing is based on what RTD and his pals did and he has commented on how its delivery changes over the course of the series as shit gets serious.

In context that is fine - all groups of friends have shorthands and in-jokes. Russell can't be responsible for twats on Twitter suddenly adopting it like it's the most hilarious thing ever

[Blue Jam]

On a lighter note,

Spoiler alert

that brief recreation of a fictional 1988 episode of Doctor Who was lovely. The picture quality, costumes and scenery were very accurate. It wasn't overdone. RTD knows his Who, of course, he's a stickler for that sort of detail.

[close]

I love the way one episode of Queer As Folk has one episode where Vince, having failed to pull on a night out, goes home, puts on a VHS, and

Spoiler alert

it's not porn but a bootleg of a rare episode of Doctor Who

[close]

. Vince may just have been an author avatar.

Love me some RTD, will check this out tonight. Will someone please tell me though: Is there anything as horrifying as that bit from Cucumber? Loved Cucumber but don't ever want to see that bit ever again.

[bobloblaw]

It sounds churlish to criticise anything in such an astonishing piece of work but the only thing that jarred with me was the choice of song over the final episode's end critics.

Tonally too different to the series, anachronistic (didn't come out till 1992) and all i could think of was 'why didn't you choose Pet Shop Boys' Being Boring as it captures the exact mix of eulogy for friends lost in the 1980s and a plea not to forget the fun times, and they also did It's a Sin so it's a nice mirror to that?'

[Blue Jam]

Ahhh, it's The Marble Arch pub in Manchestoh!

[Blue Jam]

Cor, didn't recognise Neil Patrick Harris at all there!

And it's got Big Mandy!

[Ham Bap]

I love the way one episode of Queer As Folk has one episode where Vince, having failed to pull on a night out, goes home, puts on a VHS, and

Spoiler alert

it's not porn but a bootleg of a rare episode of Doctor Who

[close]

. Vince may just have been an author avatar.

Love me some RTD, will check this out tonight. Will someone please tell me though: Is there anything as horrifying as that bit from Cucumber? Loved Cucumber but don't ever want to see that bit ever again.

Ive seen all of Its a Sin but none of Cucumber.
I could answer your question but no idea what happened in Cucumber.

[bobloblaw]

Ive seen all of Its a Sin but none of Cucumber.
I could answer your question but no idea what happened in Cucumber.

Cucumber is excellent and a bit underrated. Vincent Franklin is astonishing in the lead.
But it does seem unfair that that got 8 episodes but It's a Sin got only 5

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

It sounds churlish to criticise anything in such an astonishing piece of work but the only thing that jarred with me was the choice of song over the final episode's end critics.

Tonally too different to the series, anachronistic (didn't come out till 1992) and all i could think of was 'why didn't you choose Pet Shop Boys' Being Boring as it captures the exact mix of eulogy for friends lost in the 1980s and a plea not to forget the fun times, and they also did It's a Sin so it's a nice mirror to that?'

I thought that too. It's a very moving song, I don't care what anyone says, but Being Boring would've been perfect. The song he chose to end it with burst the bubble somewhat: as you say, all I could think of was, "But this came out in 1992."

Churlish? Yes, probably. But that's only because the rest of the series was so perfectly judged.

[bobloblaw]

I thought that too. It's a very moving song, I don't care what anyone says, but Being Boring would've been perfect. The song he chose to end it with burst the bubble somewhat: as you say, all I could think of was, "But this came out in 1992."

Churlish? Yes, probably. But that's only because the rest of the series was so perfectly judged.

Being Boring is one of the greatest songs ever written but it does takes its time as it's quite wordy. Maybe they could have cut straight to the chorus. Maybe the one they chose had more personal meaning to RTD. If they'd gone for some photo tributes to AIDS victims or captions about the toll the epidemic took that song would have time to breathe. But it's best it ended where it did, with this story and these characters.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Yes, I can't fault the ending at all. And I guess that anyone who is familiar with the song he chose - i.e. everyone - will have been moved by those first few notes. I'm contradicting myself now.