It's A Sin (RTD AIDS Drama)

[Lewman]

I put it on Sunday evening with the intention of watching just the first episode but ended up watching the whole series in one night. Absolutely loved it.

Been a fan of RTD outside of Doctor Who ever since falling in love with Queer as Folk watching it back in 99. I also really enjoyed Cucumber at the time but think its a strange beast. As pointed out I cant really remember anything that happened in it but thoroughly enjoyed it whilst watching. Guess you could say the same about the first series of Queer as Folk to an extent.

It's a Sin though has stuck with me days after though. What an incredible production that's a testament to good writing and production. Its strange how whenever RTD does a gay focused channel 4 production I instantly like the characters. Maybe that says a lot about me but Id much rather hang out in a bar with anyone of the cast in Queer as Folk, Cucumber and It's a Sin. Seems like a quality night!

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I highly recommend The Writer's Tale to fans of RTD's writing. It's basically an intimate, candid, detailed diary of his time working on Doctor Who, but you don't have to be a Doctor Who fan to enjoy it. One of the best books about the lonely, stressful art and craft of writing I have ever read. His insights are fascinating.

It's also rather joyous at times, particularly during those moments when, while wide awake and chain-smoking at 3am, he suddenly hits upon an idea that makes a troublesome screenplay work. This is not a man who just knocks stuff out*, he puts a commendable amount of thought into his work.

_{* Unlike Christopher Chibnall.}

[poo]

My immediate thought was that the AIDS in the thread title was an adjective and RTD was going to get a kicking.

This place has ruined me.

Hah yeah, me too.

Sounds good this

[Blue Jam]

I highly recommend The Writer's Tale to fans of RTD's writing. It's basically an intimate, candid, detailed diary of his time working on Doctor Who, but you don't have to be a Doctor Who fan to enjoy it. One of the best books about the lonely, stressful art and craft of writing I have ever read. His insights are fascinating.

It's also rather joyous at times, particularly during those moments when, while wide awake and chain-smoking at 3am, he suddenly hits upon an idea that makes a troublesome screenplay work. This is not a man who just knocks stuff out*, he puts a commendable amount of thought into his work.

_{* Unlike Christopher Chibnall.}

Hehehehe... Thanks, that sounds fascinating. I'm not a writer or an especially big Doctor Who fan but I might give it a go. I was a fan of RTD's work long before Doctor Who and when it was announced that he'd got that gig I was delighted to hear it.

Still haven't dared watch the US Queer as Folk because I loved the original so much. How does it hold up?

I'm probably due a rewatch of QaF. The last time I watched it I remembered hearing Stuart say "We'll sew a patch on the quilt for you" and thinking how dated that sounded in these days of antiretrovirals and PrEP. And also thinking that was a very good thing.

[Blue Jam]

My immediate thought was that the AIDS in the thread title was an adjective and RTD was going to get a kicking.

This place has ruined me.

I assumed it was a biopic of Shaun Murphy.

[Ham Bap]

I binged this all in one night as well last Friday night. Couldn't stop watching it. Compelling TV.

[Blue Jam]

Loved the first episode but going to save the rest and work through them one per day, I think. This is like Years And Years, great stuff but there's a lot to take in and it leaves you reeling a bit. It might just be my attention span but I don't feel like binge-watching this.

[Thomas]

as you say, all I could think of was, "But this came out in 1992."

Doesn't the series take us up to at least 1991? I think that's the last date that appears onscreen. Closing with a '90s song consciously closes the door on the '80s era, perhaps.

[Poison To The Mind]

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.

Have no fondness for the tedious, maudlin pile of whining, so the first few notes immediately infuriated me too, ruining the brutal mood of this excellent show I'd cried through 30% of. An instrumental version or edit of Being Boring would have been excellent there, the wistful / elegaic melody lifting out of the narrative for anyone unfamiliar, while having resonance for folk who recognised it.

(AIUI the title change to It's A Sin came very late - there are lots of "Boys" references in ep 5 specifically - so the song choices might have been locked off before any PSB connection.)

As a giant Who nerd whose personal taste doesn't line up much with RTD's take on the show, and moderately enjoyed some of his earlier miniseries, I've also been blown away by his recent work. The interweaved characters on Cucumber (and the good bits of Banana) are richer than this, and the escalating dread of Years & Years obviously required a more complex type of plotting than here, but what a fucking gutpunch each episode was. His gift for planting whole characters in your mind from a few seconds of screen time has never been better used, and airing during a pandemic that governments are actively aggravating to kill their constituents - with scenes of families refusing to believe doctors - only slightly enhanced the power of the ignoring / slow dawning of the viral reality on the kids here.

(Dunno if I've even seen KS on anyone since I was in high school, a couple of years after the end of the series here, but every implication of them in the show was so freighted with memory of growing up through years and bloody years of medical & public awareness of the disease gradually, gradually crawling forward.)

[bobloblaw]

Interesting/depressing tidbit from RTD interview in Broadcast:

The team wrestled with C4 over budgets. Davies wrote eight episodes, but the channel only wanted four. "So I lied," confesses Davies. "I described this really vital episode that the entire thing would hinge upon, and it was agreed as an extra episode." He pauses and laughs. "Then I didn't deliver that. I just delivered a completely different story."

[Emotional Support Peacock]

I've forgotten what the music used for the final credits was, and everyone keeps talking about it without mentioning what it was. Please could someone say?

[imitationleather]

Justified and Ancient by The KLF

[Chedney Honks]

Aids tier

I just had to get it off my chest I'm really sorry, I know it's even been addressed a couple of times already but I just need to say

AIDS tier

[lipsink]

It was 'Everybody Hurts' by REM.

They could've even gone with 'One' by U2? Came out in 1992 but still a bit obvious.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Justified and Ancient by The KLF

The version I watched had Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C+C Music Factory. Bold choice.

[Blue Jam]

Nicholas Blane is totally channelling Uncle Monty as Mr Hart. Aww poor Colin. "The Valleys Virgin" is so adorable.

...and poor

Spoiler alert

Gloria. The bonfire scene at the end of episode 2 was utterly heart-rending

[close]

.

[sevendaughters]

Nicholas Blane is totally channelling Uncle Monty as Mr Hart. Aww poor Colin. "The Valleys Virgin" is so adorable.

...and poor

Spoiler alert

Gloria. The bonfire scene at the end of episode 2 was utterly heart-rending

[close]

.

it was and was, in a way, a slight problem, in that all these great characters kept

Spoiler alert

dying

[close]

.

[Blue Jam]

After saying I couldn't binge-watch this I just binge-watched the last four episodes. Addictive and amazing stuff. Nice to see RTD getting a few digs at the Tories in as well, that is so him and I loved it.

My final thought was that a drama about a virus sounds like the last thing we need right now, but it's about a once-deadly virus which is no longer a death sentence and the series shows just how far we have come since 1981, and perhaps that's actually exactly what we need right now. Maybe- I dunno, I just know that for all the bleakness I still ended up feeling a bit warm and fuzzy.

Love me some RTD.

[Malcy]

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]

Spoiler alert

This part was a tribute to actor Dursley McLinden Who was Sgt Mike Smith in Remembrance Of The Daleks. RTD met him in Jill's flat. He moved from the Isle Of White to London to study acting and died of AIDS in the 90's.

[close]

[bobloblaw]

The version I watched had Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) by C+C Music Factory. Bold choice.

Really? I though the choice of Jimmy Nail's Ain't No Doubt was *chef's kiss*

I write this while listening to Desert Island Discs, where Tim Peake has chosen both Gun and Bush. Maybe he can tell the difference in space

[non capisco]

Having an inappropriate chuckle imagining it ending with 'The HIV Song' by Ween.

[bobloblaw]

Having an inappropriate chuckle imagining it ending with 'The HIV Song' by Ween.

or indeed Everyone has AIDS from Team America

[Malcy]

There's a companion show to this on tonight after the episode. Don't know if it's just on All4 after it or if it's an HBOMax thing but saw RTD post about it.

[olliebean]

There's a companion show to this on tonight after the episode. Don't know if it's just on All4 after it or if it's an HBOMax thing but saw RTD post about it.

Where's that, then? Can't see anything about it on his twitter feed or on the show's page on channel4.com, and Channel 4 has The Last Leg on after.

Oh, hang on, is it this? https://www.channel4.com/press/news/4studio-launches-its-sin-companion-show (Last week's episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw7taFPxb4I - made it about 30 seconds into that.)

[Malcy]

Where's that, then? Can't see anything about it on his twitter feed or on the show's page on channel4.com, and Channel 4 has The Last Leg on after.

Oh, hang on, is it this? https://www.channel4.com/press/news/4studio-launches-its-sin-companion-show (Last week's episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw7taFPxb4I - made it about 30 seconds into that.)

Was on his Instagram. Yeah that must be it. Looks a bit to yoof for me.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Spoiler alert

This part was a tribute to actor Dursley McLinden Who was Sgt Mike Smith in Remembrance Of The Daleks. RTD met him in Jill's flat. He moved from the Isle Of White to London to study acting and died of AIDS in the 90's.

[close]

I didn't know about that until the other day, when a pal alerted me to it on Twitter. Such a nice tribute.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

I write this while listening to Desert Island Discs, where Tim Peake has chosen both Gun and Bush. Maybe he can tell the difference in space

Imagine floating in a tin can with only the music of Gun and Bush to keep you company. Cosmic desolation.

[Icehaven]

Watched the first one last night, will binge the rest ASAP.

This 80's style trailer is absolute genius. In fact it's a shame they didn't film the whole thing like this, because no matter how authentic you make your 80's-set drama, it will never look truly authentic in 16:9 high-definition.

Why do I keep getting told this is 'restricted in my country'? I'm in the UK.

[Malcy]

I didn't know about that until the other day, when a pal alerted me to it on Twitter. Such a nice tribute.

Likewise. I know that the series has lots of things like that so I'll need to get reading some RTD interviews at some point.

[phes]

Why do I keep getting told this is 'restricted in my country'? I'm in the UK.

I've had this problem before. I know fuck all about this stuff but assumed it was something to do with having a VPN (that wasn't on) which I use intermittently. I switched to a browser that I never use and it worked fine.

edit: Ignore, sorry i assumed your problem was with 4OD, not youtube