ACCEPTABLE IN THE 80S? THE IMPORTANCE, IMPACT, AND EMOTION OF AIDS DRAMA ‘IT’S A SIN’
Russel T. Davies’ critically acclaimed series ‘It’s A Sin’ poignantly pushes the light and shade of life in the 80s, bringing the experiences of the LGBTQ+ community firmly into the consciousness of the mainstream.
5th June 1981: Thatcher and Reagan are in office; Adam and the Ants’ ‘Stand and Deliver’ is number one in the UK; and across the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. Center for Disease Control reports the first official cases of a rare lung infection in five young, previously healthy gay men in L.A. This marks the beginning of what we now know as the AIDS epidemic, forming the backdrop of Channel 4’s hit drama ‘It’s A Sin’. The series follows the lives of five friends over the course of the subsequent decade, who all converge on London from different backgrounds in pursuit of independence, pleasure, and the freedom to be themselves.
Image Credit: Channel 4
Written by Russel T. Davies (‘Queer as Folk’, ‘Doctor Who’) and somewhat inspired by his own friendship group, the immense emotional power of ‘It’s A Sin’ stems from its partially biographical nature. While main protagonists Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin (Callum Scott Howells) may be fictional, the events which colour their intertwined narratives are very much rooted in fact – something Davies makes explicit by including such cultural reference points as iconic London nightclub Heaven, the now infamous 1986 ‘tombstone’ AIDS awareness advert, and even a scene in Parliament featuring Mrs Thatcher. Indeed, the character of Jill – portrayed by Lydia West – was inspired by Davies’ own friend Jill Nalder, who actually lived in a London flat termed ‘The Pink Palace’, led fundraising efforts into AIDS research, and herself appears in the series as the fictional Jill’s mum.
Having received extensive critical acclaim and become the most streamed Channel 4 drama ever, the reasons behind the popularity and significance of ‘It’s A Sin’ are manifold. For many younger viewers, it may be the first time they’ve engaged with this part of history, perhaps never having learnt about the extent of the epidemic at school or having previously thought of it as a finite historical event which happened A Long Time Ago. When, in fact, we are currently only one generation removed from the likes of Ritchie and his friends, and there are still approximately 38 million people worldwide living with HIV/AIDS (figures from 2019). ‘It’s A Sin’ connects the dots between these objective historical facts and what was many people’s lived experience, representing through its characters the warmth, vitality, and reality of the individuals behind the statistics.
Additionally, the show marks a seminal point for LGBTQ+ representation, and celebration, in mainstream media. In line with his commitment to cast gay actors for the gay parts - something which many films and tv programmes have historically failed to do - Davies estimates that the series features around 40-50 gay actors, including prominent members of the LGBTQ+ community such as Stephen Fry, Neil-Patrick Harris, and the band Years and Years’ Olly Alexander. Such casting authenticity was a cornerstone of the production, and indeed the actor Nathanial Hall (who plays Donald Bassett) has himself been HIV positive since the age of 16, and works to help remove the stigma surrounding a positive diagnosis.
Given the subject matter, the queer community were always going to feature prominently, but what’s pivotal to ‘It’s A Sin’ is that none of the characters feel like clichéd stereotypes or tokenistic inclusions designed to win diversity points. Rather, each is thoroughly three-dimensional, likeable but nevertheless flawed (except perhaps for the achingly endearing, softly-spoken Colin). Together, they suitably evolve as the five episodes pan out and the group grows from fresh-faced teenagers to adults trying to navigate an increasingly hostile world.
Another dimension of ‘It’s A Sin’ to really strike a chord with viewers, coincidental but undeniably salient, is its portrayal of a world struck by a mysterious, deadly virus about which, at the beginning, precious little is understood. Sound familiar? Given that the show has been in the pipeline for some time (it was rejected by both the BBC and ITV), it is eerily ironic that its eventual arrival on our screens has been in the midst of another global health crisis. And the parallels aren’t difficult to see: conspiracy theories that the virus was created in a foreign lab (Russian/Chinese); people believing it was developed intentionally by a government body (the CIA/CCP); and mass media publishing sensationalist, scaremongering headlines (‘US Gay Blood Plague Kills Three in Britain’/ ‘ZOMBIELAND: China bug ‘to infect 350,000 in Wuhan’’ (both The Sun)). Just delete as appropriate, depending on whether you’re talking about 1983, or 2020.
Because of this context, we can empathise more fully with Jill’s fear as she obsessively cleans, her paranoia as she smashes the Pink Palace’s namesake mug, and her desperate desire for more – any – information about the virus. Obviously, in the forty years since the AIDS epidemic began, huge scientific advances have facilitated the global development of coronavirus tests, treatments, and vaccines in under a year – the (in)competency of national governments notwithstanding, this is a remarkable feat. However, watching ‘It’s A Sin’, it’s clear that the 1980s’ comparatively primitive understanding of virology is far from the only reason AIDS was so devastating. You can’t help but think that, in Jill’s mum’s words, ‘if we had heterosexual boys dying in these numbers, the world would have stopped’.
Indeed, Davies by no means shies away from the homophobia which, for many, was characteristic of those years. One character’s use of the word ‘cesspit’ in episode 3 alludes to the assertion made by former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, James Anderton, that homosexuals were ‘swirling around in a cesspool of their own making’. Meanwhile, the scene in which the confident, caring Ash (Nathanial Curtis) is made to trawl through his school library removing ‘any inappropriate material’ is in reference to Section 28 – a law passed in 1988 which made it illegal to ‘promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. These are just two examples of many depicted in ‘It’s a Sin’, but they represent how ubiquitous and even state sanctioned the stigmatisation of the LGBTQ+ community was; in fact, Section 28 was not repealed in England until 2003.
Yet, despite these instances, it doesn’t feel as if Davies has created a political drama per se – it’s just referencing what really happened, after all. Rather, what takes centre stage are the loving, painful, complicated relationships between people. One of the more obvious indicators of this shifting dynamic is the irresistibly imitable ‘La!’, which is introduced by Ritchie in the first episode and thereafter adopted by the five friends as a greeting, goodbye, and general in-joke. An old habit of Davies’ own friendship group, it’s an autobiographical detail which noticeably decreases in frequency as the series progresses and the characters’ lives become darker. And by tracing this thread through the fabric of the story, Davies highlights the contrast around which ‘It’s A Sin’ centres; ‘La!’ epitomises the euphoric, playful exuberance of the five protagonists, and its waning reflects their loss – of innocence, of life. It’s only by firstly experiencing the joyous vibrancy with which Colin, Ritchie, and so many others lived that the viewer is able to grasp the devastation of their deaths.
The most poignant aspect of the storyline is therefore not even the virus itself, and how that killed people. It is how initial widespread uncertainty and misinformation, then later massive stigma, prevented countless people getting tested for HIV. Prejudice perpetuated its continued and rapid spread because carriers were burdened with such shame and fear that many could not access medical support, much less talk openly about their condition with family or employers. And so, they stayed silent. This internalised stigma is what haunts Ritchie, and, ultimately, what Jill means when she stands on the seafront with Ritchie’s mother and says to her simply, ‘He died because of you. They all die, because of you’.
However, one of the defining features of ‘It’s A Sin’ is its resistance to being simply, well, sad. The whole series – and indeed each scene – simultaneously provokes a wide range of feelings, perhaps none more so than the protest sequence at the end of episode 4. To hold an audience in the palm of your hand such that they go from hope to fear, horror to tearful laughter in the space of around 4 minutes is no mean feat, and this emotional whiplash is characteristic of the show overall. Granted, the final episode is gut-wrenchingly sad but, along with an emptiness best described as grief, it leaves you with an immense sense of wonder.
Wonder at Ritchie’s nostalgic, defiant recollection that the boys he slept with ‘were all great, that’s what people will forget. That it was so much fun’. Wonder at the fact that, even at the centre of that darkness, the joy endured. Wonder at the inspirational humanity and compassion exhibited by Jill as she visits men dying from AIDS in London hospitals – men who have no other visitors and are otherwise alone, but to whom she brings company and comfort in their final days. Again, this is a detail inspired directly by the actions of the real Jill, and, aptly, the phrase #BeMoreJill began trending on Twitter soon after the series’ release. It’s a decidedly modern testament to the overarching impact of the show on its viewers’ psyches.
What has quickly become apparent since ‘It’s A Sin’ was first aired is that it’s not just entertaining (though it is), or even educational (though the school that a friend of mine works for has used parts of the series for their students’ PSHE lessons). It’s also had a significant material impact on public health, with the number of HIV tests being ordered in the UK quadrupling from the previous record set in 2019, and over £150,000 being raised for HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust by the sale of t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan ‘La’ (as of February 2021). Additionally, the series has opened up conversations surrounding what it means to be HIV positive today. Thankfully, understanding of the virus has progressed massively over the past forty years, and HIV became treatable in 1996 – 15 years after its emergence – via medication which stops the transition from HIV to AIDS. With continued treatment, levels of the virus in the blood become so low that routine tests cannot detect it, and if the viral load has been undetectable for six months or more, then the person with HIV cannot pass it on through sex. This is known as Undetectable = Untransmittible, or U=U. Early diagnosis and effective treatment means that most people with HIV will not develop any AIDS-related illnesses and will live long, healthy lives.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that ‘It’s A Sin’ is one of the most important pieces of television ever aired in the UK, and a heartfelt tribute to the whole generation of LGBTQ+ people who lived so bravely, and burned so brightly.
For more information about HIV/AIDS, please visit these websites:
NHS: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hiv-and-aids/
Terrence Higgins Trust: https://www.tht.org.uk/
George House Trust:https://ght.org.uk/
