It's A Sin - Channel 4

[Lol57]

I knew nothing of Section 28 before It’s A Sin, which is quite shocking really. I was born in 1987 & it horrified me to think this was all in my lifetime & really not that long ago. Since it’s a sin, I’ve spent hours educating myself.

This show is so important. I really wish they’d do a programme at the end that discusses the progress that’s been made with medical treatment. It’d be great to have the cast etc in a studio and doctors, charities etc ..

There is a great interview on YouTube with Matt Lucas & the cast, writers & producers. RTD talks about how much there is still to do. A HIV+ friend of his is trying to adopt a child & despite it being illegal to mention in a court case, it keeps being mentioned. It’s bloody awful. The stigma is still there.

On a lighter note, how bloody lovely are the cast. They all seemed bowled over by the attention they are getting. And they all seem delightful in interviews. Callum is so endearing. He’s just like a more exuberant, hilarious version of wide eyed Colin!

 

[Twopenniesworth]

Was Colin’s manager wanting to sleep with him? I figured that from the first episode where he tells him to wash. But then when they go to NY and he comes in the room with wine and sees the magazines, he changes his mind. I’m guessing he changes his mind thinking Colin might have HIV?

Yeah he was a dirty old pervert. He was later seen being taken out of some public toilets. (In handcuffs by the police, if my memory is correct)

 

[Hodgies]

I just didn't realise how quickly people could decline once they had it. And that it caused dementia.

I thought it was a good comparison between when Colin died to when Ritchie did. Colin had months as presumably there wasn't a huge range of treatments and it was just managing the symptoms whereas there was several years with Ritchie where he was on tablets, had got ill then improved again so he had that bit more time. Still nowhere near enough but a far improved outcome than Colin had.

I hadn't realised about the dementia either. That was particularly cruel especially when Colin was confused and didn't know why he was locked in the ward.

 

[Twopenniesworth]

To all of you who watched it in real time, you have some willpower. That was my plan but I couldn’t stop

 

[Restless Native]

Yea but did Mrs Thatcher drink any of Roscoe's special tea though, or did Stephen Fry get there in time to stop her

As well as the ambiguity over whether Colin consented to his encounters with the guy in the house he was lodging in (to me it looked like he maybe didn't fully consent, but was lost in the naivety of moving away from home etc to know what to do so he went along with it), I thought that moment with Stephen Fry saying he wasn't gay but every so often needed to be down in the dirt in order to lift his head up or however exactly he charmingly put it - was thought provoking as well.

Also not sure if I missed something, after all every little tiny detail in this seemed to mean something, such as the tailor's shop boss being caught cottaging - but how/why did Colin's landlady turn up at the hospital?

To visit her son who had given it to Colin

 

[Holidaybobs]

What an incredible series. I binged watched it with my mum (who only usually watches the soaps) in one day. Albeit we went for a walk after episode 3 to have a breather. It really hit home with my mum, she turned 18 in 1981 and remembers how awful people were. My auntie on my dad’s side came out in the 80s and she said all four brothers cried. Not that they were ashamed but, worried due to the stigma. She also said, she remembers how some people wouldn’t walk past Monsall hospital, which is mentioned by the lawyer, as they thought they’d catch it. It just sounded like such a confusing and misinformed time. Still thinking about poor Colin, we both thought he’d be the first due to his innocence. So sad to think of all them men dying alone or being taken home to live in hiding.

Although, for how sad it is. The whole crew did such an incredible job of portraying the beautiful friendship between them all. It made me want to live in the Pink Palace and live life to the full. For how much sadness there is in the show, it was also filled with so many beautiful moments of friendship. The scene with them all near the end in the park was so poignant.

Just need to find a friend like Jill now.

 

[Philomena]

I watched the whole series over the weekend and can't stop thinking about it. I was born in 2001, so for me this was a real education and very insightful of what was happening at the time.
I don't think I've ever cried so much at a TV series. Absolutely bawled my eyes out over Colin, and keep hearing,
"Oh Mammy, make them do something" over and over again.

I think someone earlier in the thread mentioned Ruth Coker Burks. She was a guest on Cariad Lloyd's Griefcast podcast last week and spoke about caring for men dying from AIDS who'd been abandoned by their families in a deeply conservative America in the late 80's. She really came across as such a compassionate and brilliant lady, just like Jill in the series. I'd really recommend it.

It's a Sin is such a vital and phenomenal piece of television.
May those who lost their lives to AIDS never be forgotten.

La!

 

[Platypusfattypus]

I knew their treatment in hospital would be bad but this broke me ! Absolutely horrific. The ending.. awful. Im in the LGBT community and only my best friends and sister know.

I've also told my therapist and it was a hard thing to accept. I knew I was sexually attracted to women but only romantically to men. Im also demi sexual so it made it stressful for me. Thinking, do I fancy that actress or is it in my head ? This shouldn't be something we still question.

I mentioned on another thread, I told my mum and aunt I could be bi last summer. My aunt laughed. And said that when you find the man you'll marry, he won't respect or love you. As in that he would cheat or just not take me seriously.

Im 29 this year and I've never been to Pride. One of my best friends is an out gay man and I just want to go and party with him but its also as if I dont feel worthy. Like because my preference is male I dont count as LGBT.

This show made me cry like a baby. Thinking about if I was living in Ireland there with my best friend, I'd be working 24/7 about him. Imagining if I was in a hospital alone with no one. Or locked up like Henry and Colin. Horrific.

I've watched it 3 times already. Its so so so important. I started Pose too and its amazing.

Here is to a million more shows about LGBT history.

As a mum of an lgbtq child it makes me sad that you feel like this, I'd hate my child to feel that they weren't worthy because of who they are attracted to. You are so worthy. Go to Pride and enjoy yourself.

 

[~vix~83~]

Richies mum reminded me of my mother in law at the end. My brother in law committed suicide and they were in complete denial about it convinced he was murdered by friends who found him.
He was sll about his friends n were more like family than the actual family. And they would not let his friends see him or listen to them when they said they knew what he wanted when he died....they went completely against his wishes. And to this day they still say he was murdered even tho the police report states otherwise. He was depressed and all the signs were there....but they don’t believe in depression.
she was so wrong to not let Richie see his friends he must of felt so confused but maybe deep
Down knew they were on the island n that his
Mum stopped them ?

 

[Mooordgirl]

A beautiful series. I thought they showed the fun hedonistic side quite well balancing it with the heaviness of aids and how gay men were treated.

Colin and his wonderful mother will stay with me

 

[Twopenniesworth]

I find it so sad that Colin was the one who could have been more open, his mum didn’t care if he was gay or not. She was just so happy he had a nice group of friends.

I loved that about her. You could tell she idolised her boy regardless of anything
The part in the hospital bed when he was telling Ritchie he fancied him was awfully sad

 

[melisnusty]

LA!
Bingewatched the whole lot on 4OD.
made me cry in places. The characters were so well written and what an amazing performance by all the actors. I was a teenager when all the leaflets and tv adverts came out and I remembered being genuinely frightened. Ignorance isn’t bliss.
Tracy Ann Oberman telling Richie that so many boys were going home and she didn’t want him to go home, so bloody sad. Knowing what a lot of those boys were going home to - families that didn’t understand them or AIDS itself.
Russell T Davies is outstanding.

 

[Woolmercardington]

I did get the impression Colin consented. In the flashbacks, he was pretty much tipping a wink to the son about how he stays in on Thursdays when the landlady and her husband would be at their cinema club.

 

[Sogdhitalley]

Maybe they will make a follow up now they know how successful it is. I really really hope they do.

Russel T Davis gave an interview that he originally wanted to make 8 episodes and 1 included a time jump to today to see how the characters were doing. Jill was to visit Richies mum to explore sexual abuse in the family. I would have loved to see his idea to have been fulfilled.

They could make those missing episodes.
Each one named after a character. Like "Gloria" "Colin" "Richie" where we see the aftermath of each of their deaths and the effect it had on the remaining characters.
And then a bonus episode which is a flash forward to the current day.

 

[Bambix]

Olly Alexander is so nice. He always comes across as a really sweet and likeable man.
callum who plays Colin is so funny.
and Nathaniel who plays Donald I think he's beautiful.
the Whole cast seem to be really close which I love about it.

 

[scot_nursey003]

I can’t stop thinking about Colin.
I felt like I was rooting for him from the start, and I was desperate for the seizures to be a red herring and for him to actually just have epilepsy!
It’s a great show. It’s a sin by Pet shop boys has been on repeat on my spotify for the last couple days.

 

[Baconbutties]

I was ruined by the end of it. Broke my heart, just wonderfully acted.

 

[Whatevs 869]

I sat down to watch one episode last Saturday and ended up watching the whole series in one go. I have never cried at the TV, not once. But I sobbed and sobbed at this series.
It’s been a week and I’ve thought about it and the characters every single day since.. I just didn’t realise it had been so bad and what those people went through.
I was born in 89 and I can remember being told in sex Ed at primary school that it could be transmitted through kissing.. luckily my mums a nurse and told me that was nonsense. But I still felt a huge stigma around HIV up until very recently tbh and I’m a straight female.
I think it’s one of the best most powerful pieces of TV in recent times because it’s made me just want to do something to help.. I’m just not sure what!

 

[Woolmercardington]

I think it was very clever how that line about his death was delivered, too. It wasn't some grandiose announcement, it was almost a throw-a-way line delivered very matter-of-factly. That's what made it more shocking as there was no build-up to make us expect it.

 

[Pamellla]

Oh my god
I have been resisting this thread for days as I really didn’t want to spoil but
I have watched a lot of tv but that was by far the most incredible thing I have ever seen an absolute work of art. The acting was impeccable. I didn’t know too much about everything that happened as a slightly younger person but it was just beautiful. Watched with my whole family and thinking my dad wouldn’t like it I saw him tear up at the end. How jill kept her cool my god, that part has to be one of my favorites. I adored all of the characters. This just has to win awards
Speechless