It’s A Sin - Russel T Davis CH4

I have a feeling he was also in Only Boys Allowed when he was a kid.

What you tagged isn't even what I really considered a possible spoiler but more though I made sure not to say anything about what actually happens to any of the characters and such. If it's because I said Sorry though, I should have tagged it just to be safe but I was using the quick reply feature and had written it all so didn't bother since I thought I'd avoided spoiling any actual plot details, won't make the same mistake again.

Re: Callum Howells, he was great in She Loves Me (though I loved everything about that production) - his innocent cheery character there, and such a touching performance in It's a Sin. I hope he goes on to even greater things!

So I watch this last night.

Some initial thoughts.

Hair, make up, costumes and set- all spot on,

That first shot of Olly Alexander talking, you could tell straight away this was to 1980's.

The cars, buses- even the wallpaper- very impressive.

And that thumping soundrack.

Out of curiosity, was the pub supposed to be the Vauxell Tavern?

Olly Alexander; he was quite good, wasn't he? Quite elfish,

I know he's part of that band but in terms of acting, not too what else he's done, but he was good.

I thought Lydia West as Jill was outstanding!

In 1981, I was 11 and still in Sydney and at school.

Event though I was down under I remember the Grim Reaper bowling balls ad.

I don't know how the AIDS epidemic affected the gay community in Australia (in terms of numbers and where it was anywhere as bad as what it was here in the UK and America). I was too young; but I do remember it and I know that we weren't immune to it.

It was the first time that I realised that you could catch diseases having sex.

I also remember MTV showing an ad from Madonna, wrapped in an American flag and some of her dancers from her Blonde Ambition tour encouraging you to wear a condom- "Don't be silly, put a condom on your willy!".

As silly as this may sound to those reading this, the other thing that stuck out for me was the strength of the Welsh accent of Callum Scott Howells as Colin.

Whilst I have no trouble understanding it. I'm always taken aback slight when it hear- especially one as strong as this actors.

When I mentioned this to a friend he questioned me and I think it's because growing up in Sydney, I'd never heard a Welsh accent till I came here.




I was expecting nudity (not necessarily full frontal), sex, swearing and for it to be gritty- and that exactly what was delivered.

It's also cleverly written so that you follow the journey of several types of gay- the shy one, the handsome one, the flamboyant one, the coming out one, the glimpse in to gay domestic happiness- and of course, the dirty old man.

I don't need to stream the series to find out what happens, I am happy to catch the weekly episode.

Cant wait to see the reaction to it on Googlebox, when it's shown.

I just watched episode 2. My goodness that’s a gut punch at the end.

Interesting BFI interview with the cast and creatives

Thank you alece10 for posting that BFI link.

Very interesting.

Finished the series and I’m a total mess.

Really powerful stuff. Really clever the way the casual homophobia of the time was weaved in throughout and became more and more prominent. I don’t think younger people today are really aware of the pervasiveness of it - we live in such a different world now.

News travels differently within the medical community than in the main news media. Or at least, it did back then - very different information ecosystem now with the internet.

The hospital staff would have been reading medical reports in journals about strange cases of young gay men coming down with rare cancers in New York and San Francisco long before journalists in the U.K. heard about them.

Yes I also struggled with a bit of a sleepless night having stayed up until 1am to finish it. So damn good, but it instilled me with anger the lack of education we had about this crisis during my school years.

I would recommend this to everyone, easily one of the best pieces of television I’ve ever seen.

Thanks for the spoiler tags, I'm still to watch - I'm going to binge over a weekend where I've no distractions. I've come on to see the comments re Callum Howells - Graham Norton interviewing Neil Patrick Thomas on Friday mentioned Callum's name and my head shot up. I remember him very well from She Loves Me, he played Arpad Lazslo in his strong Welsh accent, utterly engaging and the audience loved him. A lovely performance. I've dug out my programme - this is his 2017 bio -

Seventeen-year-old Callum started off his professional performing career in the children's ensemble in the UK tour of Cameron Mackintash's production of the hit musical Oliver! In 2015, Callum was chosen out of over 8,000 auditionees to join National Youth Music Theatre's production of Prodigy, a new musical written by Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary, which was performed at the St James Theatre in London. In December he played the role of George in Of Mice and Men at Treorchy Comprehensive School for various schools in Wales. This past summer Callum played the role of George in NYTM's production of Brass at the Hackney Empire. He also played the role of James in the play Blackout written by Davey Anderson as part of the National Theatres Connections 2016 with Motherlode Theatre (Produced by RCT Theatres). Their production was selected out of 500 plays to be performed at the Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre after a small tour of Wales.

Callum performed in Matthew Bourne's New Adventures' production of Lord of the Flies at the Wales Millennium Centre.

As well as theatre, he has been seen on television when he travelled to South-East Asia to film a documentary for BBC about the contrast in other children's lives on the other side of the world called Show Me What You Are Made Of, which was nominated for a Children's BAFTA award. Early last year he worked with CBBC's Blue Peter as their royal correspondent for a number of special events which they covered, including the Queen's Coronation Anniversary, Prince Charles visiting Wales and interviewing Black Rod in the Houses of Parliament.

Callum has been a member of the choir Only Boys Aloud for five years and is also a member of Loud Applause Rising Stars.

Again, above relates to 2017.