Captivating, charming and tragic are the best words to describe the U.K. mini-series “It’s a Sin,” created by Russell T. Davies, which spotlights the lives of several gay men as they live through stigmas, homophobia and the spread of HIV in the 1980s.
I heard about the show through social media various times, and though there are many shows that I mean to watch but never get around to doing so, something compelled me to start watching it during a particularly busy and trying time in my life. I was not disappointed.
As I started watching the first episode, I knew I was on a journey that I wanted the entire UNM community to take with me, because I want to see an increased conversation among my student peers surrounding stigmas that the LGBTQ+ community and people with HIV face.
The show follows Ritchie Tozer, played by Olly Alexander, who recently began his college life in London. There he finds a group of lifelong friends and begins to explore his sexuality.
I found it easy to imagine how I might fit myself into Tozer’s friend group, due to the way they would come together at the end of the day and ask one another about the days they had before and behind them. In an isolating pandemic, I found solace in these moments, even if they were fictional.
During the explorations of his sexuality, Tozer and his friends start hearing about a mystery illness that only impacts the gay population, which was a misconception about HIV/AIDS during the beginning of its spread.
As someone who was inspired from an early age by the history and music of Freddie Mercury, I recalled his untimely death due to complications related to AIDS and was heartbroken to see these characters, whose personality traits I saw in my own friends, learning about the death sentence that diagnosis was (at the time).
I fell in love with Tozer’s passion for life and his close friendship with Jill Baxter, played by Lydia West. Baxter constantly wants to ensure that Tozer is living a happy and safe life and is deeply concerned when discussions about HIV begins to rise, as exploring one’s sexuality at this time created a real threat of danger.
Baxter’s character is based on Davies' best friend, Jill Nalder, who had her own experiences with loss during the AIDS crisis.
"We didn't even know he'd died of AIDS, it was just rumours,” Nalder told BBC, talking about a college peer. “That happened a lot in the beginning. Boys would go home and sort of disappear. I lost three of my best friends in 18 months."
The depicted tension between the characters and their families was crystal clear: there was a massive amount of shame around being gay, and this shame was installed in their own personality as they were raised with it. The show captures just how difficult it is to be pressured to be someone you’re not around the people you’re supposed to be closest to.
I found the effect that the series had on fans to be particularly impactful because it seemed to increase awareness about HIV and started an essential conversation that is not discussed enough.
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According to Time Magazine, “It’s a Sin” “may already be having a real impact off-screen in Britain. The first week of February marked National HIV week in the U.K., and sexual health charities estimate that the final number of tests taken will easily be three times the number of tests that were done in previous years.”
As someone who doesn't typically watch entire series, I am rarely this passionate about any show. The history is crucial, and was approached with massive amounts of love. I would definitely recommend “It’s a Sin.”
Sarah Bodkin is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @sarahbodkin4
