It's A Sin : What the Must Watch reviewers think

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell share their thoughts on It’s A Sin on Channel 4.

The five-part drama from the creator of Queer as Folk, Russell T Davies, follows the story of AIDS in the 1980s. The series focuses on a young group of friends across a decade as their lives are torn apart by the virus.

Have you been watching it? What did you think? Leave your comments below...

Scott says: “Unlike anything else I’d seen”

“I do think that this is a drama that I will think about in weeks to come, months to come, years to come.

"This drama does two things. It shows the absolute worst of humanity. It not only shows the lives that were lost to the virus, it shows the stigma they and the LGBTQ+ community received. Not just stigma from the media, but rather shockingly, from their own family and close ones.

"Yet, this drama also shows the best in humanity. One of the characters in "It’s A Sin" is called Jill (played by Lydia West). You may have seen lots of people on social media saying "everyone needs a ‘Jill’" and "Be More Jill," She’s there to represent those who stood by and didn't leave. Those who cared for others in their last days of hospitals if their families didn't turn up, those who marched and fundraised and helped create awareness, those who have spent so much of their lives trying to reduce the stigma and raise awareness. It's an inspiring tale as much as it is a heart breaking one.

"It’s also worth saying she’s based on a friend of Russell T. Davies’ called Jill Nalder, who did all this. In the show she has a cameo as Jill's pretend Mum!

“This show was unlike anything else I’d seen. This is where drama and TV are so important because it does something that education fails to do. It gives a voice to the voiceless.”

Hayley says: “Life-changing TV”

“I completely and utterly loved this show. I cannot fault it, and, like Scott, I spent the whole time bawling my eyes out. Aside from being an incredibly brilliantly written drama, it’s an important story because so much of it was just blacked out by the wider world. This was a pandemic that seemed to only affect a certain group of people, who were already maligned by society, so it was something that many people could ignore.

“I love that this story is finally being told and I love that it’s being told with no judgement: even when the characters do awful things, Davies has written it so delicately that we completely empathise with why they have done it. He’s presented this feeling of panic and confusion so perfectly so we can understand why someone would act that way in fear, whether it’s ghosting someone who’s got HIV or putting their belongings in a bin bag while wearing a mask and gloves because you’re terrified. Nobody knew what was going on and information wasn’t easy to come by even if you asked for it. Davies hasn’t sugarcoated this behaviour, he’s just showing it in a honest and understanding light.

“I also want to mention how perfectly he presents all the kinds of parents in this. He shows the deeply sympathetic, unconditional love from some parents and then the cold denial from others — the ones who said, ‘It’s not my fault, we didn’t know, he didn’t tell us.’ I’ve seen lots of discussion from the LGBTQ+ community online in the last couple of days about how if you create an environment where a child felt they would be able to tell you, so much could change in the world. Rather than creating a world of shame for them to try and live in. That’s such a huge thing in this show. I think it's life-changing TV.”

It’s A Sin is available now on All 4.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds and all other good podcast providers.

This week, the team speak to three people whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS. Plus they review Resident Alien on Sky One and BBC Two’s Danish docu-drama The Investigation.

Click here to listen to the latest episode.