Beyond The Hub It's a Sin by DJ Forrest

 

Everybody Hurts…Sometimes. 

Bravo, Russell! You’ve once again reduced me to a blubbering wreck.   

It’s been at least 14 years since this happened last. I remember it well. It was the Doctor Who episode where Rose Tyler was thumping against the sealed wall of Pete’s World, with tears and frustration and the 10^th Doctor had his ear pressed against the other side of the wall, and my heart broke. It broke again during their final meeting on the beach at the end of the episode. Although I think Murray Gold’s excellent music score had something to do with that too. 

Dear god man, and you do it to me again, with another powerful ending to an absolutely beautifully put together drama. Where even the music played for each episode, and yes, Everybody Hurts. Sometimes. 

Russell T Davies makes excellent dramas. Dramas that kick you where it hurts. That tug at the heart strings. That take the air from your lungs. That shock you where no other drama can, and he does it with feeling. Like Years & Years, where the stark reality of life and death are played before your eyes. It’s a Sin, does exactly the same. It reaches parts of you, that you’ve kept buried for years, and brings it all up to the surface. It keeps you awake at night, staring at the ceiling, playing over the last few episodes, picking out moments from your own memories, of a time long since gone, but not completely forgotten. 

You remember those characters, through friends of your own, and although you never shared a flat with any of them, you remember those that were close, and those who were not as close, but equally missed. You remember the friendships forged and those who never reached the address book. But you remember, all of them. 

AIDS began in 1981 and in its lifetime, it has taken the lives of more than 25 million people, with 65 million people infected with HIV since the beginning of the epidemic. We lost not just friends, and relatives, but actors, singers, cinematographers, writers, tennis players, and not to mention famous ballet stars. There are over 200 celebrities listed on IMDB who lost their lives to HIV and AIDS related illness since it began. 

Back in 2007, Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook corresponded over emails for the duration of a year. They produced two big books called The Writer’s Tale. And The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter. It was the final year of RTD’s tenure as showrunner for Doctor Who, and during this time, Ben, and indeed us, the readers, learnt a lot about Russell. The one thing in particular that I discovered is that he doesn’t get rid of a single…story…idea. 

In one particular email, he spoke about a story, which would become a semi-autobiographical drama involving a group of boys who all move to London, to find fame and fortune and over the course of a few episodes, their lives would change forever. He talked about it in some detail. The story ideas are those that come from family and friends and close associates, and indeed in some part, come from the writer, and Russell had expressed that his story was about his life moving to Manchester. The gay scene in the 80s and all that went along with it.

When I caught up with Nathan Sussex, during one particular lockdown special, he mentioned his role in the new upcoming drama series which was initially titled ‘Boys’, where he plays a small character role. Then, a few months later, advertised on the telly one evening – It’s a Sin was announced, and in there, a quick glimpse of Nathan, in a bar, huddled with a group of guys at a table, with Olly Alexander, parading into the bar with his friends, pointing out the whole AIDS epidemic as something not to worry about. It’s wonderfully played out and hooks you in from the off. 

As with Years and Years, also an idea that was talked about in 2007, Russell throws NOTHING away. And maybe that’s an idea for all of us. 

Ideas – keep hold of them – you never know when you could use them. 

It’s A Sin, has a wonderful cast – from Olly Alexander, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Callum Scott Howells, Neil Patrick Harris, Lydia West (from Years and Years), Omari Douglas, Nathaniel Curtis, Keeley Hawes and Shaun Dooley, and not forgetting Susan Brown. 

It shares the highs and lows of the five young people, from their initial journey to London, to where we finally see them, and it makes you laugh, and it makes your heart ache and at the very final episode, it makes you cry. There are some seriously poignant moments in this drama series. 

Nobody really knew about the disease when it first happened and how it would affect people. It reminded me of that episode of Eastenders when Arthur’s Son Mark, played by Todd Carty told his parents about his HIV/AIDS, and how his Dad reacted. It was reflected in the episode, when Lydia’s character is paranoid over the pink mug Gloria drinks from that she thought could be infected with AIDS and so paranoid one night gets out of bed, after scrubbing the cup severely earlier on in the episode, chucks it in the bin, then retrieves it and smashes it completely. 

Without fully being aware of the facts and how to deal with a situation, none of us react how we should. It says an awful lot about how some of us have reacted during this pandemic. 

What It’s a Sin did show, was that, unlike all the images we’ve come to associate with AIDS in gay people, those mole-like marks on the body, there were other associated illnesses that I wasn’t aware of, such as the epilepsy that poor Colin was afflicted with, and there was me thinking that he was going to get into bother for the posters he was creating in the shop he worked at. 

Also, what I wasn’t aware of, but I think I’d read somewhere quite recently, was that, those who had been infected by AIDS had been kept isolated in locked hospital rooms, where a guard stood outside and they weren’t allowed out for any reason at all, and nobody was allowed in. It was treated like a tropical disease, that could be passed on to others, and not just if you were gay. 

What a horrible existence – and what a way to die – neglected and alone. Thank god, that was challenged and changed. 

Every character was played exactly as you would have expected them to play if this was a documentary and you were watching it for this reason. The reaction of Gloria’s parents when they found out the truth, and how taking him home, wasn’t exactly the best choice in the world. In fact, when all the boys went home, you knew you’d never see them again – and perhaps their legacy was frowned upon at that time – I wonder if those remaining family members feel a sense of shame for how they reacted back then? 

I was 15 in 1981. There were no computers back then. No mobile phones and definitely no social media, and if I remember correctly, only three channels to choose from on the TV, till 1984 when Channel 4 broadcast some cutting edge dramas and its first soap opera. 

My only regret about this series, is that Neil Patrick Harris wasn’t in it for long enough. He played the ‘quiet gay’ who didn’t publicise his sexuality at work, as that would have lost him his job. His grasp of the English accent was flawless. But he was important for the Colin character to evolve. 

Brilliant cast. Brilliant storyline. Perhaps, stock up on hankies before you give it a watch, if you haven’t already.  

And Russell, do allow me some time to recover before you produce another first-class series, where we know I’ll need a year’s supply of hankies and perhaps somewhere quiet to cry.

 

Who Reviews The Writers Tale by DJ Forrest

 

The Writers Tale is a collection of emails sent between Benjamin Cook of Doctor Who Magazine and Russell T Davies, over the course of a year, which took in Season 4 Doctor Who, including the Specials, Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures, and including snippets of scripts from the episodes and how they were often changed before the final cut. 

It gave an insight to one of my favourite writers and producers of Doctor Who and how stressful it can be juggling so many ‘plates’ as it were, of scripts, and deadlines but the end results are always spectacular. 

I only wish I’d read this book first, because there is so much more to read in the emails than in the first book. 

If you read it from First book to Second, it makes reading the Second book a little bit of a chore, because a lot of the emails are the same, except with additional portions, but you don’t know that at the time, unless you open the First book to match, which I probably should have done. Except then, it becomes more of a study process and I’m only really looking for about an hour’s read before I shut the lights off for the night. So ideally you need to read the Second Book first and then jump to the scripts in the First book, to know what Russell is talking about. I wish I’d done that. 

However, that aside, I learnt a lot more about writing, the techniques of writing, character building, and so much more. I learnt that Russell’s take on the idea process is similar to how I think, and for a long time, I barely made notes except in my head. I worked with music on a loop for action scenes and discovered that Russell also did this, although he almost played the song to death – which after a while I stopped because it was driving me nuts!!! 

But you do need to read this book first. It makes more sense, and it’s more enjoyable, because the emails are longer, and it put me in the mood to re-watch Series 4 and Donna Noble.

What I enjoyed about the book, is that Russell never throws any idea away, and over the years and the various shows he’s written, including all the non-Doctor Who shows, you can see how an idea that he’d wanted for say Doctor Who, was later introduced into another series. I could see the ideas for one particular group of people being used in a futuristic series which later became Years and Years. Although I haven’t as yet seen the RTD series Boys, I discovered that other ideas in the book were later used for this – I made that discovery after a recent interview with Nathan Sussex who plays a part in Boys. 

There is so much to learn about Russell and his techniques, that it’s definitely not a book I want to part with. There are so many helpful tips for writers, that it would be crazy to let it go. You feel his pain and anguish regarding certain elements of his writing for Doctor Who, and how much Torchwood, in particular was a hard write for him. Kind of like you’re spinning so many plates and trying to keep them all spinning, until you have to stop and take a break, before you kill yourself. Torchwood took a lot of time and trouble to put together but you could imagine the cogs moving for ideas, but they’d be far different to those of Doctor Who. I found a great sympathy for him as a writer. We never think about that when we’re demanding more stories, or asking why certain characters have to be killed off. A good death scene is powerful in a drama, but yeah, losing a key component of the team, is gutting for many. 

The book is almost the thickness of War and Peace and if like me, you’ve only an hour a night to read it, you’re going to be reading this for some months to come. I’m over halfway through the book. There are photos of the cast of Who, including some great ones of David and the Master, and RTD with Phil and Julie. 

I would have loved to have been Ben, emailing back and forth with Russell, including into the early hours of the morning. Those 2am emails! They must have been such fun times back then. 

I miss that era of Doctor Who. You felt connected to the characters. You already loved the actors, and you’d been to Cardiff and wanted to revisit the sites where they filmed the series. The FX and the builds were absolutely awesome and that’s what reignited my passion for Who, and the spin-offs. Re-watching old episodes. The humour and All that running. 

I miss those times. 

I miss Russell T Davies. Thank you, Ben, for putting this together, what a wonderful way of learning how a script writer works, and all the pressures of working in the industry.