It’s A Sin #bemorelikeJill #La!

First of all

LA!

if you have not watched It’s a sin written by the wonderful gem that is Russell T Davies (who also wrote queer as folk!) then stop what you are doing and get your butt over to All4 and watch all five episodes!!! Word of warning take a box of tissues a cup of tea and chocolate because from episode 3 your gonna be a crying mess!

I waited till all 5 episodes were shown so I didn’t spoil anything for anyone who was watching it weekly. I’ve decided to write about it because i believe its a show that needs to be spoken about it is one of the most beautifully written dramas that i’ve watched in a long time Davies has the ability to make you laugh one moment and be heartbroken and full on ugly crying in the next and also to inform you of some of the things i’ve also learned.

For anyone who isn’t to sure what its about it follows a group of friends in London from 1981 to 1991 and follows there journey threw the beginning and heartbreak of what the AIDS outbreak in England caused and how gay men were treated at the time.

The cast for It’s A Sin is made up of some amazing people you have the likes of Keeley Hawes, Stephen Fry and Neil Patrick Harris featuring but the main cast itself is made of some beautifully talented actors.

the main group of the series are;

Ritchie Tozer played by Olly Alexander (from years and years)

Colin Morris-Jones played by Callum Scott Howells

Roscoe played by Omari Douglas

Ash played by Nathaniel Curtis

Gregory(Gloria) played by David Carlyle

Jill Baxter played by Lydia West

Jill’s mum Christine Baxter is played by a wonderful woman named Jill Nalder who the character of Jill is based on she is a lifelong friend of It’s a Sin writer and creator Russell T Davies, in the late 80s she helped set up a charity called ‘West End cares’ it now goes by the name Theatre MAD which stands for make a difference, the charity to date has raised about £14million, Jill herself is still standing up for what she believes in she is still a gay rights campaigner and activist and actor.

The way Jill is portrayed in the show is wonderful she was a woman who was there for gay men at the time who stood up for what she believed in and was there for people who had no one else! there is a scene in the last episode where she is at the hospital and finds out a young man is alone hasn’t had any visitors and is basically dying alone and ashamed and she goes in to his room sits down and takes hold of his hand and just sits and talks to him the look he gives her makes me cry every time, she treats him with respect and dignity and its such a beautiful but heartbreaking moment even in these times i think everyone should be more like Jill a beautiful soul who treats everyone the same and with the same amount of love and respect. #bemorelikejill

The show shows that it didn’t matter who you where, if you slept around like Ritchie or had sex with one person like Colin anyone was able to catch AIDS but some of the ways some people thought you could catch the disease is mind blowing that they’d actually believe it, i looked up some of the legit ways people thought you where able to catch it and here are just some of them;

• Only gay men can catch it, was nicknamed the ‘gay plague’
• You can catch it from door knobs,toilet seats and swimming pools
• Transmitted threw physical contact such as kisses,shaking hands,coughs and hugging
• Was developed by the CIA to kill off African Americans and gays
• Was made up by drug companies as a money making scheme
• Breathing the same air
• Using the same towel
• Sharing the same glass or utensils
• Using exercise equipment in the gym
• From being around other people who are already positive

i had to stop reading up about them because i got so angry, for anyone who isn’t to sure how AIDS/HIV is contracted or spread it CAN’T be spread through touch,tears,sweat,saliva or pee.

The only ways it can be contracted/spread is by

• Infected blood so sharing needles etc
• Infected semen or vaginal fluid which would be unprotected sex with someone who already has the disease
• Infected breast milk

Combined with the shows influence and Olly Alexander encouraging his follows to get tested for HIV it has resulted in the one of the biggest records of HIV tests getting done! the wonderful charity The Terrence Higgins Trust had to ask public health England for an extra 10k more tests to meet the unprecedented demand!

The Terrence Higgins Trust was established in 1982 and was one of the first UK AIDS charities, after collapsing on the dance floor of London’s gay club Heaven Terry Higgins who was only 37 at the time was rushed to hospital where later he sadly died, in his honour his friends set up the Terry Higgins Trust to raise AIDS awareness and to raise money to put towards research of the disease, it has now been renamed The Terrence Higgins Trust and the charity are still working hard campaigning for greater HIV and sexual health awareness today!

In recent years Tht have ran the ‘U=U’ campaign which spreads awareness that someone living with HIV who has undetectable viral load can’t pass on the virus.

Undetectable equals Untransmittable

more information about this amazing charity can be found at http://www.tht.org.uk and they also have a Instagram page and can be found at http://www.instagram.com/thtorguk

I recently found out that only last year 2020 was the preventable HIV drug PrEP finally made available on the NHS in England! it was already available in Scotland and Wales thanks to this amazing drug PrEP prevents the spread of HIV during condomless sex when taken once a day and also only in 2010 that discrimination against HIV patients was finally made unlawful under the equality act 2010 which means employers no longer allowed to ask for a persons HIV status when they apply for a job.

Now thanks to the range of drugs available to treat the disease it’s not the ‘death sentence’ it was once thought as many people can now live with HIV for decades and have a normal or near normal life span which is amazing.

Alot of people thought there was ways they could stop HIV becoming AIDS without getting tested there’s a scene in episode four Ritchie is looking into all the ways that it could be stopped here is a few things people genuinely tried

• Vitamin C tablets
• Vitamin D tablets
• Zinc tablets
• Salt tablets
• Amoxycillin
• Eggs
• Flac seed
• Drinking your own urine
• Battery acid mixed with baking soda

There’s a scene in episode 4 where Ash starts at a new school and is asked to get rid of any books that promotes gay themes this is all thanks to the god awful law know as section 28 which was put into place in May 1988 by a conservative government (tory gobshites!) it prohibited the promotion of homosexuality and the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretend family relationship by local authorities that’s local councils who were responsible for thing like social care and schools.

This ridiculous law was partly inspired by a 1983 story book called ‘Jenny lives with Eric and Martin’ which aimed to give children information about different types of family relationships it existed from 1988 till 2000 in Scotland and it took a further three years for the rest of the United Kingdom to end it.

Tory scum prime minster Margaret Thatcher said at the time “Children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay. All of those children are being cheated of a sound start in life” which just honestly makes my blood boil!!

Thirty years after the law was introduced Baroness Knight (the woman largely responsible for introducing it) said that she was sorry if the law hurt anyone and that her intention had been the “well being of children”.

Thanks to this vile law people were attacked in the streets called vile homophobic slurs bullied in school and so many other things and nothing could be done about it because people were to scared to speak up, i remember growing up as a kid and not really knowing anything about gay, lesbian and bisexual i honestly thought they were all a myth because you never really saw on tv or read about it and then i watched queer as folk and my mind was blown it was honest and open and didn’t hold back. Thankfully now homosexuality is more accepted as it rightly should be and more films and tv shows and series have openly gay characters.

It’s A Sin is such a beautiful but heartbreaking series to watch that doesn’t hold back about the AIDS epidemic and i think it covers so many different topics within it too from the likes of Roscoe not being accepted by his family, Ritchie hiding his homosexuality from his family and his inexperience of sex! to how Colin was treated by his work when he was trying to read up for Jill on the AIDS epidemic in America.

You fall in love with the characters from the start and watching them grow friendships and go threw good times and bad it’s impossible not to get upset about there situations when i first watched episode 3 which is all about Colin finding out he had contracted the disease the moment where he’s talking to his mum in the hospital and is begging to go home made me cry so hard and the moment he passes away,in episode 4 when Ritchie finds out hes also contracted the disease and the moment in the back of the police van where he tells everyone and Leeanne and that hes gonna fight it and live brings me to tears everytime the whole of episode 5 is full of sadness and anger and you’ll feel exhausted of your emotions at the end but its worth every minute.

There is a moment in episode 1 where Ritchie dresses up as his alter ego Rachel at one of the many parties held at the groups flat known as ‘the pink palace’ everyone waits with baited breath to see what he’ll do and he simply says ‘LA!’ and its wonderful and used as a gesture when entering or leaving the room by the whole group, now there is a reason that i’ve made a point to mention LA! two wonderful companies have made t shirts with LA! on and most of the profit from the the sale goes to two wonderful charities

• Philip Normal who can be found on Instagram by searching @philipnormal is selling the LA! t shirt for £25 and £20 from the sales goes to The Terrence Higgins Trust.

• http://www.topsycurvy.co.uk are selling the LA! t shirt for £20 and £15 will be going to George House Trust which is based in the North West.

I hope you love the show as much as i did!!

till next time……..

LA!
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