Tip Toe Cast: Alan Cumming, David Morrissey And Russell T Davies Open Up About New Series

Tip Toe is undoubtedly about to become one of 2026’s most talked-about new shows.

Created by Russell T Davies, the man behind It’s A Sin, Years And Years and Doctor Who, the hard-hitting Channel 4 drama takes an unflinching look at today’s divided world, by introducing us to two neighbours who have co-existed peacefully for years, but suddenly find themselves at war with one another due to their opposing views.

Starring Alan Cumming and David Morrissey, Tip Toe pulls no punches in its exploration of timely themes like online radicalisation, the so-called “manosphere”, the rise of far-right rhetoric and transphobia, and is sure to spark a range of opinions as a result.

Ahead of Tip Toe’s premiere, HuffPost UK caught up with cast members Alan and David, as well as its writer, to discuss what went into the creation of one of the year’s most hotly-anticipated shows…

The shift in society that inspired Tip Toe was something that Russell says had been “rising up and rising up until I had to write it”.

He explains: “There were various things in my life both at work and at home – in ways that I’m not going to go into because it’ll only encourage them to happen again, genuinely – that made me think ‘that’s enough’.

“If this anger, this violence and these lies are getting close to my life – I’m in a very privileged, lucky and well off position, so for those who are not so well off, then this must be really bad. These times must be getting worse and worse and worse.”

Russell continues: “As well as witnessing and listening to every friend I’ve got – especially my queer friends, who are feeling more and more pressure, and more and more attacks upon them – I have a disabled friend, a wheelchair user, who had someone turn up at her door, ring the doorbell, and when she opened the door, there was a man saying, ‘you’re lying, you can walk, you’re claiming this on benefits’. To her face!”

“The anger that I always thought was online is now visibly stepping into the modern world,” he laments, which is what inspired the events of Tip Toe.

“You only need to look at the news now to know that we’re not talking about some vague future events,” David says.

“It’s right here, right now. And that’s really shocking – that’s why it’s important work.”

Russell also states: “If this were a drama about a Jew living next door to someone [and facing persecution from them because of their religious beliefs], none of us would have any problem whatsoever [believing it]. We’d all be going ‘this is [already] happening, it’s out there’.”

Of David Morrissey’s character, Russell observes: “I think I do defend him, at times. I think I’m there to do that. I think I’d be a terrible writer if I didn’t do that, I think that’s why I love writing, is exploring people like that.

David agrees: “You can never play a cause. You can never play an example of something, you have to play an individual. And the great thing about Russell’s writing, I think, is that he gives Clive a fork in the road every now and again. He gives him a choice. And it’s interesting to feel why he makes the other choice than the one that you would like him to make, or you wish him to make.”

“He’s someone who Russell has given a chance to,” David notes.

“Equally, I find fault with Leo,” the screenwriter points out. “I think Leo can be selfish, I think he can be a bit of a busybody, I think he can oversexualise things. I love exploring all that.

“I’ve absolutely no interest in just being nice about people, because I think people are complicated and strange, and that’s why I write. That’s why I’m here, I love it.”

Alan says that he “knew it was going to be” hard to shake off the themes of Tip Toe at the end of a day’s filming.

He explains: “All of us knew it was going to be difficult, and we said, ‘oh, we have to look after ourselves’ in the readthrough at the start.”

Because of this, Alan recalls living a much more “monk-life existence” than he’d anticipated when he first got the part.

“That’s not like me,” he claims. “I actually remember thinking, ‘ooh, I’m going to make this show in Manchester, and I’m going to be out all night and having great fun’, and you know, I could actually count on one hand the number of even restaurants I went to.

“I would just go home and be quiet and be calm. That was really how [I wound down]… because it was a lot, and physically it was quite intense.”

David is also effusive about how much the cast and crew checked in with one another during shooting, especially in the show’s darker moments.

“The people who are making it aren’t just asking what your dietary requirements are, they’re really concerned about you and checking in with you, and we checked in with each other,” he enthuses. “And that meant that the experience – although it was exhausting and really knackering – you were held.”

“The really important thing to say is that a lot of British telly that I’ve done in the last couple of years, you’re getting [the scripts for new episodes as you film,” David says. “That means that your workload – for me and everybody else – is doubled because you’re getting it piecemeal.

“But with this, all five episodes were written before we got there, so people like our design team, our costume team, everyone was prepped. So, even though our time limit filming was short – as it always is, because of the financials – it was well planned.”

David claims this allowed him more “freedom as an actor”.

“Even though we go to really dark places, and you’re exhausted, that’s all your fighting,” he continues. “You’re not fighting the schedule, you’re not fighting the fact that you haven’t got the script, you’re not picking up on the designers’ panic because they don’t know what’s happening.

“So, we were only doing the show. And we had all of the show. So, you were able to give yourself 24/7 to it. And it was fine.”

“On Saturdays and Sundays I would get Thai massages,” the Emmy winner reveals. “These ladies would walk on my back, because my body was so tense for so much of the time. In a way, I really sort of self-medicated with that, by just being so blissed out and exhausted at the weekends. It was a lot.”

He goes on to share that “immediately” when filming was over, he went on a week-long digital detox.

“I think that was not unconnected,” Alan claims. “I think the story of Tip Toe just shows the toxicity of our social media world, and so it was so amazing to get away from all that.”

He admits: “I was glad to leave Leo behind – much as I loved him. But, it was also a nice bridge away from the show, to not have to deal with anything online.”

“It was actually really good having a dog on the set,” Alan says. “For me, as an emotional support animal, but also, you woke up in the morning and everyone’s like, ‘ahhh’. It’s a really incredible thing. It’s a really great way to sort of make everyone step out of what they’re doing.”

He continues: “I always find that on planes, whenever I take her, it just completely changes the atmosphere. And you see people soften in a way that they wouldn’t otherwise.”

Look out for a cameo from Lala in the brutal final episode, too, with an assistant director walking past with the dog just as Leo enters Clive’s house.

“I’ve only ever had one show made in London which was A Very English Scandal,” Russell enthuses. I’m a campaigner for not making stuff in London, and for getting more of a voice from outside, because I think it’s important.

“When I was first writing Queer As Folk, I was really dreading that Channel 4 would say, ‘it’s got to be set in London’. And if they’d said that, then I would have done it set in London. But they didn’t! They said, ‘no, no, no, you write whatever you want to write’.”

Because so many members of the Tip Toe crew already lived in and knew Manchester, Russell felt this gave the show a “a natural rhythm” and “authenticity”, noting: “it feels salty, it feels grounded, it’s just a nice feeling, and we got very welcomed.”

“I’ve been filming on Canal Street for 26 years now, and they are very welcoming and friendly and hilarious,” he adds. “All the drag queens come out and we have a hoot! So it’s a nice community.”

The actor, presenter and new-found national treasure is prominently featured in episode three of Tip Toe, and when we mention Denise Welch’s name to Alan, David and Russell, they all let out a small cheer.

Russell gushes: “The moment her name was suggested I just leapt on it. I’ve known her for years – I’ve worked with her ex-husband, Tim Healy, who I loved working with, and that’s how I got to know her, out on the Manchester gay scene.

“I adore her, so that was a very easy ask. She’s gorgeous. And a properly good actor! That’s the point! And I think, sometimes, underrated as an actor, and that’s what was lovely about it. It was like, ‘come on, come and watch her do her stuff’.”

For David, his scenes with Denise were the first he shot for Tip Toe.

He recalls: “That was really brilliant. She’s so wonderful. She’s so great.”

The first two episodes of Tip Toe are now streaming on Channel 4, with new episodes following on Sunday 7 June.