Russell T Davies Says Tip Toe’s HIV+ Character Was An ‘Honour’ To Portray

Since Tip Toe came to an end, much has been made of its dark depiction of the modern world and its hard-hitting and unflinching commentary on the impact the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is having on our society.

However, the show’s creator Russell T Davies has shared that there’s one way he’s proud that the show was also able to send a positive message.

During a recent interview with Magic to promote the show, the Bafta winner opened up about how his latest show gave him the opportunity to do something he “never got to do” in another of his most popular shows about the queer community, It’s A Sin.

It’s A Sin was released in 2021, and focussed on the AIDS crisis, and its impact on a close-knit group of young, predominantly-queer friends.

Russell said: “The nice thing about Tip Toe [is that] Alan Cumming is the lead [and his character is] HIV+. He’s the one thing I could never show in It’s A Sin because it ended in 1991, which is before the medications, before there was any treatment, before people started surviving properly.

“So now, I’ve got the chance to show off a man living for 30+ years with HIV. He takes one pill a day, he’s completely fine, it’s undetectable, it’s untransmittable in him. And that’s a nice pay-off – that I never got to do [in It’s A Sin].”

Russell previously said it was an “honour” to be able to depict a leading character who was living with HIV.

“It feels like the natural legacy of It’s A Sin,” he enthused (via Scene magazine). “There wasn’t the time in that show to tell the long‑term story – that medications were found which saved so many lives – so this feels like a right and proper continuation.”

The screenwriter – who is a patron of George House Trust and a vocal supporter of Terrence Higgins Trust, two HIV charities – added that he’d “often been asked by people in both organisations to show modern‑day characters who are HIV+ and living straightforward, happy lives”.

“It’s an honour to do so in Tip Toe,” he concluded.

Russell has revealed in the past that he’d originally hoped to have an episode of It’s A Sin set in the present day, which would explore how HIV treatment has changed over time.

However, when the series was cut down down from eight episodes to five, he made the decision not to include this part of the story.

Both Tip Toe and It’s A Sin are now streaming on Channel 4.