11 Recent TV Shows That Surprised Everyone
5. It's A Sin
It’s A Sin marked something of a full circle moment for Russell T. Davies, being a groundbreaking drama about the gay community that released almost twenty-two years after he first emerged as a leading player in British screenwriting with Queer As Folk.
The
fact that Channel 4 was willing to commit to both after a score of other
networks had rejected them highlights the importance of the network as a home for
alternative programming amidst the polarising news that it is set to become privatised.
It's A Sin makes for distressing viewing, as the AIDs first emerges in the early 1980s, progressing from an unknown ailment to an epidemic that destroyed countless lives. No punches are pulled in Davies’ depiction of the decade, where discrimination against homosexuals was rampant and too little concern was paid to what was widely considered the ‘gay disease’.
Years and Years singer Olly Alexander turns in a star-making lead performance as Ritchie Tozer and rumours remain rampant, despite denials to the contrary, that he will work with Davies once again as he resumes his position as showrunner on Doctor Who, a position he previously held between 2005 and 2010.
Wrapping up a decade in just five episodes, It’s A Sin has been one of the biggest British hits in recent memory, a surefire sign that investment in ground-breaking original programming should continue.