It's a Sin, 9 pm Channel 4, 22nd Jan CONTAINS SPOILERS **titled edited by MNHQ**

[notawittyname1954]

I keep seeing trailers for this. Anyone else looking forward to it?

What a brilliant show, I was a teenager in the early 90s so only remember the Mark Fowler connection and the Aids advert.

I absolutely sobbed at the end of episode 4 and 5 but what pushed me over the edge was the end credit music - Queen Who wants to live forever and REM - everybody hurts. It's really easy to miss those when binge watching but they were just the right music at the right time

She would have used his card to get cash out, before going to the shop

Fun Fact Reg Varney from On The Buses was the first person to use a cashpoint. So they had already been around for a while.

Oh god. I sobbed. I worked, lived, laughed and danced through the 80's in London.
And the boys did go home and never came back again.

This was good good, loved every minute. RTD is by far my favourite screen writer. Terribly sad and full of truth and humanity, I too cried several times.
I saw a very harrowing Swedish film a while ago - something about nurses wearing gloves when dealing with AIDS patients in the 80s. RTD has created a very sad series, but it has humour still, whereas the Swedish film, though excellent, did not seem to.

The film I mentioned above, in case anyone is interested, is a Swedish miniseries from 2012 called Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves. Also recommended.

Thank you for recommendation @drigon

@drigon

The film I mentioned above, in case anyone is interested, is a Swedish miniseries from 2012 called Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves. Also recommended.

Oh my god is that the one with Rasmus? I watched this years ago if so, and stays with me.

Absolutely horrendous but a great watch

Yes it's the one I'm thinking of, and it's great but I was in floods of tears. I was about 26 years old!

I remember a film with Tom Hanks back in 1993 called Philadelphia. I don't know how it has stood the test of time but I remember at the time how moving it was.

I watched this (on the recommendation of my mother) and cried like a baby. I felt a sucker punch to the gut when 'Who Wants To Live Forever' was played at the end of one of the episodes, as it was one of DH's funeral songs and I've not been able to listen to it since. I'm surprised that my parents watched it as they were a bit reluctant to admit to anyone that my sister was gay for quite a while, and whilst not rampantly homophobic like Ritchie's parents, they still make some mildly offensive comments about gay men, which might just be to annoy me and my sister in a taking the piss way, rather than them believing what they are saying.

Does anyone know when the stigma around HIV tests was lessened? I was a teen in the 90s and bought a house in 2000. I remember being advised not to have a HIV test unless I really thought I might have it, as I might not be allowed a mortgage. This wasn't a problem for me as I had only slept with two people, one of whom had had a negative HIV treat (DH), although he lied to the bank and life insurance company when asked and said he had never been tested. I didn't realise until later that I was tested when I was pregnant (just before buying the house), I wasn't told at the time, presumably because it was negative and I wasn't considered a risk, being in a committed relationship and having a modest sexual history. Does it still happen? I don't think DS was asked if he had had a HIV test when I set up his life insurance.

The series @drigon and @Burfordbrown have mentioned is available to buy on amazon prime video and also on dvd.

@VienneseWhirligig Some mortgage companies used to refuse to lend to men who weren’t married unless they took a HIV test to prove negative status. In the early 2000’s many mortgage companies would not treat gay people as couples, so unless people could afford the mortgage on one income they would struggle to purchase a home.

It was only in 2010 that the financial sector were advised not to ask about HIV, advised not to ask, so they are free to ask if they wish. People with HIV have only been able to purchase life insurance since 2009. People with HIV cannot get income protection insurance. Some financial services providers ask customers to declare how they contracted HIV.

@SimonJT so it may have just been misinformation (or over caution) with the advice not to have a test because that made you more of a risk? That sounds more logical than it actually being the case but as a woman maybe it was a misunderstanding on the part of my DH who said he would never admit to having had the test in case it reflected badly on him as a risk, and that I probably didn't want a test on my medical history just in case. Hmm.

An interesting articled www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/aids-crisis-timeline-its-a-sin-b1791286.html

[quote VienneseWhirligig]@SimonJT so it may have just been misinformation (or over caution) with the advice not to have a test because that made you more of a risk? That sounds more logical than it actually being the case but as a woman maybe it was a misunderstanding on the part of my DH who said he would never admit to having had the test in case it reflected badly on him as a risk, and that I probably didn't want a test on my medical history just in case. Hmm.[/quote]
The don’t declare you have had a test was very much a rule as financial servives still thought HIV screen equalled gay. The mortgage company asking you to take a test is different.

I also binged the whole thing yesterday. (And was in my twenties in the 80s.)

Totally worship RTD's work, so I found it interesting - but enjoyed it less than Years and Years, or QaF, or even RTD era Dr Who. I get what he wanted to do, truly - but I found the exclusion of any 3D portrayal of Jill really problematic. I've read a million previews/reviews and know she was based on his actual best friend - so it's all the more extraordinary that, over five episodes, we learn nothing at all about her own personal life. (And I didn't feel her parents were necessarily crucial to the story - would have been different if their own daughter were ill ...)

I know it seems unfair to quibble when he has done the thing he set out to do.

@PursuingProxemicExactitude

I also binged the whole thing yesterday. (And was in my twenties in the 80s.)

Totally worship RTD's work, so I found it interesting - but enjoyed it less than Years and Years, or QaF, or even RTD era Dr Who. I get what he wanted to do, truly - but I found the exclusion of any 3D portrayal of Jill really problematic. I've read a million previews/reviews and know she was based on his actual best friend - so it's all the more extraordinary that, over five episodes, we learn nothing at all about her own personal life. (And I didn't feel her parents were necessarily crucial to the story - would have been different if their own daughter were ill ...)

I know it seems unfair to quibble when he has done the thing he set out to do.

I get what you mean with that, I think. When Ritchie jumped the policeman it was like 'hooray! The hero is here' when Jill had been doing all the legwork, working on the HIV phone line, looking after Glenda when he was ill, etc. I would have liked to have seen Jill fleshed out a bit more too as her entire life seemed like it revolved around everyone else.

It's a minor quibble though. All in all, it was a moving, heartbreaking watch.

@PursuingProxemicExactitude
I understand what you are saying about Jill. I think her character was as a nurturer and her parents were there to show that not all parents were like Ritchie's. I think we could have done with some more episodes.

@coopz I didn't see that moment as the hero is here. I just saw it as he has finally acknowledged the situation and been brave enough to get involved

and her parents were there to show that not all parents were like Ritchie's.

But that's partly my point - it's much easier to be kind and supportive when your own child isn't dying. They weren't being tested (I mean morally/emotionally) - so they really didn't bring an alternative parental POV to the story. (I assumed they were written in purely to give the real Jill a part in the show.)

I agree it is easier to be kind when you are one step removed

@Graphista I agree about blasé attitudes among some young people. I work with late teens/early 20's and they openly brag about their exploits and treat STD's as just one of those things. I'm not suggesting they should be ashamed or stigmatised for having sex because everyone involved is a consenting adult, but they seem to think it's all fixable and there will be no long term consequences. I remember scary ads and people like Freddie Mercury dying while I was at secondary school and the fear that went with that. It's completely absent now, people have become complacent.

Do we know if Jill was straight or gay?

@unique1986 no we didn't but I always assumed she was straight, based on nothing at all