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?

The landlady's son was awful. Poor Colin. There was no loving connection.

Maybe also Colin realised he wanted something better. That guy was never going to come out and be in a relationship with him or treat him well.

I thought it was consensual but the landlady's son was horrible to him (I read it as the landlady's son being in denial about actually being gay)

I think the landlady’s vile son noticed Colin fancied him and that Colin was vulnerable, and took advantage. Such a sad story.

I have just seen the first episode

I fell head over heels for Henry Contrane immediately, so of course he had to die

I don't know, Neil Patrick Harris brought so much to very little screen time. I wanted Henry to be my BFF.

Consensual but rough sex with a side of internalised homophobia on the part of the landlady's son - gay footballer/football fan with a bigoted mother. Kick the racism out of football is essential but so is kicking the homophobia out of it. Justin Fashanu was disowned by his own brother ffs. No one high profile has come out since except Hitzlberger and that was only after retiring.

I saw Thomas Hitzlsperger speak at an event a few years back - great speaker and stunningly attractive.

Watched it all and loved it.

I thought all the characters were great , Colin was so loveable.
Heartbreaking scenes with his mother and in the hospital.

It’s really opened my eyes to the reality of what went on , same as many PP , my only memories of AIDS were as a young child in the 80’s being terrified of the tombstone advert. Had no clue about the isolation in hospital, terrible to think of this now.

Just watched this all in one sitting. It was outstanding. I sobbed so much.

I’ve just binged all of this in one evening once the kids were in bed - really fantastic series, beautifully done.

Watched the last 4 episodes last night. Absolutely harrowing how people were treated. I had no idea how many people have died from AIDS, yet it's rarely talked about today. Makes me so sad how many people were disowned by their family and died alone.

The real Jill is coming on good morning soon if anyone is around abs wants to watch.

This hit me hard. Finished it last night with ugly, chest heaving sobs. My gorgeous brother is gay and similar in age to Ritchie at the end. He too lives in London with a group of wonderful friends, including his tribe of girlfriends who I know would jump in the fire for him so it was hard not to imagine my brother there and what could have been had he lived through that era rather than being born in the early 90s when the series ends. I can't stop thinking of the Colins and the Richties who should still be here and the lights that were dimmed far too early.
I've seen grief make people spiteful and mean so I can totally buy the reaction of Keeley Hawe's character. The shock, the shame, the hurt that she's struggling to process, is targeted towards Jill because she needs a focus of blame.

I'm aware that from 1996 treatment for HIV became more effective ,is this when it became more of a chronic illness rather than a death sentence ? I'm just curious I watch classic EastEnders ( yes I know it's a soap! It's currently 1996 and Mark Fowler is HIV positive I know he eventually in the soap succumbs to Aids so what would the time line be?

I don't think I've cried so much in my life. Wonderful, wonderful series. RTD originally wrote it as an 8 parter but the channel made him cut it to five. While it could have helped flesh out some characters a bit more I think five made it more impactful.

I really wish they'd made more than 5 episodes. We have a drawn out series like The Serpent that while good doesn't have a great deal of content character development wise and this massively compelling all too brief mini series, where everyone in it had a story to tell. As others have said I'm surprised there wasn't any info in the credits about tragic statistics.

Just finished binge watching this. Watched 4 episodes yesterday, then the final one today. I'm an absolute mess. Was already crying, then the bloody R.E.M. song came on over the credits and that was it, I was in bits.

I audibly gasped when Ritchie's mum told Jill he had already died

@x2boys

I'm aware that from 1996 treatment for HIV became more effective ,is this when it became more of a chronic illness rather than a death sentence ? I'm just curious I watch classic EastEnders ( yes I know it's a soap! It's currently 1996 and Mark Fowler is HIV positive I know he eventually in the soap succumbs to Aids so what would the time line be?

@x2boys there was effective treatment for HIV in 1996. This is when the first combination drug therapy became available. I haven't watched Mark Fowler's story though think he contracted HIV many years before and not sure if he was taking or adherent to treatment?

Medication has much improved over the years in that it is much better tolerated now with less pills, no need to refrigerate as some had to be etc. Pre 1996 it was more toxic, more side effects and more difficult to suppress the virus. More info here: theconversation.com/how-hiv-became-a-treatable-chronic-disease-51238.

There are lots of timelines depending on how much you want to know. Here's one example. www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview. Important things to note in recent years are 2015/6 when it was decided that everyone diagnosed with HIV should start treatment whereas previously those with a CD4 (measure of the immune system) above a certain count weren't able to access it. In 2016/7 U=U was proven conclusively and endorsed by all major world health organisations. This means anyone on effective treatment with an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV on to their partners. In the case of the UK this is the vast majority of us. However unfortunately this is not the case on other countries so still a lot of work to be done.

Next steps are injectibles instead of daily pills - every 2 months and hopefully eventually every 6 months.

Finished the last episode this afternoon which has left me a snotty, red eyed mess!

Fantastic series which even opened my eyes to some things. I was 25 in 1981 so recall the AIDS epidemic very well with all the literature and tv ads. I am ashamed to say as I lived in a quiet Northern village I felt as if all this was happening worlds away. It could have been happening on my doorstep! 😢

My God but Olly Alexander is mega talented! I love Years and Years anyway but I had no idea he was such a great actor too. Loved all the gay characters plus Gill and Colin's mum. I foresee a huge number of awards being given to this series, the actors and RTD. Well deserved!

The real Jill is on the PM programme, Radio 4, at the moment. Interviewed by Evan Davis.

Oh thanks for that @HIVpos very informative , obviously it's a soap but in 1996 he had been positive for about 5/6 years it doesn't mention if he's currently taking medication ,but he must at some point ,and the medication stops working sometime in the early 2000,s and he develops lymphoma I think ,would that be accurate ? Obviously being a soap I realise they have to make it dramatic

@Rafflesway

Finished the last episode this afternoon which has left me a snotty, red eyed mess!

Fantastic series which even opened my eyes to some things. I was 25 in 1981 so recall the AIDS epidemic very well with all the literature and tv ads. I am ashamed to say as I lived in a quiet Northern village I felt as if all this was happening worlds away. It could have been happening on my doorstep! 😢

My God but Olly Alexander is mega talented! I love Years and Years anyway but I had no idea he was such a great actor too. Loved all the gay characters plus Gill and Colin's mum. I foresee a huge number of awards being given to this series, the actors and RTD. Well deserved!

Acting was his intended career, he has been in quite a few things, the band was supposed to be a minor side gig.

If you've already binged will you be watching again tonight with the companion chat after on youtube,

@x2boys

Oh thanks for that *@HIVpos* very informative , obviously it's a soap but in 1996 he had been positive for about 5/6 years it doesn't mention if he's currently taking medication ,but he must at some point ,and the medication stops working sometime in the early 2000,s and he develops lymphoma I think ,would that be accurate ? Obviously being a soap I realise they have to make it dramatic

From what I've read they did take advice from HIV charities - THT - so should be fairly accurate but what happened can depend on many factors. In the past it might be that several pills needed to be taken at different times of the day (nowadays we have mostly 1 or 2 pill combinations taken once a day).HIV meds were really badly tolerated by many when they first came out to the point that some literally preferred not to take them. For example (bit graphic) such loose bowels that the food as well as pills were poorly absorbed which made them weaker. Along with not taking the pills regularly this meant that the virus wasn't properly suppressed and resistance developed. This meant the drugs wouldn't work any more and in the past there weren't as many options as we have today.

The other thing is that everyone is different in how long it takes for the immune system to deteriorate. For some it can be a few years, for others it can be well over 10. James here was diagnosed in 1996 and was able to suppress the virus. Due to guidelines at the time his CD4 dictated that he didn't start meds till 2016 when they changed to include everyone.www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/health/why-hiv-positive-james-one-our-leeds-heroes-2018-174462

I'm on my second watch. Joyful and heartbreaking at the same time. Was in floods