It's a sin... [MNHQ Warning: contains spoilers]

[sandybeaches74]

Is it not the most moving tv series in a long time? I've sat here tonight wiping tears away and am not normally the overly emotional type...

The original title of the show was The Boys. But it had to be changed as there's already a show with that name. The focus was always meant to be on the male characters and the impact AIDS / HIV had on the gay male community. It was also supposed to be 8 episodes but Channel 4 made RTD cut to five.

Remember there is still time to order your free HIV home testing kit.

freetesting.hiv/

If you read this brilliant article it sort of explains why Ritchie behaved as he did.
www.vice.com/en/article/v7mq8x/its-a-sin-aids-tv-drama-review?fbclid=IwAR2FTrHddw29yBF2euM0J05LJX8Snj6gcd8fmJdpNC9DXAJUhEiXAnXvEHI

i dont understand the hoo ha around Jill cooking , it was different times, she was cooking for the scottish bloke for a start.

and re Ritchie killing people, I dont think he did, they were all aware of AIDS, they knew the risks

I think that the conversation between Jill and Valerie, whilst cruel, held some truth on both sides. Ritchie's childhood home was loveless as described by Jill (that's a harsh interpretation but there's truth in it if you take (today's) view of the imperative to accept, love and support your child irrespective of their lifestyle/sexual orientation/choices etc). And Jill's lifestyle was lived at second-hand; orbiting around her gay friends; devoid of romantic attachment (as far as the series showed). I took that as a searing commentary on the dark side of each woman's story. There was more to each of them than that, but ultimately there was a bitter truth to the observations that each made upon the other.

[quote notawittyname1954]If you read this brilliant article it sort of explains why Ritchie behaved as he did.
www.vice.com/en/article/v7mq8x/its-a-sin-aids-tv-drama-review?fbclid=IwAR2FTrHddw29yBF2euM0J05LJX8Snj6gcd8fmJdpNC9DXAJUhEiXAnXvEHI[/quote]
Brilliant article.

@SimonJT I didn't know you could get home testing kits. :)

@Cynara

I think that the conversation between Jill and Valerie, whilst cruel, held some truth on both sides. Ritchie's childhood home was loveless as described by Jill (that's a harsh interpretation but there's truth in it if you take (today's) view of the imperative to accept, love and support your child irrespective of their lifestyle/sexual orientation/choices etc). And Jill's lifestyle was lived at second-hand; orbiting around her gay friends; devoid of romantic attachment (as far as the series showed). I took that as a searing commentary on the dark side of each woman's story. There was more to each of them than that, but ultimately there was a bitter truth to the observations that each made upon the other.

Totally agree with this. It was a v powerful scene.

Finished watching this late last night and I couldn't sleep thinking about it. I haven't cried like that at a programme/film for a really long time. I was born in 88 so am obviously aware of AIDS but it was such an eye opener and my heart broke just thinking of all the people that died alone, who's families turned their backs on them. It's unbearable.

We binged it over 2 nights, but my god, both DH and I were in floods!!

Obvs at the end, but I was really affected by Gloria's death too, when his family were burning all his things, including the baby photos. That they were so ashamed that they were getting rid of everything, all those memories!! It really hit me hard, maybe I've just been a bit soppier since having a child, but it just breaks my heart to think of all these sons that were discarded by their parents. Its actually making me cry all over again this morning, we finished it last night.

The moment on the bridge when Ritchie's mum tells Jill what's happened. I was stunned, so shocked. Brilliant telly, the whole thing.

La!

We watched Colin's episode twice because we were crying so hard the first time we thought we might have missed something. Still utterly broke the second time even though we knew what was coming and had to pause it while we composed ourselves.

I've watched it twice and sobbed each time. Glorias family really hit me, I'm not a parent but I cannot imagine wanting to write your child out of your life.

And Colin 💔 watching it back and seeing how happy he was to go to dinner with NPH's character and his partner, it was like he realised he could be happy and have a life too.

Colin's mum was such a star.

Oh and Colin's joy working at the photocopier shop 😓 such a pure soul

I finished watching it last night. I couldn't binge it as found it too emotional. It's brilliant but not an easy watch in my opinion. I can see why C4 asked RTD to make it only 5 episodes rather than 8 - though it's great I don't think I could have taken 3 more hours of that level of sadness. The compression may have impacted Jill's story though. Personally I didn't think she was under drawn while watching it, she's so pivotal to illustrating the way that HIV / AIDS patients should be treated, but I can see what people mean about a lack of other stuff about her. One thing we do get is her parents - how they are the not homophobic and that contrast a lot with ritchies parents. Colin's story was the most tragic IMO, and his mother and their relationship was just wonderful.

It really opened my eyes. I never realised the extent of the shame and hiding of the disease. I was a kid in the 80s, and have just recalled that a friend of my dads (who we knew was gay) died of cancer in 1988 or 89. He was in his 30s, and it was very sudden. I wonder if it was AIDS and I now wonder if my dad knew

Binged this and thought there were 6 episodes, gutted to discover only 5. I was 21 in 1984 and remember the news stories, nothing was very clear but I had no idea of the reality.

I agree with PP on the scene between Jill and Richie's mum. It's easy to want to paint his mum as a wholly 'bad' character, but as with all good drama, the best drawn characters are not whooly good or wholly bad.

While it was cruel to deny her dying son's request to see his friend, she had also been hit with a huge shock - her son was gay and had AIDS - with weeks/months to live. I saw a lot of her actions thorough the lens of a mother struggling to deal with overwhelming grief. In some sense I thinking she wanted 're-claim' her son, who she felt had moved so far away from her, geographically, emotionally, culturally, in his last days.

Likewise, while Jill is an astonishing person in her altruism and compassion which are inspiring and humbling, in the view of Richie's family, she was a barrier to them knowing their son - so much happened to him without the even being aware (diagnosis, that ill advised chemo).

I thought it was stunningly written and acted.

[quote ReluctantHomeschooler]@FolkSongSweet Jill was based on a real life person that the writer knew.[/quote]
The real Jill plays her own mother.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-wales-55937944
An interesting article about Jill. The Pink Palace was real!

This was marvellous. A lot of interesting chat and links to other media concerning the AIDS crisis on the r/itsasin on Reddit.

It was amazing. I loved it, and was deeply moved. Cried my eyes out.

But yes it was sexist. Jill was the beloved saintly ‘good mother’ who had no desires of her own, did all the emotional work and house work and a stooge to all. And Richie’s mother was the ‘bad mother’, it was all her fault - not society, but this one broken woman.

That marred it for me. Also there was some relishing in crossing consent boundaries (male characters forcing reluctant others to listen to them talk about wanting to fuck them/coming etc). I saw that as male entitlement.

Just RTFT and for those saying Jill was a bit 2D, I think it’s worth mentioning that channel 4 cut the order from eight episodes to just five. At a Q&A online I watched with RTD he said that he wished that he could have talked more about Jills personal life but there was no time and he had to tell the boys story first.

Also @zighead I just wanted to chime in about watching it with your kids: my parents and I watched Queer as Folk together back in 1999 when it aired. I was 13. I had been watching it in secret and they’d been watching it. They realised I’d been watching it on the sly and used it as an excuse to say “shall we all sit down together?” And we had some amazing conversations. It’s actually thanks to us all watching QAF together that I wrote my very first letter to my MP (on section 28) and they took me and my Sister on an anti section 28 protest. So I actually think it might be great for you to watch it with your kids.

Both those women were emblems of the two sides of the situation. Jill representing the empathetic, supportive minority; Valerie the condemnative, moralistic majority who forced the men to live in shame. The shame that led to Richie’s tragedy.

I witnessed that shame when I was informed of the death of one of my closest friends only six months after the event. He was ashamed to be seen by his friends when he was in hospital. He destroyed his address book. His parents took over his funeral which apparently could have been anyone’s. They were so ashamed of their only son they couldn’t meet anyone’s eye. His mother was a Valerie.

Jill reminded me of Wendy with the lost boys. She was the strongest character in the piece. The rock they turned to at the darkest times as a dependable source of love. The non judgemental face of society.

Society was misogynistic in the 80s in 2021 terms. Some of the responses here are yet another example of judging history by viewing it through the lens of now and I just wish it would stop.

@VinylDetective Plus those posters are essentially saying “I think Jill Naders life was lacking and sad”, the only ones denying the importance of Jill and all of her achievements are people like those posters.

Agreed. I thought she was magnificent.

Society was misogynistic in the 80s in 2021 terms. Some of the responses here are yet another example of judging history by viewing it through the lens of now and I just wish it would stop. Yes, I wonder how many of the posters complaining about Jill's character (despite her being a real person) were actually around at that time. Fwiw I was 25 in 1980, it wasn't the dark ages but it was different to 2021. The boundaries and freedoms people expect now were developing at that time, remember that 20 years earlier sexual behaviour was much more repressed and the uninhibited behaviour you see in this programme were still part of a rebellion against that. Boundaries may have got a bit lost, they certainly did in heterosexual relationships in the 70s and 80s.