Just finished "it's a sin"

[ThatFraggle]

Sobbing. I don't have anyone to tell in real life but I just wanted to say how much it moved me.

It's a Sin has stayed with me since I watched it (when it came out) I really hope it's available when my kids are older so they can see how not to treat other people.
I bawled my bloody eyes out pretty much the whole time and I wanted to kill that horrible woman with my bare hands. Bloody good acting on her behalf, because she portrayed a right horrible cunt to perfection!

I thought It's A Sin was amazing but would also never want to watch it again. In what I think was probably an error of judgement I watched the entire thing in the week after DS2 was born, sat on the sofa feeding him constantly and just sobbing and sobbing at it all, and at the thought that they were all precious baby boys who grew up to go through something so awful and to be treated so appallingly.

God, it’s a devastating programme. The bit where the mother talks to Jill at the end had me in pieces.

I watched Everybody’s Talking About Jamie on Amazon Prime a couple of days ago, and there’s a montage in the middle where an aging drag queen reminisces about his youth, and the film very obviously shows young men dying of AIDS. The rest of the film is like a camper High school Musical so it’s really jarring (although the girl best friend in that is also a support human…never mind)

Oh I hated everyone's talking about Jamie I saw the original documentary and he was do irritating, I only.lasted 20 minutes of the film.

I sobbed my way through it as well. I want to re-watch it, but I'll need to leave it a while to get the emotional strength (and another box of tissues)

I loved It's a Sin and it's lived with me since I watched it. Everything about it was so emotional and the final scene, as PP said, between Jill and the Mother 😢😢

I thought it was brilliant, really brilliant. I too was a teenager at the time and totally oblivious. It was revelatory and i think RST is an extraordinary talent. But I really bridled at the Keeley Hawes character (she's a wonderful actor, no shade on her). It felt like that (fictional) character was made to carry the weight of the blame for society's viciousness, while most of the adult men/dads (not The Boys) were given a very easy ride. It was shown around the time that online activists started calling white middle aged women 'Karens' which contributed to my irritation. I do suspect RST of some misogyny tbh. But it is a really brilliant piece of work overall.

RTD not RST!

I watched it when it first came out. As I was working in London in the 80s, I thought that it wouldn’t upset me so much as I could predict what would happen.

It was so well done and I found it so distressing that I still think of it from time to time and will never watch it again.

I never finished it because OA irritates me, reading this makes me think I should re-try it though.

I found this so moving and opened my eyes to so much. A wonderful series. And unlike @Dinneronmybfpillow I love Olly Alexander. His character Ritchie was hard to like at times but by the end it was heartbreaking. I remember after it came out that there was a massive increase in people getting tested which was fantastic. It's a series I won't forget. Hit me with those lasers please.

I binged it when it first came out and thought it was terrific. Devastating, but brilliant. I might rewatch it!

I agree with all of this.

I couldn't think who OA was for a minute 😳yes he irritates me as well,but as you get into the series you get into the character of Ritchie who is also irritating but its fine to be irritatedby him. Definitely try again.

Me too.

I didn't like it 😬but judging by this thread I'm the only one

La!

This programme made my entire family cry and sob.

Beautiful and heartbreaking.

Was exactly the same. Really did make me think. Having to lie to get a mortgage etc. I remember being asked if I had been tested when I got my first mortgage. Thankfully can't imagine such invasive questions being asked now.

Was a heart wrenching watch. I sobbed my eyes out. There aren't many programmes that have had me really sobbing

It's A Sin is so powerful and I also recommend Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves which is a few years old now but was similarly devastating.

Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves was incredibly harrowing.

I enjoyed it BUT…

…the women were sidelined, they were scripted as support humans for the men in the story. It’s to be expected I guess, because RTD is a gay man, but I despised the de-emphasis on the women’s stories, really disappointing.

As said several times above. Jill is a real person and that is what she did. She also became an actress but the story isn't primarily about her. The real Jill also appeared (because she is an actress) so presumably didn't have a problem with the portrayal. It could have been a story about the many things women achieved in the 1980s but that would have been a different story. This was a story about young men dying of an initially unknown disease.

And La! to you too.

The Khaled Hosseini quote comes to mind: 'Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.'

Yes, the mum at the end was shit. But almost blaming her (and women like her) for aids felt a bit much. What about the Dad's contribution to an unloving home? The patriarchy and church created the hostile environment. Not just the multiple unlikeable women.

So, it doesn't pass the Bechdel test, but it was still a moving piece of TV.

I think one of the reasons it hit so hard for me is that I have an uncle who died in the 90s and with hindsight it was AIDS. He was so thin when he passed. I have a different thread about 'Pollyana families' but the tldr is that my mum and extended family never talk about him. Bringing up anything which isn't sunshine and roses never gets the issue discussed, only reactive pushback, followed by silent treatment, followed by a 'reset' months later. "Took the dog for a walk in that park you like! Love you!" And that means "I'm talking to you again, as long as you don't bring up the thing that made me give you the silent treatment last time.

I think we need to remember it was set in the 80's and early 90's. Being gay, for many, was just not understandable. Some families did react terribly when realising their child or other relative was gay. Add in the terror that was aids and gay people were treated like dirty lepers.

I thought the portrayal of less than perfect characters made it the program it is. The torment of Ritchies mum - someone who was battling with not only the fact her son was gay, but also was dying was real. We might look back now at that character and think "what a bitch" but we are in different times. Her emotions were complex and raw. I thought keely hawes played the part very well.

Ritchie himself wasn't a particularly likeable character but the journey from him getting to know uni and being able to explore his sexuality and his own demons with getting tested and discovering he had aids was raw and emotional.

All of the characters who died were so different and each had their own story. All heartbreaking.

We can look back now and realise exactly how awful they were treated but at the time the fear of getting aids was awful. Like or loath princess Diana, but she did so much good in starting to remove the worry aids could be caught by touch etc.

I watched it last year , and although very different diseases, could easily draw parallels with how covid patients were treated in the beginning. People being left to die alone etc.

The real Jill wrote a book called Love From the Pink Palace about the Aids epidemic and telling the tale of that time from her perspective. It's a hugely moving read.