TIP TOE - sun/mon ch4 9pm - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

Episodes 1 and 2 will air on Sunday, May 31 and Monday, June 1. The rest of the series continues next week on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays.

The story follows two next-door neighbors in Manchester over the course of an escalating neighborhood dispute:
• Leo (Alan Cumming): A gay man who runs a bar on the famous Canal Street in Manchester's Gay Village.
• Clive (David Morrissey): An electrician with two teenage sons who harbors underlying prejudices.

The situation spirals out of control when Leo locks himself out of his house and has to ask his neighbor for a spare key.

This single event triggers a collision of worlds, unearthing mistrust and bigotry, which is further complicated when Leo strikes up a friendship with one of Clive's sons—who happens to be secretly gay.

The five-part drama will follow Leo and Clive who live next door to each other in Manchester. Leo runs a bar on Canal Street, while Clive is an electrician, with two teenage sons. But just as life should be settling down, the world around them is growing more tense.

According to the official synopsis, "Words become weapons, opinions become radicalised, and gradually, two neighbours become deadly enemies in a tense, suburban thriller which challenges everything we consider to be safe."

•	Alan Cumming as Leo
•	David Morrissey as Clive
•	Pooky Quesnel as Marie, Clive’s wife
•	Jackson Connor as George, Clive’s son
•	Joseph Evans as Saul, Clive’s son
•	Elizabeth Berrington as Stephanie, Leo’s best friend
•	Iz Hesketh as Zee
•	Shakeel Kimotho as Hanna
•	Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as Judy
•	Paul Rhys as Melba
•	Charlie Condou as Curtis, Leo’s ex-husband
•	Denise Welch as Diane

Sorry to change subject slightly but I've almost finished "Banana" by RTD. Another hard-hitting scene there that I've not stopped thinking about today with Lance😞 😭

Yes, the scene in Banana is horrifying.

The situation in Belfast is getting more frightening with the news of a "hitlist" of immigrants' addresses being shared. The mob violence we saw in Tip Toe really isn't far from reality.

It was in Cucumber, and yes, horrifying and impactful, in contrast to the lynching in this show.

Sorry yes. Getting my cucumber and banana mixed up 🤦‍♂️

I hope it wins awards, cannot stop thinking about it. Just as I felt after "It's a Sin"

A few thoughts:
▪️The unpredictably of Clive, never know how he would react. From dropping equipment in the bar to disrupt the conversation, to then pretending to perform on stage. For anyone who's been with an unpredictable man, you immediately remembered the walking on eggshells.
▪️The clever similarities shown from Clive saying to Leo his friends were loud, swore and spoke about sex all the time. Saul's friends were just the same. The zebra is a zebra, whether you think he's white with black stripes. Or black with white stripes.
▪️How they showed how utterly desensitized Clive was to what was happening in front of his eyes as Leo was murdered. Because of all the violent content he consumed, David Morrissey was brilliant in his depiction of being zoned out.
▪️I kept willing for Leo to just leave it. And did feel him going round for a chat when he had the house full was rushed writing. But I suppose it was day drinking influence reference. But I don't drink anymore so maybe I'm prejudiced on that. Also Leo spoke of being frightened of groups of men at times. But thought Alan Cumming acting was incredible.

It's a series that will stay with me for a long time. My late sister was gay and lived in Manchester her whole life. I have spent many a night up and down Canal Street. She'd of loved to see her city and her people represented. I hope it impacts people's way of thinking the way Adolescence did.

Interestingly, I've just come across this interview, where RTD says this too. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19ByhepeND/

Thanks for sharing. Completely agree with him. I read a couple of the comments on the clip and one I'd concur with was that these views, opinions, hate, have always existed but the online world is connecting these people thus reinforcing their views and validating them so they are now emboldened to act on them because, in their view, society agrees with us.

It was brilliant, so unexpected and shocking.

People keep saying Russell is "writing what he knows". Can someone explain what you mean by that?

He's a wealthy television writer. He doesn't live cheek by jowl with the working class, if he ever did. He doesn't have neighbours like this.

He also doesn't live in a country where gangs of working class white men hang homosexuals from lampposts. I can think of many high-profile cases of violence on our streets in recent years, but I can't think of any cases like that.

"Writing what he knows" means his writing from the cultural perspective of people like him. The protagonist is a middle class, late middle aged gay man, who has experienced the changing tide around attitudes to gay people over the years.

The plot isn't what he knows, but the voices of the gay characters are.

And for what it's worth, gentrification has definitely led to people in cities living on the same streets as people from very different economic backgrounds to them.

Although I'm not sure if you were being genuine in your question.

Perhaps, if he is writing “from what he knows”, then he’s too close to it, because his writing in this was mostly poor.

I don’t understand how people can see the riots in Southampton and Belfast and now draw the strong parallels RTD was showing is in Tip Toe. The rise of the far right and extreme hatred towards people they view as ‘other’ is happening right now, in our communities.

Imagine having a pair of noise cancelling headphones so effective that you would be undisturbed by your husband executing a man right outside your front door.

I think you are missing the point

No no, I get the point loud and clear. Its just that there were a few issues that made it difficult to suspend disbelief. One was the lack of action on the part of Lee in changing the locks IMMEDIATELY after his privacy was compromised. Another was Marie being totally and utterly unaware of the lynching taking place at her own house.

I think that is sort of believable because the crowd were being so loud already and she was trying to block the noise out. It probably got quieter if anything when they went outside.

We all know the points RTD has tried to make, but I agree with @likeafishneedsabike I just couldn’t suspend disbelief because of all the issues before the lynching (in broad daylight in a suburban street), which is why I felt nothing during the killing. Of course, the only neighbour who witnessed the lynching was too scared to confront the gang. RTD expect us to believe nobody else was at home or didn’t hear the lynching going on, including Marie who was sat twenty feet away with her earphones. I think RTD is long past his peak.

I think the more unbelievable part of the lynching was how organised they were and how efficiently they worked as a team. If they weren’t drunk and had had training sessions then maybe. Still found it horrifying though and it has been playing round in my mind.

I did believe that the people who tried to stop them were frightened off.

My feeling is that it was an effective, thought provoking piece of agitprop with some incredibly powerful moments. Alan Cumming is simply outstanding on screen. However, it didn’t entirely work as a five episode realist drama. I probably would have enjoyed some short impact drama pieces more. It needed a different format and a ruthless editor.

I think it's worth remembering it's not a documentary. A bomb could go off and my DH wouldn't hear anything when he has his NC headphones on.

I agree and Denish Walsh would've ended up on the editing floor for starters, all of that was ridiculous.

How patronising.

If Clive Goss fancied an affair, Denise Welch’s character wouldn’t be his target. Not in any version of reality.

I feel that the interaction with the Denise Welsh character was so he could admit that he didn’t sleep with Patricia from the caravan park , but let his wife think that he did. It could have been done differently maybe , although he wouldn’t have told a man this and definitely not anyone he from the bar. He didn’t have any friends who would have understood why he did this. My take on it was he was hoping Marie wouid walk out on him, but she didn’t ( mostly to do with finances)

.. the irony is that Marie and Saul moved away in the end , but they didn’t have any choice.