Are the characters in It’s A Sin based on real people?
IT'S A Sin provides a poignant look back at the lives behind the horrors of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
The drama follows five housemates living in London at the height of the pandemic - and creator Russell T Davies drew on real experiences to write his characters...
Are the characters in It's A Sin based on real people?
It's A Sin isn't directly based on real people , but the show's creator, Russell T. Davies has revealed he drew on people from his past to inspire the Channel 4 show.
In fact, the character of Jill, played by Lydia West in the series, is based on his close friend Jill Nalder, who he met back in the eighties.
Although the events in the show aren't biographical, Nalder, as the show portrays, was living in London when the AIDS pandemic reached public consciousness.
She began to fundraise for AIDS research, and visited victims of the disease in hospitals.
In a heartwarming twist, Davies asked Nalder if she would appear in the show. We see her in episode four and five playing the mother of Jill (Lydia West) .
Davies said about her character: "As we grew up, I went to university, got a job, started to write, but Jill lived a bigger, better life.
"She went to London. Became an actor. She moved into a flat which she called the Pink Palace, and it felt like an endless party, the rooms filled with gay men and drag queens and show tunes.
"Jill met the crisis head-on. She stood at the heart of the storm. She went to the hospitals and the funerals and the marches.
"She held the hands of so many men. She lost them and remembered them, and somehow kept going."
Nalder herself has said that the name of the friendship group's flat - the "Pink Palace" - is based on the real-life name that she gave her own flat in Hampstead in the eighties.
In addition, Russell has revealed that the character of Colin is inspired by one of his ex-boyfriends.
He told : “He was someone I went out with in the 90s who trained to be a tailor and went to New York to fit lords and ladies with their suits and gowns – beautiful man."
In the show, Colin Morris-Jones has arrived in London from Wales to work as a tailor on Savile Row.
What is It's A Sin about?
The groundbreaking show centres around five housemates: Ritchie, Roscoe, Coli, Jill and Ash, who all meet in London in 1981.
They all live together in a shared flat, which they dub the "Pink Palace".
They are all in their late teens and early twenties, and must navigate London in 1981 - in the midst of the AIDS crisis.
As the threat of HIV becomes ever-closer, Ritchie, Roscoe and Coli are forced to come to terms with the reality of the shocking effects the virus can have.
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When is It's A Sin on TV?
It’s A Sin began on January 22 on Channel 4.
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It airs at 9pm on Fridays and all five episodes are available to stream on All4 now.
It’s A Sin – After Hours accompanies the show and launches weekly after the main show airs on Channel 4, featuring a mix of cast members and special guests.