It’s A Sin was almost a Queer As Folk prequel

By David Craig

Published: Tuesday, 26 April 2022 at 12:00 am

It’s A Sin was almost a prequel series to Queer As Folk, executive producer Nicola Shindler has revealed.

The hard-hitting miniseries had a huge impact when it premiered on Channel 4 at the start of 2021, depicting how HIV and AIDS devastated the lives of the LGBTQ+ community in the 1980s.

Writer Russell T Davies had previously explored the lives of young gay men in Queer As Folk, although notably that earlier show never approached the topic of HIV and AIDS head-on.

Nevertheless, during It’s A Sin’s BAFTA Television Session this week, Shindler said that they discussed the idea of narratively connecting the two projects.

“We debated whether it should really be a prequel to Queer As Folk, whether we should think about calling it that,” she explained. “We knew that was wrong as soon as we started talking.”

Ultimately, the two shows were kept separate in terms of continuity, but Shindler went on to say that there is a definite thematic “through line” between them, as well as another of Davies’ LGBTQ+ dramas, Cucumber.

“It feels like [It’s A Sin] and Cucumber and Queer As Folk are all absolutely linked,” she continued. “They’re stories that he wanted to tell about gay men at a certain point in their lives when history is impacting them.

“Queer As Folk very purposefully didn’t mention HIV or AIDS, and we didn’t have shots of condoms, and that was absolutely something that Russell was passionate about.”