It's a Sin (TV Mini Series) Episode #1.3 (2021) User Reviews

My heart sank.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 24 January 2021]

Oh my days, just when I thought this couldn't get anymore dramatic or harrowing..... it does, I don't cry when I watch TV, this made me cry. This one delivers a knockout punch, and delivers a surprise twist you just won't have seen coming.

RTD knows exactly what he's doing doesn't he, that's what makes him such an extraordinary writer.

The suspicions that arise, the fears, the ignorance of the authorities. Who can only imagine or contemplate what life must have been like for gay and bisexual men during this time, it gives you chills to contemplate.

Colin's mum, I absolutely love Colin's mum, what a super sweet, lovely, kind, glorious woman she is, I'm glad that someone in this show has a wonderful Mam. Andrea Doherty, what a truly lovely actress you are!

I am astonished by the quality of this drama, the acting, story, the emotion it draws out of you.

I know we're better informed now, but there is still a lot that's not understood, and masses that's misunderstood.

I debated a 9, but it can be no other score than a 10/10. Amazing TV.

Pain.

[W011y4m5 · 10/10 · 23 January 2021]

With this episode, Russell delivers the major punch to the stomach I was anticipating from the very beginning... And even though I knew the hit was about to make impact with my abdomen, the precision of his writing guaranteed that it still didn't miss its target.

Emotionally devastating, gut wrenching & heartbreaking - the show beautifully captures the sense of profound loss & hopelessness that so many gay / bisexual men must've experienced during the crisis - as it unfolded... Taking time to accurately visualise how cruel AIDS was to its victims - & how due to societal failures & harmful stigmas (propagated by the distribution of disinformation which was widely accepted by the majority who chose to be wilfully ignorant) sufferers were unjustly deprived of the dignity & respect that they so rightfully deserved; it's deeply emotional & upsetting to watch on screen. Thus, as a young LGBT male, to consider how many of my seniors had to tolerate this mistreatment & prejudice when they were my age... Simply depresses me. Of course, I'd always known about LGBT history but to have it depicted in an immersive format provides a window for those who weren't alive at the time to learn for themselves & experience it through media.

Admittedly, we've also made great progress but stigmas around HIV still survive today & so I can fully comprehend why the writing balances such a tangible feeling of rage with joy & loss... The anger is perfectly understandable.

Additionally, now more than ever - living through a pandemic when so many people across the world are experiencing similar, tragic losses to an unforgiving virus - the delivery of this strike hits harder than I ever imagined it would've... And it's humbling.

One of the saddest things...

[khughes1981 · 10/10 · 5 February 2021]

Oh, Colin. It's always the nice ones, isn't it? Such a bleak and depressing depiction of the gradual demise of probably the favourite of the main characters - he's certainly mine. Utterly harrowing, much like the rest of the series, but an absolute must-watch. Bravo, Russell T Davies.

Episode 1.3

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 6 February 2021]

As a dramatist RTD had a difficult decision to make.

If all the sexually promiscuous characters got Aids. Then he would be accused of making a moral judgment.

It was always likely that Colin would succumb. It was harrowing to see him held as a prisoner in a hospital ward in Wales.

There were flashbacks to his sexual experiences with just one man.

It highlights that some people both straight and gay did get Aids through their first sexual experience. The sheer randomness of bad luck.

Colin suddenly collapsing with an epileptic fit and then being diagnosed with Aids was a shock. Ritchie's fate less so. Although it is now 1986 the safe sex message does not get through to him. He still takes risks.

As the episode goes on, Ritchie suspects he has Aids. Especially after seeing a lover with a lesion on his body.

RTD has cranked up the show. It is getting darker even though the characters are growing up and finding success. Ritchie gets an acting part, Jill has a part in a musical and Roscoe loves a great view of the London skyline.

The twist takes it down a level

[wolfrahms · 7/10 · 16 April 2021]

I overall love this series very much, and I love the characters and the honest depiction of homophobia and paranoia associated with HIV/AIDS.

However, the twist that Colin gets AIDS and dies was one that I did not buy. Through his demenaour, we are lead to believe that Colin is a virgin. Then, as he dies, we are shown that he had sex with the young man who he happened to be living with in 1981. That seems deceptive, not foreshadowed and kind of unlikely. It's what we call a "gotcha", which is not great.