Everyone's buzzing about It's a Sin [1], Russell T Davies's new show on Channel 4, and for good reason. Both laugh-inducing and utterly heartbreaking, the show tells the story of a group of young gay men as they encounter the outbreak of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the '80s. Exploring themes of love, lust, and loss, It's a Sin is more than just a TV show. It's an important and much-needed recounting of the effects of the HIV/AIDS crisis on the gay community. "Younger generations are growing up not knowing anything about this period," Davies told Channel 4, a fact that urged him to retell the story in his own way through his lived experiences. "We're reaching a stage when the parents are going and so the memories are going," Davies said in an interview with BBC [2]. "That's one of the reasons why this needs telling now. Before it passes into history, while it's still there in memory. Just a nice little chance to preserve it for a moment, hold it there and salute them."
In the show, each character is affected by the disease in a different way, and it takes us through the varying stages of illness and emotion that make their way through the group. Characters like Ritchie (played by Olly Alexander [3]) are immediately in denial and instead focus their efforts on dismantling the conspiracy theories surrounding the disease. For Davies, Ritchie represents the "AIDS deniers at the time", as he told the BBC, adding that the character's slow realisation of the effects of HIV and AIDS in the show was reminiscent of "how much attention I paid to it — which was none at first."
It's a Sin aims to explore the HIV/AIDS epidemic through as many different perspectives as possible, highlighting more timid characters like Colin who haven't yet explored their sexuality, alongside Roscoe, who leaves home in order to break free, and Ash, who ends up being far more important to Ritchie than we realise at first. With all the many different characters and storylines, read on to keep track of exactly what happens to each of the characters by the end of masterpiece show.
What Happens to Ritchie in It's a Sin?
Ritchie leaves his home on the Isle of Wight to pursue a career in acting, much to his parents' dismay. He ends up at university and meets Jill — who later becomes the mother of their group — as she encourages him to pursue his theatrical dreams. Through this, he meets Ash, who becomes one of his housemates at the Pink Palace, and Ritchie begins to explore his sexuality through the various boys he meets on nights out.
In the third episode, Ritchie meets a fellow actor and, after a few nights together, spots brown patches on his skin, which are signs of HIV. He gets tested, and the virus turns into AIDS. His family soon discover he's unwell in the hospital, and because they still feel angry that he left them, they insist on taking him back home with them. Unfortunately, his parents refuse to let him see any of his friends, and he passes away at home in the final episode.
What Happens to Jill in It's a Sin?
We're introduced to Jill (Lydia West) in the first episode, as she spots Ritchie peeking into her drama class. They immediately become friends, and she and Ritchie meet up on a night out, where she introduces him to the rest of the friend group. They all end up living together in the Pink Palace, and rumours of a disease, which eventually becomes HIV and AIDS, begin to spread.
After Gregory asks Jill for help and she witnesses him being taken home, she becomes concerned and worried for the other boys. She's seen by Colin's side before he passes, and she aims to do the same for Ritchie — but his mother won't allow it.
In the end, having lost a number of her closest friends, Jill ends up volunteering at hospitals to spend time with AIDS patients. According to Russell T Davies [4], West's character was based on his real-life friend Jill, who "spent time on AIDS' wards" and "held the hand of the dying." Jill was such an inspiration on Davies's life that "I couldn't even change her name when it came to writing a fictional version," he told Channel 4.
What Happens to Ash in It's a Sin?
Ash, played by Nathaniel Curtis, is one of the few boys who tests negative for HIV. Despite his recurring relationship with Ritchie, Ash doesn't contract the virus, and he ends up being by Ritchie's side before he's taken back home to the Isle of Wight.
What Happens to Roscoe in It's a Sin?
We're first introduced to Roscoe, played by Omari Douglas, in a hard hat and building gear. As the show progresses, we watch him leave his difficult family dynamic for London, a place where he begins to explore his sexuality through fashion. Talking to GQ, Douglas explained that [5] "[Roscoe's] coming out, after being locked up for so long" and that "there's a punk influence" to his style.
Roscoe ends up sleeping with a famous politician, played by Stephen Fry, who insults Roscoe ahead of an important meeting with PM Margaret Thatcher. It's at this point that Roscoe abandons Fry to join his friends at the first HIV and AIDS protest. At the end of It's a Sin, we see Roscoe appear at his family home, seemingly to make amends with his father.
What Happens to Colin in It's a Sin?
Colin, played by Callum Howells, is the quietest of the group and struggles to explore his sexuality throughout the show. In an interview with Esquire, Howells said that, for him, Colin's character explored innocence and his naivety [6]. In the first episode, Colin starts working at a men's tailoring shop on Savile Row, where his boss tries to coerce him into sexual acts.
Later in the episode, we see Colin living with a friend of the family — a friend whose son gives him his first sexual experience. It's this pivotal scene that leads to Colin's downfall in later episodes, as his epileptic seizures are brought on by an HIV diagnosis, which later turns into AIDS. After a while in the hospital, Colin passes away in the third episode.
What Happens to Gregory in It's a Sin?
In episode two, a friend of the Pink Palace crew named Gregory (played by David Carlyle) calls Jill to ask for help as he's beginning to feel ill. Gregory initially tells Jill that he has tuberculosis, before explaining that the doctors think it's something far worse. Jill agrees to help him with running errands whilst he's infectious and keeps it a secret from the rest of their friend group.
One day, Jill visits Gregory as usual but ends up faced with his disapproving family instead. Disturbed by the lack of information they were given, his family decide to take Gregory back home, before he's even given a chance to say goodbye to his friends. Struggling to recover from AIDS, he passes away at home in Glasgow.
What Happens to Henry Coltrane in It's a Sin?
Henry Coltrane, played by Neil Patrick Harris [7], appears in the very first episode of the show. He works in Savile Row with Colin and ends up being Colin's introduction to London living and his saviour from an inappropriate boss. The pair discuss sexuality quite early on, and Colin's invited into Coltrane's home, where he lives with his partner, Juan Pablo, who later falls ill with what appears to be a cold.
The cold gets a lot worse and ends up diagnosed as pneumonia and psittacosis, and it's only when Coltrane is replaced at work that Colin decides to pay him a visit. Through a neighbour, Colin discovers that Coltrane was also sick, and he visits him in the hospital. He enters the ward in full PPE, and Coltrane explains that he's been diagnosed with cancer, which leads to him passing away in hospital.