The It’s A Sin Cast Was Chosen With Great Care

After airing in the UK, the moving miniseries It's a Sin has made its way to HBO Max for American viewers. Created by Russell T. Davies (who also created the original Queer as Folk), It's A Sin is based on Davies' life as a young man in England during the HIV/AIDS pandemic of the '80s and '90s. To best honor the subject matter, Davies made sure to cast gay actors in It's a Sin to play the gay characters. Frustratingly, that's not always a given with LGBTQ+ stories.

"With this show we made the conscious decision to try [to cast LGBTQ+ talent]," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "What we discovered was such a vast tornado of queer talent dying to be on screen that it was an absolute joy."

Casting the show also meant that Davies was picking actors to play roles based on himself and his friends. In the series, Davies is represented by one of the main characters Ritchie (Olly Alexander) and his best friend Jill Baxter (Lydia West) was inspired by Davies' real best friend Jill Nalder.

According to Pink News, Davies originally wanted It's a Sin to be a multi-season show. But in the end he was glad it was shortened to a miniseries with less of a time commitment. That way he could get the talented cast that he did — even if just for five short episodes.