It’s A Sin and Queer As Folk writer Russell T Davies announces Tip Toe, a new gay drama coming to Channel 4
Davies, who is also known for his work on Doctor Who, will write and produce the new five part series set in Manchester
By Gary Grimes
Russell T Davies is officially returning to his spiritual home on Canal Street for a new five part drama series.
Tip Toe, which promises to “explore the most corrosive forces facing the LGBTQ+ community today,” will follow the story of two next door neighbours in Manchester, Clive and Leo, who slowly grow to become enemies.
Leo runs a bar on Canal Street whilst Clive is an electrician with his hands full raising two teenage boys.
A departure from Davies’ last project with the channel, 2021’s It’s A Sin, which was set at the peak of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, Tip Toe will be set in the present day and examine how issues the queer community thought were long behind us are creeping back into our lives – to terrifying effect.
Davies has a long history with Channel 4, having made his name with the controversial 1999 series Queer as Folk which followed actors Aidan Gillen, Charlie Hunnam and more adventuring Canal Street. The racy series was considered groundbreaking at the time for its brash portrayal of gay lifestyles.
Having defected to the BBC to handle the channel’s successful 2005 Doctor Who reboot, Davies returned to Channel 4 in 2015 to release a trio of queer-coded series entitled Cucumber, Banana and Tofu, before returning once again six years later to produce It’s A Sin, starring Attitude’s latest cover boy Olly Alexander.
“This is a show I had to write because the world is getting stranger, tougher and darker” – Russell T Davies
“It’s my honour to combine my old home, Channel 4, with my second home, Canal Street,” Davies said of his latest commission. “This is a show I had to write because the world is getting stranger, tougher and darker, and frankly, the fight is on.”
The show’s executive producer Nicola Shindler commented: “I am so pleased to be back working with Russell at Channel 4, and to be given the chance to tell such an important story. Tip Toe is not just a timely drama, but a captivating story shot through with Russell’s brilliant wit, warmth and devastating poignancy.”
The series is being produced by the same company that produced the Manchester-set Netflix blockbuster series Fool Me Once starring Michelle Keegan, Joanna Lumely, and Dino Fetscher.
It’s unclear when Tip Toe will make it to screens as casting is yet to begin. In the meantime we’ll just have to rewatch It’s A Sin for the millionth time…