Olly Alexander on advice Russell T Davies gave him on It’s A Sin and show’s legacy (EXCLUSIVE)
Alexander reveals the Doctor Who and Queer As Folk writer was concise in his advice to the star, telling him simply: "Say the lines"
By Gary Grimes
Olly Alexander has spoken about his time working on the heartwrenching AIDS crisis drama It’s A Sin and the advice showrunner Russell T Davies gave him whilst filming.
Speaking exclusively to Attitude behind the scenes of his cover shoot for our latest issue, Alexander recalled his experience working with the Doctor Who and Queer As Folk writer on the hit Channel 4 show in 2021.
When asked about how he prepared for the show, Alexander said: “I read a lot of stuff, I read some Derek Jarman diaries. We had a lot of people, like Russell T Davies who was the writer and other people who were in the show, who lived through the 80s and were very familiar with the material and the time so we just spent a lot of time talking about it.”
The ‘Dizzy’ singer revealed Davies, who recently announced a new queer drama with Channel 4, imparted one piece of advice to him whilst filming. “Russell’s advice to me was: ‘Say the lines because it’s all there in the script’.
“His whole thing was that all the characters needed to feel like they really were friends and alive. We were really lucky because we all got on so well, we really were friends and I think you can really tell that.”
Alexander, who later received a BAFTA nomination for Best Actor for his performance in the show, also spoke about his favourite line from the series. “In Richie’s final scene, he has a whole monologue and he’s quite advanced in his illness by that point. He’s sort of reminiscing and he goes: ‘That’s what people will forget… that it was so much fun’. I thought that was such a powerful line, I love that.”
When asked about the show’s legacy, Alexander highlighted the surge in people testing for HIV in the UK after it aired. “I remember when it was airing on TV, the Terrence Higgins Trust shared with us some data about testing in the UK for HIV, and the rates of people getting HIV tests completely sky rocketed,” he said. “That was a really amazing real world thing that had happened as a result of the show and people watching it and going ‘Oh maybe I’ll get a test’. There were loads of amazing things that came from it but that was a really cool one.”
You can watch the full interview, in which Olly also talks about which artist turned him down for a collaboration and how he looks after his mental health, plus get an exclusive peak behind the scenes at Olly’s cover shoot below:
To read Olly’s cover interview in full, check out issue 363 of Attitude magazine, available to order here, and alongside 15 years of back issues on the free Attitude app.
