It's a Sin
Episode 1
TV Flash files “Episode 1” as a desk essential hour — It's a Sin (2021) on Channel 4/Max, season 1, episode 1, aired 2021-01-22, 46 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 5 in the It's a Sin guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 2021-01-22 (46 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Episode 2” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Episode 1”. Hour one as joy-first contract: cheap flats and club nights, Russell T Davies assembling the chosen family before anyone asks the decade to hurt.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
September 1981 finds 18-year-old Ritchie leaving the Isle of Wight to go to university. In London, Roscoe walks out of parents' home, while Colin arrives from Wales to start a new career on Savile Row. The three boys meet, and along with fellow student Ash and best friend Jill form a gang and move into a flat, christened the Pink Palace. However, a distant threat on the horizon means that life in the '80s might be all too precious.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Episode 1 sit in the It's a Sin guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 5 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did It's a Sin S01E01 air?
Episode 1 aired 2021-01-22 and is listed at 46 minutes.
How many episodes?
Five. A limited series: chosen family in 1980s London, joy first, then the epidemic. There is no skippable middle season.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch Russell T Davies's five-episode London AIDS chronicle for ensemble chemistry that makes the tragedy land harder. Joy first, then devastation with open eyes — chosen family in cheap flats and club nights. Davies at full emotional clarity; five episodes you will carry.
The first look is joy: cheap flats, club nights, chosen family in 1980s London lighting that still wants to dance. Russell T Davies's Channel 4 limited series premiered January 22, 2021 — HBO Max in the U.S. — and made Olly Alexander, Nathaniel Curtis, Omari Douglas, Callum Scott Howells, and Lydia West the silhouette of a generation that lived, loved, and then faced the AIDS epidemic together. Five parts. *Joy first, then devastation with open eyes.* The tone refuses misery tourism without blinking at loss.…
Filed against
- Olly Alexander as Ritchie Tozer
Olly Alexander plays Ritchie Tozer on It’s a Sin, Russell T Davies’s 2020s five-episode London AIDS chronicle — joy first, then devastation with open eyes, chosen family in cheap flats and club nights. Ensemble chemistry that makes the…
- Nathaniel Curtis as Ash Mukherjee
Nathaniel Curtis’s Ash Mukherjee helped It’s a Sin’s five-episode London AIDS chronicle land harder — Russell T Davies at full emotional clarity, joy first, then devastation with open eyes, chosen family in cheap flats and club nights. TV…
- Omari Douglas as Roscoe Babatunde
Omari Douglas plays Roscoe Babatunde on It’s a Sin, Davies’s 2020s London AIDS chronicle where ensemble chemistry makes the tragedy land harder. Joy first, cheap flats and club nights, then devastation with open eyes. TV Flash files him…
- Lydia West as Jill Baxter
Lydia West made chosen family look like daylight as Jill Baxter on It's a Sin — Russell T Davies’s five-episode London AIDS chronicle, joy first, then devastation with open eyes, cheap flats and club nights as the set. Ensemble chemistry…