The Future of Gender-Neutral Makeup

In The Middle it’s a song: the music of channel 4’s lgbtq+ hit show

The 2021 blockbuster drama It’s a Sin, created by queer screenwriter Russell T. Davies, explores the lives of young people affected by the emergence of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The Gryphon music editor Fern McErlane takes a close look at the eighties-inspired soundtrack, and how music is used within the show. Warning: this article contains spoilers...

It’s a Sin has taken over the internet by storm, the-bone representation of the experiences of are mainly non-diegetic, and deliberately timed to onscreen.

referencing the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the dark content, happiness and horror, extends across

William poignant foil to the action onscreen. On the morning

Image: Channel 4

Image: Channel 4

“What is important to say about all the music in the show is that these songs are still being played now. They’re still being heard in clubs and pubs. The way that many of them have been embraced by queer people is incredible. These songs weren’t written for those reasons, but they now have another life and language to them, which is ours.” - Peter Hoar

Their next performance is comic relief, a sugary sweet rendition of Carmel’s ‘More, More, More‘ complete with synchronised jazz-hands; yet this is now marred by the overarching presence of AIDS, as alongside the music we

duet, a jubilant, harmonious rendition of ‘Only You‘ by The Flying Pickets, is served up surrounded by their friends. It is one of the last times they seem truly happy.

the culmination of their love and trust; Jill is now looking after Ritchie as he suffers from the physical effects of AIDS. It is brilliantly set to Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)‘; lyrically, it focuses on the relationship between a man and woman and how, in Bush’s own words, if

would understand each other better and would resolve their differences.”

she could. She’s based on a real person, a friend of Davies’- Jill Nalder- and appears in the show playing her namesake character’s mother.

It’s impossible to ignore the overarching presence of the Pet Shop Boys in this show, with the title - ‘It’s A Sin‘ – lifted directly from that of a track from their 1987 album Actually. A campy, theatrical single with winkingly choral undertones, it was initially about the effects of a Catholic upbringing- but translates neatly into describing the experiences of gay people in the face home to the Isle of Wight after his AIDS diagnosis. Yet, the cover version by star actor Olly Alexander (who plays one of the show’s protagonists, Ritchie Tozer- and is also popularly known as the vocalist for synth-pop trio Years & Years) is much more sombre. With mournful, pared-back keys, it matches the atmosphere of fear, anxiety and suffering developed at this point in the show. Alexander’s yearning vocal delivery is haunting: “When I look back upon my life / It’s always with a sense of shame / I’ve always been

the shame and stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS in It’s A Sin, a legacy that still remains today; Davies strives to negate this, showing us that none of his characters deserved to suffer due to their sexuality, much like how the very real people affected by AIDS were treated- as if their love were a sin. It’s important to keep their memory alive.

Music is used to celebrate and to comfort, to support and highlight the LGBT+ community within It’s A Sin. Each song choice is important and poignant in its own way. In director Peter Hoar’s own words, “What is important to say about all the music in the show is that these songs are still being played now. They’re still being heard in clubs and pubs. The way that many of them have been embraced by queer people is incredible. These songs weren’t written for those reasons, but they now have another life and language to them, which is ours.”