Russell T Davies to follow Cucumber with dramas about Aids and 'sextortion' gangs
The Queer as Folk writer has two new TV shows up his sleeve
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Fresh from the success of last weeks' Cucumber, Russell T Davies is turning his pen to two new TV dramas: one about Aids in the Eighties and another tackling “sextortion gangs”.
The Queer as Folk writer is currently developing The Boys for Channel 4, focusing on the men who died from Aids on hospital wards more than three decades ago.
But after that, he plans to investigate the computer hackers who film people performing sex acts without their knowledge, then blackmail them. One case about a Scottish teenage who killed himself after an attack has particularly affected Davies, who plans to incorporate the tragic story into the as-yet-untitled series.
Davies is yet to start work on The Boys but has hinted that the characters may be fictionalised versions of himself and his friends. Although Aids has featured in film and TV many times before, Davies “can’t believe” that the lives of those in “the bedsits” have not been covered.
“We’re reaching a bit of a generational thing, when men like me in their 50s are looking back – how shocked I was, personally speaking, we ran away from it, I ran away from it,” Davies said at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch, according to the Guardian.
“I didn’t go on a march. I couldn’t quite believe it was happening. I didn’t go to [friends’] funerals, I didn’t write to their mums. I didn’t do anything. You’re young and stupid, you just carry on. I’m ashamed about that.”
Davies added that his boyfriend’s diagnosis with brain cancer three years ago forced him to look “mortality in the face” and now, he wants to write The Boys to “find out why [he] did what [he] did”.
Gay life drama Cucumber aired on Thursday along with accompanying E4 show Banana and online factual series Tofu.
It follows the lives of an older generation of gay men in Manchester and includes plenty of sex references, but Davies does not think it will be as “volatile” as Queer as Folk in the late Nineties.
He has said Cucumber exists because “every [gay] right that’s emerged still feels fragile”, particularly when you “see what’s happening in Russia or Senegal”.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments