The creator of iconic UK TV series Queer As Folk, which first screened in 1999, is set to produce a new show for Channel 4.
Approaching the 20th anniversary of the show that launched his career, Russell T. Davies this week announced the development of the hard-hitting series, which once again tackles the queer experience. Titled The Boys, the five-part drama will follow the story of three boys who move to London in the early ’80s, at the start of the AIDS epidemic.
According to the show's synopsis: "the young trio, strangers at first, leave home at 18 and head off to London in 1981 with hope and ambition and joy. However, they’re walking straight into a plague that most of the world ignores.”
“Year by year, episode by episode, their lives change, as the mystery of a new virus starts as a rumor, then a threat, then a terror, and then something that binds them together in the fight," the Channel 4 press release adds.
“It’s the story of their friends, lovers and families too, especially Jill, the girl who loves them and helps them, and galvanises them in the battles to come.
“Together they will endure the horror of the epidemic, the pain of rejection and the prejudices that gay men faced throughout the decade. There are terrible losses and wonderful friendships. And complex families, pushed to the limit and beyond. This is a series that remembers the boys we lost, and celebrates those lives that burned so brightly.”
Speaking about the show, Davies said: “I lived through those times, and it’s taken me decades to build up to this. And as time marches on, there’s a danger the story will be forgotten."
He added: “It’s an honour to write this for the ones we lost, and the ones who survived.”
