Wrap it up 2021, we're only two months in and we may have found the best show of the year already.

Russell T. Davies has time and time again, churned out some incredible television experiences, from the funny and gutsy Queer as Folk at the turn of the century, to last years political-fuck-you in Years and Years to literally regenerating Doctor Who for a modern era.

But It's a Sin may very well go down as Russell's masterpiece.

Bringing into the light, in all it's cruel and heartbreaking detail, the AIDs crisis of the mid-to-late 1980s, It's a Sin chronicles the lives of a group of young gay adult students in London, whose world is slowly engulfed by the new aforementioned disease.

The progression of realisation in how deadly AIDs is is brilliantly shown over the five-episode structure, with episode one leaving our main characters somewhat doubting the severity of AIDs, episodes two, three and four ramping up the clarity the characters have with AIDs, whilst episode five brutally sweeps aside any and all doubt.

The second peak in this show is how it portrays homophobia. Being set in Britain in the late '80s, homophobia was still high. Episodes three and four showcases this homophobia perfectly, from Andria Doherty's "letterbox" scene in the third episode to the peaceful protest fallen on deaf-ears in episode four.

Olly Alexander and Omari Douglas are sure to break out into even bigger projects down the line for their superb performances as Ritchie and Roscoe respectfully, whilst Lydia West takes home the prize of being the standout in this series for her role as Jill Baxter. Her performance in Davies' previous series, Years and Years, put her on the map for sure. It's a Sin just proves that she is without-a-doubt going places, her conversation with Keeley Hawes' character, Valerie, on the promenade in the final episode is enough evidence to support this.

Incredible television, that will challenge near-on every emotion possible, don't sleep on this gem.

La!

I didn't know wha to expect from this, but ended up binge watching the entire series today.

Truly harrowing and shows just how much this tore through communities in the 1980's, with so much denial from those in control. Perfectly cast, Olly (Ritchie) and Callum (Colin) were outstanding - but it was Lydia (Jill) who shone. Her empathy, good nature, kindness, especially in the end, makes you feel warm about mankind - there's always good people out there.

I'm not a fan of RTD, but I will take my hat off to him for this, truly, heartbreaking series that deserves to sweep the boards at any TV Awards in the coming year (it's up there with Chernobyl for me, a serial everyone should watch) and if it doesn't, then somethings very wrong.

[spoiler]To see how it affected the group of friends - changed their lives forever and Colins demise was the worst. A quiet, seemingly shy chap. His sleazy boss trying it on more than once, then giving him the cold shoulder and effectively firing him when he didn't get his own way - or assumed he had the illness after their trip to New York. It was unexpected and pulled at the heart strings seeing him deteriorate and the two words 'Liverpool Shirt' then made sense as to who .. and when .. The scene of him and his Mother eating a TV dinner together will be hard to shake off. I think his death hit hardest as he wasn't out sleeping with everyone, just one .. but that's all it took. So sad.[/spoiler]

We laughed. We cried.

"They died because of you . . . " clearly a line aimed at politicians of the time, but equally this stands true today with some governments handling of the current pandemic . . seems lessons never learned.

If Steve McQueen shows the racial discrimination in England between 1969 and 1982 en su antología "Small Axe", we could almost take "It's a sin" as the witness to sex discrimination from 1981 to 1991. "They all died because of you," says the character in Jill, in a phrase that is a clear accusation to Margaret Thatchers or Ronald Reagans that caused thousands of deaths. In times of coronavirus, it is important to remember that there have been diseases doomed to inaction and rejection.

It has been said that it is the best series by Russell T. Davies and without a doubt it is, perhaps because he has managed to create a mosaic of lives in which practically all positions are in front of AIDS, starting with ignorance and misinformation. Ritchie, Roscoe, Colin and Jill, perhaps to a lesser extent Ash, are representations of a threatened community (aka society), facing unknown danger. But the anger that has caused the abuse, denial and death is replaced by an optimistic position: "I wanted you to be the first to know: I'm gonna live." The first episodes, above all, show the vitality of a secret but explosive freedom.

"It's a sin" is an exciting series, heartbreaking, difficult to see especially for those of us who live the AIDS pandemic in the present, who feel fear and pain very close. It is a tribute to the victims, but also a story of survival.