One of the more anticipated series of the spring is finally making its way from its native England to the U.S. The five-episode limited series It's a Sin — from writer Russell T. Davies (who you'll know from Queer As Folk, A Very English Scandal and Years and Years) — drops Feb. 18 on HBO Max.
It previously was released by Channel 4 in the UK.
Here's the full breakdown from WarnerMedia:
Set in 1981, Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin (Callum Scott Howells) are young lads, strangers at first, leaving home at 18 and heading off to London with hope and ambition and joy … and walking straight into a virus that most of the world ignores. Year by year, episode by episode, crossing the whole decade, their lives change as the mystery of that illness starts as a rumor, then a threat, then a terror, and then something that binds them together in the fight.
It’s the story of their friends, lovers and families too, especially Jill (Lydia West), the girl who loves them and helps them, and galvanizes 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.
As the name of the series strongly implies (and as you've no doubt guessed after watching the trailer) the music of the 1980s plays a strong part in It's a Sin. There's the title track from the Pet Shop Boys, of course, as well as Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," Blondie's "Call Me", and Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy," among others.
You'll also see some familiar faces from the gay acting community (as well as just damn fine actors in general) in the form of Stephen Fry and Neil Patrick Harris.
