Russell T Davies is in a race to get his new Channel 4 thriller out of the gates.
Davies is back with Channel 4, the home of his most trailblazing dramas Queer as Folk, Cucumber, and the life-changing It’s a Sin, with Tip Toe – a new thriller set in Manchester about two feuding neighbours, played by Alan Cumming and David Morrissey, exploring themes of radicalisation, prejudice, and rising social tensions.
Leo (Cumming) and Clive (Morrissey) have lived next door to each other for 15 years in relative peace and calm. Leo owns a bar in Manchester’s Gay Village called Spit and Polish; Clive is becoming increasingly susceptible to right-wing misinformation and fear-mongering about the LGBTQ+ community infiltrating the national media.
Words have been weaponised, and their impact is becoming all too real.
Filmed entirely in Manchester, Tip Toe also stars Pooky Quesnel, Jackson Connor, Charlie Condou, and Denise Welch.
No doubt Tip Toe will be another seismic Russell T Davies moment when it’s finally released later this year and speaking to Metro at the Attitude 101 lunch, Davies revealed he has pulled out all the stops to get the five-part drama to screens imminently.
He told us: ‘We’re about halfway through the edit right now and we’re very excited, but we’ve got an edit team twice the normal size because we’re trying to get it edited as fast as we can so Channel 4 can show it as soon as possible – it’s got so much to say about the world today.’
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With the world in dire straits, LGBTQ+ rights rapidly moving backwards, and homophobia and transphobia becoming increasingly loud and alarmingly acceptable, it’s no surprise Davies is once again tackling the biggest threats to our community head-on.
‘It’s about a gay man living in Britain now. He’s got a neighbour who’s a straight man and is listening to all the stuff that’s being said online about the LGBTQ+ community so you name it, it’s in there,’ he said.
‘We’ve got trans actors in there, so that issue comes to the front sometimes. It’s not entirely about that, but it’s simply about modern life. You name an issue, it’s in there somewhere. It’s also a good laugh, though – it’s good fun and properly entertaining.’
A new Davies drama has never felt more urgent, particularly for trans representation on screen. Trans men and women are consistently cut out of conversations around their rights in mainstream media, and the roles afforded to them in drama are almost non-existent.
Davies stressed how important that representation is now and why it was essential in Tip Toe.
He said: ‘What we’re looking at now is terrifying. When you see Trump removing the Pride flag from the Stonewall site, I just despair. I mean, that’s both the ultimate and the most ridiculous thing – and what happens in America comes here. But you always have hope.
‘Television can turn things around, Heated Rivalry just took everyone by surprise, so I have hope.’
Marking his first original drama since It’s a Sin, Tip Toe is already one of the most anticipated television moments of 2026.
It’s a Sin quite literally changed lives when it aired during the tail end of the pandemic, encouraging thousands of gay men to get tested for HIV and likely changing the course of the disease’s spread in Britain. It was a stark reminder for some and a powerful education for others about the very recent Aids crisis that claimed thousands of lives in Britain and was, for many years, purposefully sidelined in public memory.
Tip Toe will no doubt be another monumental event when it airs on Channel 4 later this year.
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