It’s a Sin reveals more about the Pink Palace

So it’s not surprising that his hugely anticipated new series It’s a Sin, which deals with the impact of Aids, features a very impressive cast, including Keeley Hawes, Shaun Dooley, Stephen Fry and Tracy Ann Oberman.

It seems even the frontman of the band Years & Years wants to work with the man behind the TV series Years and Years, as It’s a Sin hands a leading role to singer Olly Alexander.

Olly says: “I feel like the luckiest boy in the world to be a part of this project, I’ve been a fan of Russell T Davies ever since I watched Queer as Folk in secret at 14 years old.

His work helped shape my identity as a gay person so I’m absolutely over the moon we’ll be working together.

The script was amazing to read, I laughed and I cried a lot, it’s a privilege to be helping to tell this story and I’m so excited.”

He’s not the only who’s thrilled to be involved in the series.

It turns out Russell is also a hit on the other side of the Atlantic, as It’s a Sin was able to bag Neil Patrick Harris of How I Met Your Mother fame.

Neil Patrick says: “I’m so pleased, and incredibly proud, to be a part of Russell T Davies’ new series.

“This drama, It’s A Sin, is two things: it is an irresistible, funny, jubilant story of young people discovering their true identities and the unalloyed joy of living life to the fullest, it is also a deeply resonant exploration of a decade when so many of these lives were cut short by the devastating effects of the nascent AIDS pandemic.

“Russell’s scripts chart the highs and lows of this time so beautifully and deftly. It’s an honour to help tell this story.”

It all begins in 1981, as 18-year-old Ritchie Tozer (Olly Alexander), leaves the Isle of Wight to go to the big smaoke and university life.

He’s not the only experiencing a big change.

In London, Roscoe Babatunde (Omari Douglas) walks out of his home after his parents make a shocking discovery, and Colin Morris-Jones (Callum Scott Howells) arrives from Wales, to start a new career as an apprentice on Savile Row.

The trio become great friends, and their gang eventually expands even more to include the faithful Ash (Nathaniel Curtis) and Ritchie’s college pal Jill (Lydia West), who doesn’t pull her punches but becomes the rock the others really rely on.

Together the five 18-year-olds they move into a flat, which they christen the Pink Palace, where they can start to discover their true identities and who they really are.

It’s undoubtedly an exciting time, but a threat is looming on the horizon (a distant disease threatens their future), which means their newfound freedoms and lives may become even more precious, challenging and life-changing - to say the least!