Alan Cumming and David Morrisey will star in a new series from Queer as Folk creator Russell T Davies. Tip Toe has just begun production in the UK.
In the five-part series, Cumming plays Leo, the funny and dynamic owner of a bar called Spit & Polish in Manchester’s Gay Village.
Morrissey plays Clive, an unsmiling and troubled man who has lived next-door to Leo for almost 15 years.
The show is the fourth LGBTIQA+ themed series that Davies has set in Manchester following Queer and Folk, Bob and Rose and the twin series Cucumber and Banana.
The 5-part series will air on Britain’s Channel 4.
Cumming has recently been hosting the US version of The Traitors but he has a long list of television projects under his belt including The Good Fight, The Good Wife, Schmigadoon, The L Word, and many others. He recently worked with Davies on the most recent series of Doctor Who where he voiced animated character Mr Ring-a-Ding.
David Morrisey also worked with Davies on Doctor Who when he guest starred on the program’s 2008 Christmas special. He’s had memorable roles in State of Play, Blackpool, The Walking Dead, and the recent mini-series Prime Target.
Additional cast members for the new show include Pooky Quesnel, Jackson Connor, Joseph Evans, Elizabeth Berrington, Iz Hesketh, Shakeel Kimotho, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Paul Rhys, Carlie Condou, and Denis Welch.
Russell T Davies has become one of the most in demand writers and producers in the UK with a long line of successful productions on this CV.
Davies has had an impressive career to date. After the success of the British version of Queer as Folk, the show was remade in the USA in 2000 and a new version was launched in 2022.
In 2001 he delivered another series set in Manchester, Bob and Rose. Starring Alan Davies and Lesley Sharp it told the story of a gay man who falls in love with a woman.
In 2015 he brought us the interlinked series Cucumber and Banana. Both were set in Manchester, Cucumber told the story of a gay man having a midlife crisis, while Banana dived deeper into some of the stories of subsidiary characters whose lives were interwoven through the weekly series.
More recently Davies got high praise for his drama It’s a Sin which powerfully depicted the journey of the LGBTIQA+ communities in London in the early days of the AIDS crisis.
Along the way he’s also brought us many other outstanding series including Second Coming, Cassanova, A Very English Scandal, Nolly, and Years and Years.
In 2005 he brought British series Doctor Who back to television screens, and created the spinoff shows Torchwood and The Sarsh Janes Adventures.
He left Doctor Who in 2010 but returned to the showrunner position in 2023 for two series featuring Ncuti Gatwa, spin-off series The War Between the Land and the Seas is expected to be released next year.
