Writer and producer Russell T Davies burst onto the television scene with his 1999 British series Queer as Folk. Since then, he’s gone on to become one of the most celebrated writers of British television.
Now he’ll be bringing a new series to the screen. Like previous works Queer as Folk, Bob and Rose, Cucumber and Banana, the new show will be set with the backdrop of Manchester’s Canal Street club life.
Tip Toe, follows electrician Clive, who has two teenage sons, and Leo, who runs a bar in the legendary queer district.
Davies said he was eager to return to writing a queer themed show because of the current global situation relating to LGBTOQA+ rights.
“This is a show I had to write because the world is getting stranger, tougher and darker, and frankly, the fight is on,” he said of the new project.
The 5-part series will air on Britain’s Channel 4.
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.
