‘It’s A Sin’ writer and star talk Canal Street in unreleased Manchester Pride interview
The conversation - shot in August 2020 for Superbia Sunday - sees Davies discuss his Queer as Folk series based in Manchester's Gay Village - with the writer expressing his love for the scene as a safe, gay space.
Manchester Pride has released an old interview featuring It’s A Sin star Nathaniel J. Hall interviewing the show’s writer Russell T. Daviesas part of last year’s festival.
The conversation – shot in August 2020 for Superbia Sunday – sees the duo discuss Davies’ Queer as Folk series based in Manchester’s Gay Village, with the writer expressing his love for the scene as a safe, gay space.
Davies also chats about Dr Who, Game Of Thrones, Harry Potter and Billie Piper during the interview – before diving into his then-upcoming series It’s A Sin (which stars Nathaniel as Donald – a boyfriend of lead character Richie Tozer).
Russell’s long writing career has tackled a plethora of subjects – with credits including Coronation Street, Torchwood, Cucumber, Banana and Tofu.
Some of his work has been set in Manchester including Queer as Folk – which catapulted Gay Village onto the small screen in 1999 and portrayed the rainbow-draped stretch of the city as a romantic escape.
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Davies says in the interview: “I didn’t think it was possible to write about [Canal Street] and then I turned around and realised that I had 20 years of going out and clubbing and watching that scene.
“I had always loved going out on Canal Street, obviously but I love going out on my own.
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“If I bumped into friends I used to say ‘oh go away!’ I would change clubs to be on my own. I realised afterwards it was like research – I used to stand at the railing of Cruz 101 and watch everyone dancing, and I’d be watching such a magical space.
“You’re watching – even now today – a space that people escape to. You know, the heat and the light and the cigarette smoke and the noise, and you’re just watching people dancing thinking: ‘You’re a bank clerk normally, you’re in the closet, you can’t be out to your mum and dad, you know, but you’ve come here and you are yourself.’
“What a dramatic place!”
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Davies says there’s “true romance” to be found on Canal Street – which he calls a place of “liberation”.
“You are yourself and sometimes you’re not yourself you can go and be a completely different person,” the writer explains.
“Sometimes you construct a self to go down there.
“I’ve always said I think it was a matter of time before someone would put that on screen, and a matter of time before a gay drama came along and I’m so glad it was me.”
You can watch the whole conversation on YouTube here.
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Huge bakery chain Gail’s confirms move to Prestwich – but spells village’s name wrong in signs
Daisy Jackson
After months of swirling rumours, bakery group Gail’s has finally confirmed it’s moving to Prestwich – but locals have spotted a glaring error at the first hurdle.
The popular artisan bakery will be moving onto Bury New Road, right in the heart of the suburb and directly opposite the new Rudy’s pizzeria.
Prestwich locals have been hearing whispers of a Gail’s arriving for a few months, and finally the London-founded cafe has stuck up signs to confirm it’s on the way.
But the sign contains one crucial mistake – it’s spelled Prestwich wrong.
The red window displays now read ‘Hello Preswich. We’ll be baking here soon’.
One local messaged Gail’s to point out the error and to say it’s ‘not a great first impression for the locals…’.
Gail’s has since confirmed it’s in the process of fixing the signs.
The arrival of both Gail’s and Rudy’s has already caused a stir in Prestwich, which has always been fiercely independent and has only a handful of chains within it (Greggs and Costa are perched by the tram stop).
In fact, one local business-owner shared a moving statement about his concerns for the future of local businesses just a few weeks ago.
Gail’s has confirmed it’s opening a bakery in Prestwich. Credit: The Manc Group
First formed in the early 1990s as a wholesale-only operation, Gail’s opened its first cafe on Hampstead High Street in 2005.
Today the brand has more than 100 sites spread across London, Oxford, Brighton and further afield, and is known more as a customer-facing cafe and bakery.
It’s famed for its freshly-baked loaves, cinnamon buns, ham and cheese croissants and coffees, and is likely to go down a storm in Prestwich.
But the signs have been causing a bit of a stir in the wrong way this weekend – in a local Facebook group, one person commented: “Not locals who own it then.”
Another described it as an ‘epic fail’.
And one person said: “Oh the DRAMA of it all.”
Someone else joked: “I cannot wait for Gais to come to Preswich.”
Met Office issues snow warnings for large parts of northern England from this evening
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester could be waking up to a winter wonderland as weather warnings for snow and ice have been issued across northern England.
Expected to arrive anywhere from 6pm this evening (18 November) and last until around 10am tomorrow morning (19 November), the Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice for large parts of northern England – indicating that “snow may bring disruption to a central swathe of the UK during Monday night and Tuesday morning”.
Weather forecasters say that although most snow is likely to accumulate on higher ground, with five-10 cm on ground over 200 metres, and possibly 15-20 cm over 300 metres, there is a chance that snow may settle at lower levels “within the warning area”.
The Met Office also said that this possible five-10 cm at lower levels is likely to be “more disruptive”, particularly if travelling and if the snow coincides with rush hour, but the likelihood for that is still “uncertain” at this stage.
Greater Manchester could see snow from this evening as the Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning / Credit: Geograph | Pexels
As the rain, sleet, and snow begin to clear on tomorrow morning, ice may form on surfaces that are untreated.
“We have issued yellow warnings for snow and ice as cold weather moves in from the north,” explained Andy Page, who is a Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office.
“This brings snow showers and some ice to parts of Scotland on Sunday night, and then the potential for a spell of snow to lead to disruption to some transport routes across a central swathe of the UK on Tuesday morning.”
⚠️ Yellow weather warning UPDATED ⚠️
Snow & ice across southern parts of Scotland, northern England, the Midlands and north Wales
In addition to the severe weather warnings, a Cold Health Alert has also been issued by the UKHSA, and it covers the north of England and the Midlands right through until Thursday.
The Manc -
10th February 2021 
