‘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.
News
Record 29 million people expected to drive home for Christmas this year
Emily Sergeant
Drivers are being told to prepare for long queues, as a record number of festive trips are predicted across the UK ahead of the big day.
With the festive season generally known to make the roads nationwide busier than usual, travel warnings have now been issued to all those making Christmas getaway trips for the holidays – with an annual study by the RAC and INRIX suggesting that 29 million journeys are planned before Christmas Day arrives.
Nearly half of these journeys (14.3 million) are set to be crammed into this coming weekend.
But, as Christmas falls mid-week this year, the figures suggest there will be an extended period of ‘pre-Christmas panic’ on the roads, with 5.7m trips taken yesterday and today alone.
The true festive getaway kicks off tomorrow (20 December), with an expected 3 million trips on this day, before the figure then jumps up to 3.7 million and 2.9 million this coming weekend (Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 December) – which is the final weekend before the big day itself.
A record 29 million people expected to drive home for Christmas this year / Credit: Geograph
By far the single busiest day, however, has to be Christmas Eve, with 3.8 million separate getaway journeys expected by car, on top of the final flurries of commuter traffic.
To make matters worse for everyone, the RAC’s research has also revealed that a further 4.7 million trips are expected at some point between the 20 and 22 December, and 2.5 million on either the 23 or 24 December, all coming from motorists who haven’t yet decided which day they’ll travel.
When it comes to the best and worst times to travel over the festive period, the research has revealed that the worst time to travel along major routes will be between 1pm and 7pm, especially tomorrow and Saturday, so both the RAC and INRIX are suggesting that drivers set off early in the morning, or later in the evening when the heaviest of the traffic should have subsided.
After the big day, there are an additional 4.4 million trips predicted on Boxing Day and 3.8 million on Friday 27 December.
On these days, drivers are advised to avoid major roads during the hours of 10am to 3pm, which is when journeys are expected to take significantly longer than usual.
A third of Brits want police to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside
Emily Sergeant
A third of Brits support giving police powers to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside, a new survey has revealed.
Ahead of the festive travel season, where a record number of people are expected to hit the road and make journeys all across the UK over the next couple of days, the RAC has asked more than 2,500 drivers to give their thoughts on the state of the roads for 2024’s edition of the Report on Motoring, and found that tougher sentences were the most popular solution among motorists for tackling the problem of drink-driving.
With instances of drink-driving said to be responsible for the deaths of some 300 people in 2022 – which is when the latest data on this was collected – four in 10 motorists (38%) believe harsher sentences are the answer.
A third of drivers (33%) also support giving the police new powers to immediately disqualify drink-drivers at the roadside once they’ve been stopped.
A third of Brits want police to immediately ban drink drivers at the roadside / Credit – Vladimir Proskurovskiy (via Unsplash)
The idea that convicted drink-drivers should have alcohol interlocks, also known as ‘alcolocks’, fitted to their vehicles to prevent them driving if they have any alcohol in their system, was favoured by 32% of those questioned by the RAC.
A similar number of drivers (31%) also want to see roadside breathalyser testing increased.
When it comes to drug drivers, results from the RAC’s survey are a similar story, only higher – with almost two-thirds of all drivers (64%) supporting tougher sentencing for drug-drivers, and 56% saying they would like to see increased levels of roadside testing.
Just under half (49%) of motorists questioned want the police to be able to immediately disqualify drug-drivers at the roadside.
Speaking on the findings from the RAC’s survey, Chief Constable Jo Shiner, who is the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for roads policing, commented: “In policing, we see the damaging impact of drink and drug driving all too often, and every fatality or serious injury which happens as a consequence of this is completely avoidable.
“Driving under the influence of drink or drugs puts everyone at risk – individuals, families, businesses and whole communities.
The Manc -
10th February 2021 
