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Success was hardly guaranteed for Tip Toe. The new drama from the prolific, BAFTA-winning scribe Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk, Doctor Who) ranks among the most visceral, discomfiting and uncompromising watches you’ll see on TV this year. The first episode opens with the literal hanging of an affable gay man named Leo (Alan Cumming) outside of his flat in Manchester. Over the five hours that follow, the series tracks what led to the tragedy — specifically, his complicated relationship with his resentful, bigoted next-door neighbor, Clive (David Morrissey).
The strength of the show is that it operates on levels beyond the polemical — Clive is a three-dimensional man in his own right, a working-class husband and father crushed by modern capitalism and alienated from generational shifts. Leo, who runs a gay bar, is a loving guy who holds his beliefs so closely, he can be as much of a provocateur as an advocate. In that nuance, Morrissey and Cumming — in his richest dramatic role in some time, taking a break from his Emmy-winning Traitors hosting gig — give vivid performances achingly rooted in the here and now. They’re supported by queer and trans performers similarly given the space to go big and dig deep.
