‘It’s A Sin’ star, Omari Douglas, on fashion, friendship, and the importance of queer communities
Welcome to CHEW THE FAT WITH…, our long-form profile series where we invite you to sit down with fashion’s next generation as they dig deep into their memories. To chew some fat - defined as an informal conversation brimming with small talk - we encourage you to pull up a chair and take a big old bite as we spill the tea on the life and work of the industry’s need-to-knows. Just remember to mop up after yourself.
Roscoe bursts into the dining room dressed to the nines in a fabulous crop top-mini combo to announce that he’s leaving home. “I’m going now thank you very much,” he declares to his conservative family whose mouths hang open in shock, “and if you need to forward any mail, I’ll be staying at 23 Piss Off Avenue London W F*ck. Thank you and goodbye.”
OMARI DOUGLAS, who plays Roscoe in It’s A Sin, confesses that his own exit at 18 when he moved to London from Wolverhampton wasn’t quite so dramatic. But it did trigger a style transformation nonetheless. “When I was 14, I used to be obsessed with Topman and those beaded necklaces and the t-shirts with the piping on them that was in a different colour,” he cringes. “Oh my god, what was I thinking? But I’ve always had style influences in my mind. Going to London, I saw more people who were fashion conscious as well. My style evolved because I found people who are in a similar consciousness to me.”
Finding your people is a theme that runs straight through the bleeding heart of It’s A Sin – if you haven’t watched it yet, what have you been doing? Russell T Davies’ 5-part drama follows a group of friends over a decade as AIDS ravages Britain. It was Douglas’ screen debut. He plays Roscoe, a young queer man who metamorphosises from shy builder to fabulous social butterfly to politician’s toyboy then back again – breaking free from the staid suits of London’s upper-echelon but not before pissing in Maggie Thatcher’s coffee.
Since airing on Channel 4 last month, the show has gone stratospheric. Did Douglas ever dream his first TV appearance would be such a dizzying success? “The magnitude of this whole thing and the response has been so overwhelming,” he beams. “It really knocks you for six. Physically it’s a strange thing to deal with, especially because it’s all coming through my phone.”
Credit: @philsharp
Last week, someone tagged Douglas in a Twitter thread. A young gay man had reached out to his uncle for the first time in years after seeing a queer Black man like Roscoe on screen in It’s A Sin. In the thread he shared photos of his uncle in the ‘80s followed by an emotional text exchange. Uncle and nephew are planning now to reunite in Brighton when the pandemic allows. The show brought them together again. “It was strange because the way his uncle dressed was so similar to Roscoe,” Douglas smiles. “He had dreads and make-up. He’s this beautiful, fabulous man. We’ve not seen characters like him represented on television before. That was really, really touching.”
It’s A Sin has touched the hearts of many viewers not least because those who lived through that period still remember it vividly. That must have brought a lot of pressure to the role, especially working alongside cast and crew members who have a first-hand experience of being gay in the ‘80s. “It felt like there was something dutiful about being part of it,” Douglas explains. “It's not a piece of entertainment to just be consumed. It's a memoriam in a way because we lost so many people to the epidemic and still do now.”
Last week some of the cast, including Douglas, spoke to Rupert Whitaker, the partner of the late Terrence Higgins (of The Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, that was founded in the aftermath of Higgins’ death from AIDS in 1982). Whitaker told the cast how strange and amazing it had been to watch the show because for so long it felt like his experience had been so personal and hidden away. It’s the first time the AIDS epidemic in the UK has been documented on our TV screens. Like many from his generation, Douglas first heard about HIV and AIDS through media and celebrities – Princess Diana shaking the hand, Freddie Mercury, Rent. “It was through the media that I was suddenly aware of the epidemic which proves just how important this show will be as part of that tapestry of our awareness of the disease.”
“History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself but it mirrors or shows glimmers.”
By the time the cast and crew wrapped up filming in January 2020, there were already rumblings of another health crisis on the horizon. Back then, no one could have predicted the immensity or longevity of the impact it would have on all of our lives. Some critics have compared the AIDS epidemic in the ‘80s to the coronavirus pandemic we are facing today, suggesting that the show’s ability to draw empathy from the viewer is related to our lives right now. Indeed, there are a few similarities. If you’re seeing hospitals, gloves, and masks on screen you could well be tuning into the six o’clock news but you could also be mid-episode of It’s A Sin. Douglas is wary of the temptation to group the two together though. “This pandemic wasn’t shied away from,” he sighs. “There hasn’t been the same level of prejudice or shame or lack of willingness to engage with the seriousness of the issue.” Say what you like about our government’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic, but they reacted much, much faster than they did when AIDS was killing off a generation of young gay men. COVID has been met with daily press conferences. AIDS was countered with censorship, misinformation, and devastating shame.
“At the time of the show, you couldn’t pick up your phone and go on Google so there was this lack of information,” Douglas continues. “Now we have access to Twitter but has there been an advantage in that? Social media is such a big source of misinformation. In the ;80s, misinformation was spread through word of mouth and now it’s online. History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself but it mirrors or shows glimmers. It’s a bit blurry. It’s not black and white at all.” The ‘all in this together’ stance that has been pedalled out to us since the start of the pandemic was starkly absent from conversations about AIDS in the ‘80s. The illness was fuel to the fire for homophobes with an us vs them attitude. Douglas hopes the show will cultivate more empathy. “It’s very easy to look at people who have been side lined and go, ‘that didn’t happen to me so I don’t need to connect with them’, but they’re just humans so I hope people connect with that and celebrate life. The show is a celebration of life as well.”
Credit: @philsharp
It’s A Sin revels in the glittering beauty and frenetic energy of queer nightlife and Roscoe is a club kid through and through. He dances lithely through pubs, clubs, and parties, kicking back against the cloistered shame and denial of his religious upbringing. Bathed in neon light and pulsing to the rhythm of ‘80s disco, queer friendships and communities are formed. Relationships are started, even if they never make it past one night. There’s comfort in coming together and shimmying away the shame. Nightlife is more than frivolous hedonism. It’s liberation. These scenes were a riot to shoot too. The sequence in Heaven was actually shot in Gorilla, Manchester, then kitted out with lights to make it look like the legendary London club. “That day was mad!” Douglas recalls. “There were cameras chasing us in the middle of this night club and we were dancing. It was completely crazy. It was a moment of pure, joyful madness!”
Clubs up and down the country have since had to close their doors. Growing up gay can be isolating enough without lockdown cutting off access to community spaces. “A lot of the isolation that queer kids feel is that their existence isn’t relatable,” Douglas says. “You see kids from so many different walks of life in the show. Even if you can identify with one thing, I think that can be a comfort.”
“We are out gay actors working in the industry and that’s the end of it. I feel liberated by this moment.”
Douglas and his cast members bring such moving authenticity to their characters. Davies consciously cast gay men in gay roles. The decision drew some criticism but Douglas says it like it is: “We are out gay actors working in the industry and that’s the end of it. I feel liberated by this moment. People haven’t seen themselves. People haven’t been able to be open about their sexuality as actors. I’m standing on the shoulders of so many other gay artists who have probably been pushed to one side for being open about their sexuality.”
It’s A Sin was certainly a landmark moment for Douglas, but overnight stardom looks a little different in lockdown. He’s mostly been giving talks to drama students over Zoom. He empathises with them, saying, “You can’t sit at home in your bedroom and learn. We need to connect and bounce off one another.” Many have testified to the importance of art and culture over the past year. Douglas enthusiastically echoes this sentiment once more. “Art and culture, telly and theatre and film and all these brilliant things that artists do are really, really important. We are really important people. People just need to remember that and know that there is light at the end. When it comes we will all be able to stand in that light and do great things together as this big, brilliant, amazing community.”