Alan Cumming as Leo and David Morrissey as Clive in “Tip Toe.”Credit: Starz / Channel 4
Tip Toe is undeniably one the most talked-about TV shows of the year, with Russell T Davies’ powerful drama making headlines and dominating discourse in the UK when it hit Channel 4 in May.
Now, the Doctor Who and It’s a Sin showrunner’s series is streaming in the U.S. through Starz, with American audiences now able to take on the most tense television they’ll likely see this year.
Set in Manchester, a place close to Davies’ Queer as Folk heart, Tip Toeis essentially the tale of two neighbours. Alan Cumming is magnificent as Leo, a proud gay man who owns a bar on Manchester’s famous queer hub, Canal Street. For 15 years, he’s lived next door to Clive (an outstanding David Morrissey), an openly bigoted, straight family man who has become increasingly radicalised in the years they’ve been neighbours. And in the opening scene of Tip Toe, we see a chilling sight: Leo has been hanged outside their homes, Clive standing by in their street.
And from this horrifying scene, we jump back 10 days earlier, haunted by what’s to come, and how it could have possibly happened in 2026.
Tip Toecomes at a time when anti-LGBTQ hate, online disinformation and radicalisation, and extreme bigotry are having very real, violent impacts on queer people — in both countries. “Fifteen years ago, everything was fine; now it just feels like it’s ending,” Leo says in the show. “Every tiny little thing that’s happening, one by one, banning a book or removing a name or pulling down a flag. It seems like little things, but there’s a sort of violence behind it.”
Mashable sat down with Davies to unpack what it means for Tip Toe to reach U.S. viewers, the unfathomable hate and threats Davies endures daily as a visible gay activist and iconic LGBTQ showrunner, and why he decided to name Donald Trump in the first episode.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Shannon Connellan: Tip Toeis one the most talked-about TV shows of 2026. What has the public UK response been like for you?
Russell T. Davies:It’s been a big surprise. I thought it was a cheap, Northern, queer, niche show about two neighbors. Television is so loud and fuelled by testosterone these days, with great big crimes, detectives, and vistas of foreign lands, and I feared we disappeared. So, for a story like this, for those two actors to punch through like they have — the entire cast is magnificent, but really, those two are so good — it’s been a delight.
“In writing this, in saying what I believed about the state of the world, there was part of me hoping I was wrong.”
It’s also been a slight horror in that in writing this, in saying what I believed about the state of the world, there was part of me hoping I was wrong. I would love to be wrong, but actually, the amount of people agreeing with me, and especially in the queer community, especially in the streets of Manchester, the number of people saying “Yes, oh my God, isn’t it getting worse? I feel that too.” It’s been quite chilling — maybe a good thing, because maybe all we can do is try to fight against this. But I’ve definitely not been proved wrong. That’s a strange result in the end.
As you said, Tip Toe is essentially a story of two neighbours, the absolutely brilliant Alan Cumming and David Morrissey. And parts may have been drawn from your real-life experience?
It’s in two senses, actually. In Manchester, I work away a lot. I only became a writer so I could sit at home all day, and suddenly, over the past few decades, it’s just been traveling. So, in my absence, I was very wary of a parcel being left outside, the house looking empty, and then being robbed. So I gave my neighbor my front door key. Now, my neighbor was lovely, a man called Mike. He sadly died last year, and I miss him so much. He was always there, keeping an eye on the street, and he was a tough old bastard; I loved him. But he also started to let himself into my house while I was there. I’d be sitting watching television, sometimes about 10 o’clock on a Saturday night, the door would just swing open: “Hello, Russell.” Just to tell me that my gutter was blocked or a bit of gossip about Shirley next door.
There were no circumstances in which I would take that key back. But as a writer, that made me think of stories: What if I’d given my neighbour my key and then didn’t like him? We’ve all not got on with a neighbour at some point in our lives, or even if we’ve never argued with the neighbor, there are the strange shifting sands of that subtle relationship.
David Morrissey as Clive in “Tip Toe.”Credit: Starz / Channel 4
So, that’s the plot, but the story of the whole thing is simply my reaction to the state of the world, where it’s heading, and the rising tide of violence — and my particular fear that it is coming from the online world. We all know the online voice on these phones is full of anger, malice, misinformation, and disinformation, but it’s now visibly crossing into the real world. In the transition ofTip Toe, there were two men shot at a gay bar in Tucson, Arizona, and the murderer had a list of gay establishments in his pocket. It’s literally happening around us, on the streets. Anger online is crossing into the real world, which is genuinely alarming.
“As someone who’s often stood up for gay rights very visibly — I’m an activist as much as I can be — and particularly because I put trans characters into things, that’s set the targets of the crosshairs of the rifles on me.”
And as someone who’s often stood up for gay rights very visibly — I’m an activist as much as I can be — and particularly because I put trans characters into things, that’s set the targets of the crosshairs of the rifles on me, so that every day, every single day, I’m called a pedophile online. Every single day. There are people who have said that I’m grooming children. That’s become a natural thing to say online about me. I’m fine, I can cope with that. But you imagine that happening to the trans people out there who aren’t earning as much as me. They might be working in a bar. They might be living in a humble little flat in Manchester. No support. No backup. No defenses. And they’ve got to go through this much more ferociously than I ever have to suffer anything. So, that awareness just rose and rose and rose up on me until I had to write Tip Toe. It was as simple and as vital as that.
Itisvital. And it’s a tiny thing to say, but I’m sorry that you are dealing with that every day. That is horrendous.
Thank you, that’s very kind. That’s our world.
So, the name of the show Tip Toe comes through the character of Melba (Paul Rhys) in episode 1 . (“I used to walk into a room and say, ‘Ta-da!’ Now I tip toe, just in case.”)
Good ol’ Melba. I’ve never had a character so loved, never. I’ve written some nice characters in my time. In fact, people are obsessed with the lovely Paul Rhys. What a performance! We loved him so much, in the very last episode, he’s got a great big speech about croissants, which is a very funny speech. That didn’t exist originally. Then we started filming and everyone fell in love with him… So, I wrote that speech about croissants simply because we all love Paul Rhys so much.
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Actually, it’s your last chance to have a laugh in that episode. It’s a little tiny moment in a relentless, merciless episode that has no hope whatsoever. There’s a little shining moment of Melba being creative, imaginative, and funny that is your last gasp before you plunge into hell.
It’s also a different Melba from episode 1, when she and Leo are talking about whether LGBTQ hate will “come back,” and Melba is basically like, “Wake up, it’s here!” This idea of queer visibility is such an interesting concept in Tip Toe; as Leo says at the end of the series, “Did we get it wrong?”
It’s a hard one because visibility is absolutely what I fought for, and I’ve always believed that. I’ve done it with myself. Obviously, when I’m talking about these gay shows, I’ll talk about gayness, but in any interview, if you were interviewing me about being Welsh and what’s my favorite part of the Welsh countryside, I would drag the fact that I’m gay into the conversation absolutely deliberately, so that anyone out there being in the closet or not knowing themselves yet might be able to look at that and think, “Oh, you can just be out anywhere in any context.”
I have a lifelong belief in that being a good thing — until we get to 2026, where actually, my visibility is getting me called a pedophile and a groomer to the extent that I think, actually, is my life in danger? I’ve begun to have those thoughts. I think I’m fine, I honestly do. But the fact that as an adult man I can begin to question my safety, in Manchester, in 2026, is just frankly astonishing.
Alan Cumming as Leo in “Tip Toe.”Credit: Starz / Channel 4
So, having always believed in visibility, then there was Melba as my voice piece saying, what if we got that wrong? What if visibility simply allowed them to aim their weapons at us? Because we never imagined hatred becoming so weaponized and, particularly, monetized. That’s the problem. That’s the trap that we’re in now. It doesn’t matter what you’re voting — left wing, right wing, just doesn’t matter — because the technology is in charge, and it is merciless. It is simply out for money. Wow, what a world!
What a world! We see a lot of this online radicalisation through the character of Clive, a chilling performance from David Morrissey. We see him watch conspiracies and violent videos, and openly spout disinformation. Part of your script that hits really hard here is when Leo says, “You’ve known me for 15 years, and you don’t listen to me, but you listen to some dude that you’ve never never met on YouTube.” That’s such a real line.
Thank you. That was a good thing about them being neighbors actually, because you could quite easily write this drama about two men who just met, but I love the fact they’ve been neighbors for 14 years. But the world is changing around them, the way they start to see each other is changing, and that’s fascinating. You look at it going, what happened?
It’s a particularly dark take on technology. Clive soaks up every conspiracy theory and every death video he can possibly watch. And believe you me, when I was researching this, don’t let real deaths into your algorithm. Oh my God, the things I’ve seen. You begin to see how people are damaged by that, and see, it’s truly damaging material that you could be watching at eight years old. That’s the thing. Every technological innovation goes wrong in this, or takes a turn to the bad side.
Shon Faye, an incredible writer, in her book Love In Exile, talks about friendships across queer generations and how they’re policed by “by a dominant homophobic culture which has historically cast older queer people’s intentions as predatory.” And you really unpack this in Tip Toe with Leo’s connection with George (Clive’s teenage son, played by Jackson Connor).
It’s amazing how everyone you speak to says Leo is wrong to have that conversation with George, but three times in that conversation, he says, “Let me find someone else for you to talk to.” Then we see he says to Lucille, the other bar owner [played by Rae O’Brien], “Have you still got that youth group?” She says, “Yes.” He says, “Good, I’ve got a youth for you.” He’s clearly doing the right thing, and yet also I can see why everyone thinks it’s wrong. And you think, what if George was suicidal? There are plenty of suicidal children out there, and and actually a lot of damage has been done to George.
The experience of watching Tip Toe is just constant tension, which I feel like might have been your intention?
Absolutely, it is very much so. I think it’s the feel of wanting to hook an audience. We all watch thrillers and horror films. Sometimes it’s got that horror film vibe: things getting worse and worse and worse. Don’t open that door. Don’t go up that staircase. What’s going on in your house? What’s going on in your house when you’re not there? Those are horror tropes actually, and they work. They horrify us because they touch all your deep-seated fears about the safety of your house and who can you trust. Clive lives so close to Leo. He lives just through the wall, such a tiny distance.
I’m almost sorry that I’ve finished with “neighbors at war” with this show because I just think you could write this stuff forever. I’m amazed there aren’t more… It’s brilliant. We all have neighbors, we all live in these relationships, and we’re all slightly tense about them, so I would recommend that to any writers out there; go into “neighbors at war,” because it always works.
Obviously, this is a massive UK show, and now it’s arriving in the U.S., which is awesome that Channel 4 commissioned it and Stars has picked it up. The U.S. and UK share way too many similarities in terms of what’s happening to the rights of LGBTQ people. So how do you see Tip Toe landing with American audiences?
It works in the same way in the way that Queer As Folk worked over here. I mean, we’re very similar societies in that sense. It’s interesting to read a couple of major reviews have called those houses “apartments.” It’s interesting the way American eyes are seeing British architecture — how on Earth can you not see those as houses? I think there are tiny little questions like that. But really, love is love, and sex is sex, and gays are gays, and bigotry is bigotry, sadly, all over the world.
I think the issues will resonate. And most importantly, people come along to a drama to watch great actors. It doesn’t matter what I’m saying about whatever issues are afoot or whatever I think about the state of society. Come and watch Alan Cumming. Come and watch David Morrissey. Come watch the entire supporting cast. Some great young talent there.
“Love is love, and sex is sex, and gays are gays, and bigotry is bigotry, sadly, all over the world.”
So, you literally name Donald Trump in the show. Melba in episode one not only says, “The president of America has given men permission to attack us,” but said president is named. Why was it important to you to name Trump?
Because we’re living in history. He’s the greatest historical figure of our lifetimes, and I say that with absolute terror in my heart. We were at a screening in Los Angeles of Tip Toe, and there were a lot of gay men there, and just casually having a little chat afterwards over a glass of wine, one said, “Does Donald Trump make the news in Britain? Do you talk about him?” I looked at him with absolute horror, going, “He’s number one on the news every day.” Every day I get up and brush my teeth, I turn on the radio, and the bloody voice says, “Donald Trump said this. Donald Trump said that.”
My heart sinks to my boots every single day. We are terrified of him. I’m not sure America knows this, and I’m not quite sure they realize what we think of this country — while there might be one or two people supporting him, the vast majority look at America with absolute terror. There’s a line of dialog in Years and Yearswhere Russell Tovey says, “I never thought I’d be scared of America in a million years, but I am now.” Even worse, now we’re in the second presidency, and we’re terrified, literally waiting for that nuclear flash on the horizon because I believe it’s on its way.
I don’t think you’re wrong, unfortunately. What was the most challenging scene for you to write?
To be absolutely blunt, the mechanics of hanging someone, which I had to work out all on my own. I’m strangely delighted I got it exactly right… It just took a lot of plotting all the way through the show, and then going back and inserting things all throughout the script from the beginning.
But that’s just a technical challenge. If you have a car chase or if you have a monster in Doctor Who or something, there’s a lot of technical challenges. But it was more joy than challenges. I was sad that it was five episodes long, because I could have written 50 episodes of Leo and Clive talking together. You just see how much I’m enjoying writing it. That scene in towards the end of episode 1 where they sit down and discuss pronouns, eyes roll when you think, “Oh, it’s a pronoun discussion.” It’s possibly the most boring problem in the world and it’s so joyous, those two actors just rattled through it. [Tip Toe director] Peter Hoar’s so cheeky, he actually leaves a big pause in it for a round of applause. Alan Cumming does a great big speech, but there’s a pause — like Disney put in movies when you applaud the song. We had a great big screening at the British Film Institute, 500 people sitting in the audience, and he was right, he got a round of applause.
Really, Tip Toe seems like your most furious writing yet.
Yes, it is. In the end, there is no hope. I’ve never done that before. I was kind of made to. When I wrote Years and Years for the BBC, they insisted on some sort of happy ending, and I was like, OK. It’s A Sin was so sad in real life that you can’t leave people in absolute sadness — and in truth, a whole generation has survived HIV, so absolute sadness would have been the wrong note to end on. With this, it’s a very unusual final episode for me: There is no hope. And actually, even after the hanging, I think it gets worse when you get told what happens to some of those people. It’s really tough.
It’s notably wonderful in Tip Toe, Leo is living a full life with HIV, which is really beautiful to see, and that’s a nice reaction to It’s a Sin.
I was never able to show inIt’s a Sin that the medicine came along and saved lives, and now you can live a happy, healthy life with HIV. I was never able to do that. We begged Channel 4 to make a final episode set in the present day showing where everyone ended up, and they wouldn’t give us the money. So, in those situations, you just wait. I just quietly sat there and waited. And along came Leo, who could show that.
If you’re feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text “START” to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email [email protected]. If you don’t like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat. Here is a list of international resources.Recommended deals for you
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Shannon Connellan is Mashable’s Senior Editor, General Assignments, based in London. She has been Mashable’s UK Editor (and still manages the illustrious UK team) and Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives searching for Exit 8. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror, and loves to nerd outwith movie stars, filmmakers, and TV creators.
