Russell T Davies' Tip Toe starts tonight on Channel 4 and it is a wake-up call

Russell T Davies' new Channel 4 drama Tip Toe starts tonight and it is not comfortable viewing

Alan Cumming plays a gay bar owner on Canal Street whose feud with his conservative neighbour escalates into something shocking. Davies says what happens is already happening.

Russell T Davies has described Tip Toe, his new five-part drama for Channel 4, as Queer as Folk getting the Years and Years treatment. That framing is accurate and also deeply unsettling, because what he means is: something warm and joyful and specifically queer, being slowly consumed by the politics of right now.

The show opens with a harrowing scene on a residential street in Manchester, then rewinds to tell the story of how things got there. Leo, a vivacious gay bar owner on Canal Street played by Alan Cumming, and Clive, his conservative electrician neighbour played by David Morrissey, begin with everyday friction that escalates through five episodes into shocking violence. The show draws directly on the rhetoric that equates gay men with child abuse, an old slur that has been finding its way back into mainstream political discourse over the last three years.

Peter Hoar, who directed It's a Sin, is back working with Davies again. The combination of that team and this material is exactly as urgent as it sounds.

Davies said the project would not have felt timely if it looked five years ahead. "This is literally happening to us now." Cumming was direct about what he hoped the show would do. "Hopefully, it will be a wake-up call. I really think that's what the purpose of this is, to say: look what is happening and let's have a chat."

Tip Toe starts tonight at 9pm on Channel 4.

All five episodes are also available to stream now on Channel 4 streaming.