'It's A Sin' Trailer: A New HBO Max Series From The Creator Of 'Queer As Folk'

HBO Max has unveiled the trailer for It's a Sin, a new series from writer Russell T Davies, creator of Queer As Folk. The series is set in 1981 and explores HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom. It's a Sin originated in the UK, where it's currently airing on Channel 4. It'll make its way to the US via HBO Max next month. Watch the It's a Sin trailer below.

Set in 1981, It's a Sin follows Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin (Callum Scott Howells), who leave home at 18 and head "off to London with hope and ambition and joy... and walking straight into a virus that most of the world ignores. Year by year, episode by episode, crossing the whole decade, their lives change as the mystery of that illness starts as a rumor, then a threat, then a terror, and then something that binds them together in the fight."

The series is further described as "the story of their friends, lovers and families too, especially Jill (Lydia West), the girl who loves them and helps them, and galvanizes them in the battles to come. Together they will endure the horror of the epidemic, the pain of rejection and the prejudices that gay men faced throughout the decade...There are terrible losses and wonderful friendships. And complex families, pushed to the limit and beyond. This is a series that remembers the boys we lost, and celebrates those lives that burned so brightly."

It's a Sin hails from RED Production Company and co-commissioner Channel 4, and distributor All3Media International. It's written and executive produced by Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk, A Very English Scandal, Years and Years) with Nicola Shindler (Happy Valley, The Stranger) also executive producing. Regarding the series, Davies said: "It's taking a long time to get on air. It was a hard sell, you know. That's why it went round various channels and was turned down, at least twice if not three times. Genuinely, because it's about people dying. It's a tough piece of work. And I can't sit here now with any guarantee that people will watch it – it'll be really interesting to know."

Davies added that the plan was originally for an eight-part series, but that got changed to four parts. Eventually, the final version that's now arriving runs for five episodes. "You kind of have to realize the problem with making dramas now – if it doesn't have a spaceship or a monster or a chase in it, you get a lower budget – so it shrank," Davies added.

All five episodes of It's a Sin will arrive on HBO Max on February 18.