Channel 4 stands on Tip Toe
FIRST LOOK: Channel 4 has released the first images from Tip Toe, a new drama from Russell T Davies, as filming enters its final week with stars Alan Cumming and David Morrissey.
The five-part series sees Cumming play Leo: vivid, funny and dynamic, the owner of a bar called Spit & Polish in Manchester’s Gay Village. Morrissey is Clive, Leo’s unsmiling and troubled next-door neighbour.
Leo and Clive have lived next door to each other in Manchester for almost 15 years. But just as life should be settling down, the world around them is growing more tense. Words become weapons, opinions become radicalised, and gradually, two neighbours become deadly enemies in a tense, suburban thriller which challenges everything we consider to be safe.
The series is described as “an urgent tale that brings a spotlight to bear on the prejudices which are creeping back into our lives, in a story that speaks not just to the queer community but to the world today.”
Filmed entirely in Manchester, the series also stars Pooky Quesnel as Clive’s wife Marie; Jackson Connor as Clive’s youngest son George; Joseph Evans as George’s older brother Saul; Elizabeth Berrington as Leo’s best friend Stephanie; Iz Hesketh as Zee and Shakeel Kimotho as Hanna, who both work at Spit & Polish; Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo as the bar’s manager Judy; Paul Rhys as Melba, a Canal Street fixture,;Charlie Condou as Leo’s ex-husband Curtis; and Denise Welch as Diane.
Tip Toe will be produced by Quay Street Productions, with Nicola Shindler (Queer as Folk, It’s A Sin), Russell T Davies (It’s a Sin, Queer as Folk), Peter Hoar (Queer as Folk, It’s A Sin) and Alan Cumming as executive producers.
The series is produced by Phil Collinson (It’s A Sin, Gentleman Jack), directed by Peter Hoar and is cast by Andy Pryor (Doctor Who, It’s A Sin).
ITV Studios will distribute the show internationally.
tagged in: Alan Cumming, Channel 4, David Morrissey, ITV Studios, Quay Street Productions, Russell T Davies, Tip Toe