Russell T Davies’ Spectacular ‘It’s A Sin’ Smashes Records On All 4 Streaming
‘It’s A Sin‘, the astounding limited series drama from Russell T Davies, has been smashing records for Channel 4’s streaming service All 4 the broadcaster has announced.
From multi-BAFTA Award-winning writer Russell T Davies (‘Queer As Folk’, ‘A Very English Scandal’, ‘Years and Years’, ‘Doctor Who’), ‘It’s A Sin’ follows the story of the 1980s, the story of AIDS, and charts the joy and heartbreak of a group of friends across a decade in which everything changed.
Launching to critical acclaim on Friday 22nd January 2021 the entire series was made immediately available to stream on All 4, contributing towards its biggest ever week and month of viewing. All 4 achieved its biggest ever month of streaming with almost double the number of views compared to the same month last year (+91%) thanks to the huge success of the brand new five-part drama.
The series has already had 6.5 million views on All 4, making it the streaming services’ biggest ever instant box set, third biggest series to date and most binged new series ever. Episode one has become All 4’s most popular drama launch on record.
“The extraordinary performance of It’s a Sin is a reminder that powerful drama with something important to say about the world can also be commercially successful,” commented Ian Katz, Chief Content Officer. “It has also demonstrated how our strategy of box-setting shows on All 4 can bring a greater combined linear and digital audience to a show than a traditional release pattern. It’s been a key driver of All 4 viewing in a month that has seen our digital viewing on our own platforms up by more than 90% compared to the same period last year.”
In addition to the streaming numbers, during its debut week, Channel 4’s exclusive ‘It’s A Sin’ social content reached 4 million users across Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat whilst the show’s hashtag #ItsASin was seen by over 83m people. After seven days’ consolidation (taking account of time-shifted viewing on a TV over that period) the series’ launch episode pulled in an average audience of 3.3 million viewers and 14.5% share of the viewing audience. It’s impressive 18.4% share of 16-34-year-old viewers makes it Channel 4’s best drama launch for young viewers in three years (Since Kiri, Jan 2018).
If you have yet to see ‘It’s A Sin’, I wholeheartedly recommend you watch. It is a phenomenal drama, and possibly the best thing Russell T Davies has written to date. As with a lot of RTD’s work, the drama moves effortlessly from joyous and comedic to darkly tragic at a moments notice. There are points that will have you laughing away, and then a gut-punch pops up and will have you sobbing your heart out. It is tough to watch in places, but a beautifully profound and insightful look at a devastating and overlooked part of history.
There are outstanding performances from the new, young cast led by Olly Alexander, alongside Lydia West, Omari Douglas, Callum Scott Howells, and Nathaniel Curtis, whose futures I will be watching with great interest based on their work here. They are supported by an incredible cast of established actors including Keeley Hawes (Honour, Bodyguard, The Durrells, Line of Duty), Shaun Dooley (Gentleman Jack, Broadchurch, Woman in Black), Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Gone Girl, A Series of Unfortunate Events), Stephen Fry (Wilde, Gosford Park, Bones), and Tracy Ann Oberman (Friday Night Dinner, Toast of London, After Life).
The series is overseen at Channel 4 by Lee Mason, Commissioning Editor and Caroline Hollick, Head of Drama, RED Production Company (a STUDIOCANAL company) produce the drama with Nicola Shindler (Years and Years, Safe, Happy Valley, Queer As Folk, Cucumber) and Russell T Davies exec producing. Phil Collinson (Gentleman Jack, Good Omens, Doctor Who) serves as producer. The series is directed by Peter Hoar (Umbrella Academy, The Last Kingdom, Da Vinci’s Demons). All3media International are the global partner.
‘It’s A Sin‘ is available to stream right now on All 4, and I really urge you to go and watch.
