By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN?: Monday 18 May 2026, show airs on Channel 4 from Sunday 31 May 2026

Writer Davies may be best known for Queer As Folk and It’s A Sin but his new Channel Four drama Tip Toe is his 1st thriller, with a political edge and opens with Cumming’s Leo apparently hanging by his neck in a noose from a lamp post on a Manchester street.

• Read on for reasons including how Tip Toe promises to be a wild ride although we’ve no idea where it goes next

Leo’s story is set over the preceding 10 days and includes scenes in the Canal Street bar he runs and the suburban street in which he lives where he has nothing in common but a parting wall with his neighbour Clive played by David Morrissey (The End Of History, Royal Court).

Host Steph McGovern asks Davies what inspired him to write this and he says: ‘This is an emergency. There’s a crisis happening day after day. Everyone is being weaponised against. This is a story about the gay community but it could easily be about disabled people, women, straight white men who are feeling marginalised against. The temperature and dialogue is all driven by our phones – so I wrote this.’

We’ve only seen the first 2 episodes of this 5-part series about Cumming’s Leo approaching his 60th birthday but it airs from 9pm on Sunday 31 May and there’s a safe space outside BFI1 with comfortable chairs if the audience needs a breather.

Davies explains he got Tip Toe made by doing the thing he never does and approached Cumming to play Leo, attaching him to the project before pitching to a broadcaster.

Cumming explains in the Q&A following the 2 45-minute episodes: ‘I’d wanted to work with Russell for ages and nearly had a couple of times. This is about subjects that are really important to me. It gets more intense, gird your loins.

‘I’d actually known David for 40 years and we had been neighbours before.’

Morrissey adds: ‘We lived across the road from each other and have been friends for a long time. What was great was not only did we look after each other during filming but the entire production was looked after.’

Cumming adds: ‘This show talks a lot about what’s wrong with society, the normalisation of violence and hateful rhetoric for example, but what was incredible was working with so many young people on it who gave me hope for the future because they were so supportive and kind.’

While the material is difficult, there’s a real joy to the characters we meet with Cumming’s Leo in particular prone to exaggeration, fiercely sexual, sceptical about the trans debate and yet determined to give those he employs and in his chosen family the start in life they need that others may have denied to them.

Davies (Nolly, BFI Q&A) hints we might see more of Clive’s story in the episodes to follow and there are moments of kindness from him including installing a holder for a spare key and offering to do work for Leo while explaining the competition this manual labourer faces from legal migrants.

Paul Rhys plays ageing drag queen Melba who has the show’s most telling line: ‘I used to walk into a room and just go: ‘Ta-dah!’, now I Tip-Toe just in case.’

While elsewhere the fabulous Elizabeth Berrington (TV’s Lost Boys and Fairies) is Leo’s long suffering BFF.

Davies remains 1 of our finest writers, Tip Toe promises to be a wild ride and, although we’ve no idea where it goes next, we can’t wait to buckle up and enjoy it.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Channel 4 Where to watch
• Have you seen a Russell T Davies show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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