Channel 4's Tip Toe: Progressives must be vigilant or risk everything
Connor Summerell • Society & Culture • 2 minute read
Image: Andrew Keymaster / Unsplash
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I started writing this article having finished the final episode of Channel 4’s Tip Toe not 15 minutes ago.
From the first episode, the show’s creator, Russell T. Davies, weaves gripping storytelling into a tapestry of social commentary that acts as a perfect contemporary supplement to two of his other works, Queer as Folk and It’s a Sin.
The main character, Leo, is a gay man in his late fifties. He represents the older portion of the queer community who have endured all the bruises and scrapes that 60 years of fighting, from legalisation to contemporary battles. Through this period, he has obtained a sense of certainty not only in his own worldview, but that the arc of history bends towards progress.
His older friend, Melba, provides a powerful antidote to this complacency. Often using powerful monologues, he stands as a living source of memory of what has been in Britain, social attitude-wise, since the 1990s, as well as a reminder of what awaits if social progressives do not become more vigilant and active.
The other central character is electrician Clive, who lives next door to Leo with his wife and two sons. He represents the opposite extreme of British society. Social conservatism, conspiracy-thinking, Brexit-voting.
Throughout the show, we see him both struggle to find his place in society and unveil his outlandish views, such as that HIV does not exist and that the LGBTQ+ movement is one of indoctrination. As he is exposed to different elements of modern society (his elder son is an OnlyFans model and his younger son is gay), he becomes increasingly agitated, desperate for someone to blame. Leo ultimately becomes that someone.
Image: Wilhelm Gunkel / Unsplash
Then there is the eccentric list of side characters, each teaching us their own lesson. Clive’s eldest son Saul highlights the growth of digital sex work and the modernal capitalist attitude of ‘I don’t care who watches as long as I get paid’. Then his younger son, George, represents the plight of young queer kids in 2026 who grow up in a household where they know it is not safe to come out. Sex and relationship education within schools lags behind our modern times; it is understandable that George turned to his much older neighbour as his source of support. Finally, there is Zee, a symbol of the latest battle we social progressives must fight: the battle for trans rights. Through this entire show, she is shown to be courageous, caring, and a defender of all of those around her. She exemplifies solidarity and acts as an example we should all follow.
Every element... paints an eerily true picture of the dangers the Queer community faces
The last episode of Tip Toe is difficult to watch. While the conclusion is no secret (after all, it is shown in the opening of the first episode), its execution is grotesque. We see how a series of coincidences, misunderstandings, and bigoted opinions culminate in the hanging of a perfectly innocent man from a lamppost outside his house. The perpetrators were not hardened criminals, but instead drunk hooligans who fed off each other’s bigoted and heathen energy until it was too late.
It is a shocking scene that will stay with me for a long time. Every element, from the herd mentality to the brutal escalation as well as the silence of young George, paints an eerily true picture of the dangers the Queer community faces in the 2020s. It has left no doubt in my mind about what we now face. It is the crystallisation of our raging battle, and a stark reminder for all open-minded social progressives to remember both what and who we are fighting. As we see the rise of the far-right and their archaic desire to drag us back to an even darker time, Tip Toe makes it ironically clear we need to remain on our feet. Complacency will not do.
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•Published: 17/09/26
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