Alan Cumming and David Morrissey drama Tip Toe reviewed ahead of Starz release
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have reviewed Tip Toe, Russell T Davies's five-part drama starring Alan Cumming and David Morrissey, which reaches Starz after airing on Channel 4 in the UK. Both praise its urgency and its lead performances.
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The story, neutrally told
LeftTip Toe, a five-episode limited series created and written by Russell T Davies, is coming to Starz after an initial run on Channel 4 in the UK earlier this year. VarietyLC “the five-episode limited series coming to Starz after an initial run on Channel 4 in the U.K. earlier this year” Read at Variety ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “Premiering on Starz after bowing across the pond on Channel 4 over the summer” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ LeftIt centres on Leo Struthers (Alan Cumming), the owner of a gay bar on Manchester's Canal Street, and his escalating feud with next-door neighbour Clive (David Morrissey), an electrician who is hostile to queer and trans people. VarietyLC “Manchester electrician Clive (David Morrissey) snarls at his next-door neighbor Leo (Alan Cumming), the owner of a gay bar on the city’s famous Canal Street” Read at Variety ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “the five-part miniseries centers on a gay bar owner who enters a rapidly escalating feud with his homophobic neighbor” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ LeftThe series opens with a flash-forward to Leo's body hanging from a lamppost, then jumps back 10 days to show how he got there; Peter Hoar directs all episodes. VarietyLC “The very first scene is a flash-forward to Leo’s lifeless corpse, dangling from a lamppost as Clive glares into the distance.” Read at Variety ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “jumps back 10 days to fill in the blanks of precisely how and why he wound up there” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗
LeftThe title comes from Melba (Paul Rhys), a retired drag queen who says he now tiptoes "just in case" amid a rising backlash; Leo, by contrast, asks, "What if they see us and they still don't like us?" VarietyLC ““Now I tiptoe, just in case.”” Read at Variety ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC ““What if they see us and they still don’t like us?”” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ LeftVariety's review calls the series a "searing parable" and reads Leo and Clive as figureheads for their tribes, set against post-Brexit malaise and resurgent xenophobia, with Trump's reelection cited as symptom and cause. It faults some "unrealistic risk-taking" by Leo and "deterministic plotting" but says the urgency of Davies's warning is acutely felt. VarietyLC “To the extent that Leo and Clive are figureheads for their respective tribes”““Tip Toe” relies on some unrealistic risk-taking on Leo’s part and other signs of deterministic plotting.” Read at Variety ↗ LeftThe Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han calls it "angry but empathetic" and "a cry of frustration that cuts right to the heart", praising Davies for treating characters as individuals rather than symbols, though she finds the supporting characters, notably Leo's friend Steph, less successful. The Hollywood ReporterLC “Angry but empathetic, frank in its darkness but refusing to wallow in it, Tip Toe is a cry of frustration that cuts right to the heart.”“He’s not always successful, especially with the supporting characters” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗
LeftBoth reviews praise the leads: Variety says Cumming dials back the camp of his Traitors hosting persona and Morrissey makes Clive "all the more terrifying for his specificity", while the Hollywood Reporter says Cumming "positively crackles with charm and wit" and that Morrissey excels at letting slips of vulnerability show beneath a scowl. VarietyLC “Cumming dials back the camp of his hosting persona on “The Traitors,”” Read at Variety ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “Cumming positively crackles with charm and wit as Leo the social butterfly” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗ LeftBoth place the series in Davies's body of work on queer life, naming It's a Sin; Variety also cites Queer as Folk, Cucumber and Years and Years. VarietyLC “First came “Queer as Folk,” a defiantly explicit ensemble from the turn of the millennium; then “Cucumber,”” Read at Variety ↗ The Hollywood ReporterLC “Davies (It’s a Sin) has yet to succumb to it.” Read at The Hollywood Reporter ↗
Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split.
Left2 outlets
- Framing
- Both outlets review the series as a timely, searing response to anti-queer backlash, praising Davies's writing and the lead performances.
- Emphasis
- Political and cultural relevance (Brexit, Trump, gender debates in Variety); character and performance detail and emotional impact (Hollywood Reporter).
- Leaves out or plays down
- No centre or right outlets covered it, so no contrasting view of the series' politics is available; neither review discusses viewing figures or UK reception.
- Charged language
- “searing parable”“Searingly Relevant”“Violent Bigotry”“blunt-force emotions”
- For example
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“a Searing Parable of Homophobic Backlash” — Variety
“Searingly Relevant Starz Drama About Violent Bigotry” — The Hollywood Reporter
Centre0 outlets
No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
Right0 outlets
No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.
What every side reports
- Tip Toe is a five-part Russell T Davies series coming to Starz after airing on Channel 4 in the UK.
- Alan Cumming plays gay bar owner Leo and David Morrissey plays his hostile neighbour Clive, in Manchester.
- The series opens with Leo's death and then goes back in time.
- Both reviews are positive and describe the series as urgent and timely.
Tip Toe other
Reviewers present Tip Toe as an angry, empathetic drama that offers no easy answers about queerphobic backlash.
“Tip Toe does not pretend to have answers.” — The Hollywood Reporter
““Tip Toe” is, in part, a call for empathy amid such dehumanizing rhetoric” — Variety
Alan Cumming person
Cumming is praised for playing Leo with charm and theatrical bravado that masks pain.
“Cumming positively crackles with charm and wit as Leo the social butterfly” — The Hollywood Reporter
“showing both the pain of Leo’s recent divorce and how he hides it behind theatrical bravado” — Variety
Left2 articles
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VarietyLC · · Opinion
Sympathetic Reads the series as an allegory of political backlash and a call for empathy, with minor criticism of its plotting.
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The Hollywood ReporterLC · · Opinion
Sympathetic Focuses on the emotional impact and the two leads, and on Davies's refusal to reduce characters to symbols.
Centre0 articles
No coverage yet.
Right0 articles
No coverage yet.
- 2 Oct 14:30 First VarietyLC Alan Cumming Sheds His ‘Traitors’ Kilt for ‘Tip Toe’, a Searing Parable of Homophobic Backlash: TV Review Opinion
- 2 Oct 17:48 +3h 18m The Hollywood ReporterLC ‘Tip Toe’ Review: Alan Cumming and David Morrissey Fire Up Russell T. Davies’ Searingly Relevant Starz Drama About Violent Bigotry Opinion
Times are when each article was published, or when we first saw it if the outlet gave no time.