Russell T Davies Returns with ‘Tip Toe’, a Chilling New Suburban Thriller
Russell T Davies has a new show in the works, and the premise alone should put British TV on notice. The man doesn’t miss.
Channel 4’s drama account (@c4thedrama) announced ‘Tip Toe’ this week. It’s a suburban thriller set in Manchester. It comes from the man behind Queer as Folk, It’s a Sin, and the 2005 Doctor Who revival. The tagline driving the whole thing: “What if they see us and they still don’t like us?” That’s not feel-good TV. That’s dread dressed up in cul-de-sac clothing.
Davies doesn’t do safe. That’s a fact about him at this point. His work goes straight for the emotional gut-punch. Think young men dying of AIDS in 1980s Britain. Think families falling apart. Everyone around them pretends not to notice. A suburban thriller from him isn’t going to be some cozy whodunit in a nice garden. This is going to sting.
Channel 4 is keeping things tight. Davies’ name and that tagline are doing all the heavy lifting.
Manchester as a backdrop isn’t accidental. Davies filmed Queer as Folk there in the late ’90s, and the city has pulled him back more than once. Something about its mix of the ordinary and the urgent fits the stories he tells. Stories about people performing normalcy for their neighbors, about fitting in versus being truly accepted, land differently on those streets. That’s his territory.
The tagline is what gets you. It isn’t a question about invisibility. It’s about what happens after visibility. Do everything right. Show up. Let them look. Still not enough. That’s a scarier place to land than simply hiding. For a thriller, that’s a sharp psychological hook.
Channel 4 described the show as “coming soon.” That suggests it’s further along than an early-stage development tease.
His last major Channel 4 project, It’s a Sin, landed in 2021 and became one of the most-watched Channel 4 dramas on record. It was the kind of show that got people calling their families. He followed that with a high-profile return to Doctor Who at the BBC. Coming back to Channel 4 with a thriller is a real gear change, and that tagline suggests he’s going somewhere darker.
‘Tip Toe’ is coming to Channel 4. No date yet. Start making room on your watchlist.
