Traitors host Alan Cumming announced as lead of Russell T Davies’ new LGBTQ+ drama Tip Toe

The Traitors US host and Cabaret star Alan Cumming is set to lead Tip Toe, a new Channel 4 drama from It’s A Sin creator Russell T Davies.

BAFTA and Emmy award-winning actor Alan Cumming will star in the new series as the “vivid, funny and dynamic” Leo, who owns a bar called Spit & Polish in Manchester’s Gay Village.

Alan Cumming will star alongside Sherwood and Daddy Issues actor David Morrissey as Clive, Leo’s “unsmiling and troubled” nextdoor neighbour.

Tip Toe, a five-part series which has just begun filming, will follow the long-time neighbours as they become “deadly enemies” as “opinions are radicalised” and “prejudices” seep back into Britain.

“The five-part series will follow Leo and Clive who have lived next door to each other in Manchester for almost 15 years,” reads the official synopsis.

“But just as life should be settling down, the world around them is growing more tense. 

“Words become weapons, opinions become radicalised, and gradually, two neighbours become deadly enemies in a tense, suburban thriller which challenges everything we consider to be safe.

“The series, populated with a cast of vibrant characters and underscored with Davies’ trademark wit and deft humour, is an urgent tale that brings a spotlight to bear on the prejudices which are creeping back into our lives.”

Tip Toe was announced back in February, with Davies stating that he wanted to make a drama about “the most corrosive forces facing the LGBTQ+ community today”.

The thriller will also star Moonflower Murders star Pooky Quesnel as Clive’s wife Marie, while Masters of the Air star Jackson Connor and The Map That Leads To You star Joseph Evans will play his sons, George and Saul.

Lost Boys & Fairies actress Elizabeth Berrington will play Leo’s best friend Stephanie, while Hollyoaks‘ Iz Hesketh and CATS star Shakeel Kimotho will play Zee and Hanna, who work at Leo’s bar.

Wednesday actor Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo will play the bar’s manager Judy, and Doctor Who actor Charlie Condou will play Leo’s ex-husband Curtis.

Loose Women presenter Denise Welch will also feature.

In a statement, Cumming said that he had been wanting to work with Doctor Who writer Davies for 20 years.

“The best things in life are worth waiting for, and the best people. Russell T Davies and I have been trying to work together for over 20 years.

“Now, not only are we working together but doing so with one of my dearest, oldest friends, Dave Morrissey, and in a piece of work I think is so brilliant and prescient and necessary. I don’t say this lightly, but this is truly an honour.”

In a Channel 4 video announcing the cast, Davies described Tip Toe as the “toughest thing” he had “ever written”.

“It’s just everything I think about the modern world, everything that’s boiling up in us today every time you watch the news, every time you speak to your friends or your family or have a debate about what’s happening, all rising up in the shape of a suburban thriller,” he said.

Russell T Davies is best known for his string of groundbreaking LGBTQ+ dramas, frequently set in Manchester, including Queer As Folk, It’s A Sin, and Cucumber.

A release date for Tip Toe has not yet been announced.

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