'Around then, we began hearing that a lot of gay men were dying in America. The first recorded death in the UK from an AIDS-related illness was in December 1981. But when I was with my theatre friends, it was the real me.' 'If they talked about women, I'd just nod and go along with it. As he grew more confident in himself, he was 'bursting' to be up front with them but always held back. He talks fondly of the liberating feeling of finding an open-minded community of people in and around the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone, where he was safe to express himself for the first time.Ī child of the Windrush generation, he had had a religious upbringing Balham was still home, however, the place where he played his football with close friends who all thought he was straight. Pitter's first visit to the famous nightclub Heaven, under the arches of Charing Cross railway station, was in 1981. 'I've instantly related to those characters - I was the same age at that time, hanging around with new people, going out on the gay scene.' 'The TV series has been great drama and a great reminder,' he says. He is speaking to Sky Sports to share some of his memories, sparked not only by the interest in British culture and society in the 80s and 90s generated by 'It's A Sin' but also with a nod to LGBT+ History Month and the Football v Homophobia campaign's annual month of action.
