Russell T Davies has shared the heartbreaking storylines he considered for two of the It's A Sin's most prominent characters.
The show's creator has revealed he initially hoped his acclaimed AIDS-focused series would have eight episodes, giving him more space for character development.
He intended to use this to extend the plots of both Roscoe and Jill, with heartbreaking changes in the plotlines of the much-loved pair.
Speaking on Damian Barr's Literary Salon, he said one episode would be a timehop forwards, in which we would have seen Jill at 55.
Russell said: "She's still working in mental and sexual health. It's too long a story to describe, but you get the feeling that she's trapped in that world, actually."
Jill would return to Ritchie's home on the Isle of Wight for the first time since his death, and reconnect with his mother and sister.
By then Ritchie's mum would be in a care home, where she would tell Jill about the "sexual abuse at the heart of the Tozer household."
While in the hit Channel 4 show flamboyant, lovable Roscoe escaped catching HIV, in the extended version that would have changed.
The plot would have seen him reconnect with Jill, only to reveal he had contracted HIV in middle age.
Russell said: "You know, 50 years old and he's got the virus having escaped it all those years."
While Russell never wrote these episodes, he had his vision for the storyline before pitching it to telly executives.
The Doctor Who and Queer As Folk writer drew on his own youth to create the gripping drama about a group of young mostly gay friends enjoying life together in London at the start of the 80s.
