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Attitude Magazine Callum Scott Howells
It’s a Sin gave Callum Scott Howells the Aids history lesson he never received at school
Exclusive: TV newcomer Callum Scott Howells is set to win viewers’ hearts as It’s a Sin’s wide-eyed Welsh outsider Colin Morris-Jones. Here, the 21-year-old tells Attitude about sharing his first professional TV scenes with Neil Patrick Harris and why Britain’s education system is “deeply flawed”.
From Queer as Folk’s Vince (Craig Kelly) to Cucumber and Banana’s Dean (Fisayo Akindade), Russell T Davies has well-established a knack for creating endearing, loveable sidekicks as a foil for the more showy antics of his series leads – and audiences have long fallen harder for them than anyone else along the way.
In It’s a Sin Davies’ powerful new five-part Aids drama due to premiere on Channel 4 this Friday that character is Colin Morris-Jones, a wide-eyed Welsh teenager who moves to London to take on an apprenticeship at a Savile Row tailor and discovers the bright lights of Soho and the inhabitants of ‘The Pink Palace’ – Ritchie (Olly Alexander), Jill (Lydia West), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Ash (Nathaniel Curtis) – along the way.
Less forthcoming for Colin are the actual boys themselves, but the shy teen’s position as a slight outsider, more than a little wet behind the ears when it comes to the frenetic ‘80s gays scene, makes him an instantly sympathetic character as viewers get to grips with the world Davies’ creations inhabit.
For 21-year-old Callum Scott Howells, who was still in his final year at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama when he landed the role of Colin, the chance to make your TV debut in a Russell T Davies drama isn’t something he took lightly – even if he was only born the year Queer as Folk came out (gulp).
“I was chuffed to bits, it meant the world to me,” gushes Callum as he meets with Attitude via Zoom just before Christmas. “I’ve always dreamed of working with Russell. I just missed the Queer as Folk wave – Doctor Who was my big thing with Russell. Years and Years I loved.
“I remember tweeting ‘Russell T Davies’ is a genius, this show is amazing’, and my agent was like ‘Well, Russell’s casting this new drama and I saw your tweet – would you like to go up for it? And I was like ‘Yeah!’”
South Wales Valleys-born Callum, who in real life is every bit as enchantingly earnest as his on-screen alter-ego, describes the atmosphere on set as “a bloody riot – too much of a riot sometimes”.
While much of the coverage of It’s a Sin has focused on its (frankly mind-boggling) status as British TV’s first drama to Centre on the Aids crisis, there’s as much joy as there is tragedy over the course of the series.
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