‘It did feel like something we only saw on a screen. Now it’s here’: Jason Patel opens up about being attacked in London (EXCLUSIVE)
The actor shared his experience in Attitude and Channel 4's 'Tip Toe or Ta-Da' series, based on Russell T Davies' suburban thriller 'Tip Toe'
By Dale Fox
Actor Jason Patel has opened up about being attacked in broad daylight on a busy central London street, with no one stepping in to help.
The Unicorns star was speaking in the second film of Attitude and Channel 4’s digital series Tip Toe or Ta-Da, filmed in the Canal Street bar that serves as the real-world setting for Russell T Davies’ suburban thriller Tip Toe, which stars Alan Cumming as a gay bar owner whose simmering tensions with his next-door neighbour Clive, played by David Morrissey, eventually turn violent.
“I remember thinking, oh my God, this has really shaken me up. Maybe I can’t be myself wherever I am.”
He added that time spent in the US under Donald Trump opened his eyes to how quickly the political climate can shift, and he sees the same hostility now taking hold in the UK.
“It did feel like, oh, we just see this on a screen. But now it’s here, because people keep watching things and then they believe it.”
‘The more it went on, the more upset I got’ – retired nurse Dottie Shufflebottom on the misunderstanding of AIDS patients
He’s joined in the conversation by Dottie Shufflebottom, a straight woman and retired nurse who helped establish Manchester Mardi Gras in 1995, the event that would eventually become Manchester Pride.
She nursed people through the AIDS crisis and watched colleagues dismiss patients she felt deserved every ounce of care she could give. “I’d put my arms around them and say, don’t listen to them.”
In her chat with Patel, Shufflebottom talks about the treatment she witnessed gay men on AIDS wards receive, saying: “I worked in recovery for the main theatres and I could hear them talking about a gay man. They made the nurse that was going to pick him up completely mask up, two lots of gloves. And the more it went on, the more upset I got. And I still do just thinking about it.”
Watch their full, unscripted discussion now on Attitude’s YouTube channel.
The third film in the Tip Toe or Ta-Da series, featuring performer and presenter Danny Beard and straight mechanical engineer Luke Mallinder, launches on Monday 15 June on Attitude’s YouTube channel. Stream Tip Toe on Channel 4 now.