Russell T Davies explains why he almost cut 'La!' from the It's a Sin script
The writer also revealed the other catchphrase he almost used instead.
One of the many memorable things from Russell T Davies' award-winning Channel 4 drama It's A Sin was the characters' frequent use of the exclamation 'La!' – but according to Davies, it almost never made it into the series.
Davies made the comments during a panel discussion celebrating the show as part of the BFI & Radio Times Television Festival, when he was asked if he'd ever imagined how much the catchphrase would take off.
"Never in a million years did I expect that," was his response. "I almost cut it in the edit. I literally was thinking, does that work? Does it? Because that was our catchphrase."
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"Yeah, totally," added Jill Nalder, Davies long's term friend and the real-life inspiration for the character Jill (Lydia West).
"And again, that's another thing – we talked about the Pink Palace – you never know do you? I was amazed people come and say 'La!' to you, and I love it."
And Davies went on to reveal that he was caught in two minds for a while about whether to use La! or another phrase that was commonly used among his friend group.
"I never knew which one to use, because the other one we always used to say was 'What love?" he explained.
"So I wasn't sure which one, and La! was just funnier in the end, and reminded me of that lovely friend of ours... it reminded me of someone very specifically.
"But no, I would never have guessed that, never. You just can't guess these things at all. And that was actually one of the little signifiers that said, Oh my God, this show is taking off – and actually it's since raised over £500,000 for charities. It's nuts.
"I wish I'd copyrighted that ba***rd!" he joked.
It's A Sin is available to stream on All 4. Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
