Tip Toe is one of 2026s most talked-about TV shows. Russell T Davies would love to be wrong about it.

Tip Toe is undeniably one the most talked-about TV shows of the year, with Russell T Davies' powerful drama making headlines and dominating discourse in the UK when it hit Channel 4 in May.

Now, the Doctor Who and It's a Sin showrunner's series is streaming in the U.S. through Starz, with American audiences now able to take on the most tense television they'll likely see this year.

Set in Manchester, a place close to Davies' Queer as Folk heart, Tip Toe is essentially the tale of two neighbours.

Alan Cumming is magnificent as Leo, a proud gay man who owns a bar on Manchester’s famous queer hub, Canal Street.

For 15 years, he's lived next door to Clive (an outstanding David Morrissey), an openly bigoted, straight family man who has become increasingly radicalised in the years they've been neighbours.

And in the opening scene of Tip Toe , we see a chilling sight: Leo has been hanged outside their homes, Clive standing by in their street.

And from this horrifying scene, we jump back 10 days earlier, haunted by what's to come, and how it could have possibly happened in 2026.

SEE ALSO: Russell T Davies explains the 'Bridgerton'/'Doctor Who' conundrum Tip Toe comes at a time when anti-LGBTQ hate, online disinformation and radicalisation, and extreme bigotry are having very real, violent impacts on queer people — in both countries.

"Fifteen years ago, everything was fine; now it just feels like it's ending," Leo says in the show.

"Every tiny little thing that's happening, one by one, banning a book or removing a name or pulling down a flag.

It seems like little things, but there's a sort of violence behind it." Mashable sat down with Davies to unpack what it means for Tip Toe to reach U.S. viewers, the unfathomable hate and threats Davies endures daily as a visible gay activist and iconic LGBTQ showrunner, and why he decided to name Donald Trump in the first episode.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Shannon Connellan: Tip Toe is one the most talked-about TV shows of 2026.

What has the public UK response been like for you? Russell T.