It’s A Sin star Lydia West summoned co-stars to her trailer for 80s dance parties

She plays admirable LBGTQ ally Jill Baxter in Channel 4 drama It’s A Sin, which follows the reaction to the AIDS outbreak in the UK during the 1980s.

And it appears Lydia West’s warmth continues off-screen, as she revealed she used to invite her co-stars to her trailer each morning for 80s dance parties.

Speaking to Ok! magazine, Lydia, 27, told how she tried to keep her friends’ spirits up by ‘vogueing, doing catwalks and dancing’ in her trailer on set.

Lydia admitted that they needed something to help them through the bleak topic they were covering, and said: ‘From day one, all of the boys would come to my trailer for an 80s dance party every morning before filming.

‘We were working with such a horrendous period of history that we needed to find the joy and the friendship within our group, so I’d summon the boys to my trailer every morning and we’d party.’

Lydia added: ‘We’d put on our favourite 80s dance tracks and we’d do whatever we needed to do to feel good.’

She also said she hoped that the fun they were having off-screen shone through in the performance which has been well-received by viewers.  

Jill is an aspiring actress who witnesses first hand the devastating impact of HIV and AIDS on the gay community in the early 1980s, when treatment, care and understanding of the virus were almost non-existent.

Lydia admitted she had ‘no idea’ the actor who plays her on-screen mother, Jill Nader, 58, was the woman her character was based on.

She revealed director Russell T. Davies text her the day before read-through and revealed that no only would Jill be present at the reading, she would also be playing her supportive on-screen mum.

Lydia confessed she was ‘speechless’ after learning the news.  

The real life Jill recently admitted she was honoured when childhood friend Russell approached her for the part of Jill’s mother, after previously using her own experiences to develop Baxter’s character and story.

She told Metro: ‘Being involved in sharing personal stories was already an honour but being called by him with the offer of a part was a real thrill. I’d be playing the mother of Jill Baxter and filming was such a joy.’  

Nalder worked closely with Davies and actress Lydia West, who plays Baxter as she goes from carefree girl about town to dedicated AIDS activist following a series of tragedies.

She added: ‘Lydia West and all the cast without exception were amazing. The atmosphere was incredibly happy and at times very emotional. 

‘Russell was a constant presence on set and while that could have been nerve wracking, he was full of warmth, boundless energy and ideas.’ 

Davies, the writer and producer behind Queer As Folk, the 2005 revival of Doctor Who and Cucumber, also based It’s A Sin on his own experiences in the ’80s. 

It has won unanimous praise from critics for highlighting the AIDS crisis as it spread throughout an initially oblivious gay community and the clear lack of clarity regarding its cause. 

Jill said: ‘The response has been overwhelming and I think we all feel It’s A Sin is so important because it is real history that needs to be told. 

‘Without it, stories like this would remain in the dark.’

Davies cast Years & Years singer Olly Alexander as the show’s protagonist Ritchie Tozer, an 18-year-old hailing from an ignorant, unloving household on the Isle of Wight who throws himself headfirst into London life, soon befriending Jill and three others and renting their flat, lovingly dubbed The Pink Palace.

The cast of young talent is supported by a string of veteran screen stars, including Keeley Hawes and Shaun Dooley as Ritchie’s parents, Stephen Fry as an MP lover of outrageous flatmate Rosce (Omari Douglas) and Neil Patrick Harris as a mentor to another, the quietly observant Colin (Callum Scott Howell).

Watch all five episodes of It’s A Sin on All4 now.