I’ve written extensively in this blog and my book about the early days of HIV/AIDS. And with a new TV drama – It’s a Sin – currently playing in various countries, there’s been a renewed interest in that period.

So it’s timely that a documentary about the impact of HIV/AIDS in the UK has also been released recently. In After 82 survivors talk about their experiences of those dark days when no treatments were available and an HIV diagnosis was generally seen as a death sentence. The only issue was how long it would take and whether much suffering would be involved.

Respondents come from a variety of backgrounds and include Jonathan Blake, one of the first people to receive an HIV test in the UK. (Jonathan may be more familiar as a member of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, who was played by Dominic West in the movie Pride.) As it happens, Dominic West is also the narrator for After 82.

If you didn’t realise just how traumatic those days were, I urge you to watch this documentary. Details of availability can be found here: