Actor Nathaniel Curtis: ‘I realised It’s a Sin was a hit when Elton John called’

Nathaniel Curtis: ‘Seeing more diversity on screen is not only important, it’s also life.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Nathaniel Curtis, 31, grew up near Bournemouth and trained at London’s East 15 Acting School. After five years of struggling to find work, his breakthrough role came playing Ash Mukherjee in It’s a Sin, Russell T Davies’ series about a group of gay friends growing up in the shadow of Aids in 1980s London. The critically acclaimed show became one of Channel 4’s biggest ever dramas and won multiple awards. Curtis now takes the title role of Britannicus in a new production of Jean Racine’s Roman tragedy at the Lyric Hammersmith theatre.

When you first read the It’s a Sin scripts, how did you react?
I just wept. It’s a part of history that wasn’t taught at school or discussed in my home. I knew [the Aids crisis] had happened but didn’t realise the details. The script opened my eyes – so much that I couldn’t stop crying. And I was reading it on a train. Note to self: don’t read Russell T Davies scripts on public transport.