Love From the Pink Palace is a beautiful yet emotional rollercoaster. Reading the first half and you’re shocked about how much of the It’s A Sin story arc is based on Jill’s very own experience – if Russell T Davies wasn’t her bestie, hadn’t written the foreword to his book and created a part based on her and a part for her in the show, Nalder would have every right to sue.
The second half, however, did not shock but felt relentless. Reading it is like being in a Groundhog Day of episode three. Beautiful young man after beautiful young man reaching an untimely loss due to a virus that is barely recognisable in the UK today. If you cried at Colin’s story, bring tissues for this section of Jill’s.
To those lost to the killer we call AIDS, the world of PrEP, treatment and people on medication who ‘can’t pass it on’ is alien. I cannot help but ask if we are doing enough to honour their legacy and sacrifice?
In particular, one of Jill’s fallen friends tried everything to survive until they were drugs available to control the HIV virus – they very sadly did not but did inspire others to fight on. Some of those are still with us today. That friend made it to 7 August 1995, painfully close to life-saving triple-drug therapy that would arrive less than 12 months later. It was not just Phantom of the Opera that was robbed of such talent. We all were. Time and again.
Many very funny stories do not make the It’s A Sin script because they are even too graphic for Channel 4. Make sure you do not have a mouthful of drink when you read about the guy who lives opposite the Pink Palace. I honestly did not spit my Diet Coke over an unsuspecting train platform when reading that bit.
Jill writes with ease, this makes it surprising this is her first book. Each chapter is filled with light and dark. They appear so close to each other that you go from crying to full-on belly laughing. Trust me, it gets fellow tube travellers very confused and leads to many an odd look.
More than that Jill writes with modesty that is just unnecessary. Her on-screen alter ego played by Lydia West inspired the hashtag #BeMoreJill in the days that followed the show’s first airing. The truth is few can hold a candle to her and the generation she represents. Even though we all knew West’s portrayal was based on her on-screen mother, I for one assumed she was a composite character – that the script contained Jill and many other women’s stories. But the opposite is true. Jill Baxter is, as Davies describes in his introduction, ‘toned down’.
Considering the work involved, the is little in the book about her role in West End Cares, her legendary cabaret fundraisers, and the thousands raised for the Crusaid hardship fund. This work, and that of its successor organisations – Theatre Cares and Theatre MAD – raised over £1 million for HIV/AIDS causes until COVID-19 forced it to shut up shop. This is an extraordinary legacy, for Jill and everyone involved. To do all of that while caring for so many facing end of life trauma and demanding daily care, makes it even more remarkable.
Ultimately this book is one last, and generous, gift to the ‘boys’ she cared for in those dark years. Their stories now do not only live in the fictional characters of Ritchie, Ash, Colin, Roscoe and Gregory but in full, never-to-be-forgotten technicolour in the pages of Love From the Pink Palace.
Get tickets for the launch of Love From The Pink Palace at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Buy a copy of Love From The Pink Palace
Richard Angell is our Campaigns Director.
