The series finale of the gripping TV drama Tip Toe aired this week, and fans have labelled the “mentally scarring” episode “one of the most horrific things” they have ever seen. Viewers took to social media to express their shock, with one tweeting: “The last 15 minutes of #tiptoe are some of the most harrowing 15 minutes of a TV drama I’ve seen for quite some time (if ever).” Another added: “Those final 10 minutes absolutely wrecked me. Even though you knew what was coming, it was horrifying to watch.”
The five-episode series reached a climax when gay main character Leo, played by Alan Cumming, was viciously murdered by his homophobic neighbour Clive, portrayed by David Morrissey. In truly shocking scenes, Clive and his gang of football-loving mates assault Leo before fatally hanging him from a lamppost outside his residence. The savage act of violence at the end was so emotionally draining to act out that the cast were given a week off from filming to process and heal from what they had to depict on screen.
Behind the Scenes of the Traumatic Finale
The British Channel 4 series, which is streaming locally on BINGE, was shot in a nonlinear fashion. Star Alan Cumming revealed that they filmed the confronting outdoor end scene first before filming all the indoor scenes. “God, they brought their A-game on the day,” Cumming told Tech Radar of the cast. “It was very difficult from a technical point of view. Of course, what happens to Leo, but also keeping that energy, and also keeping yourself open to surprise.”
Cumming added: “We had a week of laughter in a ‘gap week’ afterwards, which was much needed and welcomed. A week off is a very expensive thing, but you’ve done so much that’s hanging there. When we came back to the studio we’d shot all the outside bits first, so we’d done the most horrible part and now we’re going to be inside … back to the beginning of the story.” Cumming spent his gap week in New York, describing it as “such a silly experience to be away from what I was playing in my other life. It was surreal actually.”
Production Challenges and Community Impact
The graphic nature of the street scene meant it had to be “heavily policed” with road closures placed on that Manchester neighbourhood, according to co-star David Morrissey. “Where we shot outside, we had to fence off the streets with huge hoardings because the drivers going past could have seen that happening in the street and they could have been distracted,” Morrissey explained. “There were kids at a nearby school that would leave, and the residents association and council said they couldn’t see anything, which is quite right. So it was a heavily, heavily policed thing.”
Russell T Davies’ Intentional Storytelling
The tragic fate of Leo in the finale was teased at the beginning of each episode by series creator and executive producer Russell T Davies. Viewers were shown Leo’s lifeless body within the first 30 seconds of episode 1, and the opening of each subsequent episode showed glimpses of events that led to Clive’s savage act. This deliberate spoonfeeding was part of Davies’ argument that people often stand by and do nothing when they see bigotry and homophobia happening in society.
“All the way along you’ve got to a point where these people can stop the event,” Davies explained of the characters in the series. “They could actually go, ‘You know what? Let’s not.’ But they don’t. I think to that effect, it’s asking the question of when to speak up when you already knew what was coming.”
From the outset, the red flags were there as the series told the story of Leo, a single gay bar owner, and Clive, a married father and electrician, who peacefully lived side-by-side for the past 14 years. But a simple interaction kicked off a dispute between the two neighbours which unfolded over 10 days, culminating in that deadly scene that left a lasting impact on both viewers and the cast.
Tip Toe is now streaming on BINGE.
