Aidan Gillen, known to a generation as Stuart from Queer As Folk, returns to tellies on Tuesday) night (February 13) in a new series of Kin. Queer As Folk was 25 years ago, but the series still resonates with Mancs thanks to its setting of Canal Street.
Thanks to the Irish actor's starring role in the series, created by Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies, Aidan won a BAFTA and bagged some great acting roles in the US.
One of those, in the AMC original Kin, is Frank Kinsella, part of the small-time crime family who goes up against a huge international cartel. From Canal Street to Game of Thrones to gritty Irish crime drama, Kin - here's all you need to know about Aidan Gillen.
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The actor, now 55, was born and brought up in Dublin. He started in theatre, playing Bottom in Midsummer Night's Dream for the National Youth Theatre before he moved to London in 1987.
In the 1980s and 1990s, he turned up in films like Circle of Friends - a massive cinema hit based on the novel of the same name by Irish writer Maeve Binchy - and on British TV in programmes like The Bill.
How did he get the role in Queer As Folk?
For a programme with just two series - it ran from 1999 to 2000 - Queer As Folk made a massive impact culturally, which is probably why it's remembered so fondly. And Aidan was at the centre of it, in the starring role.
Aidan told the Guardian in 2015: "I got sent the script for this new show called Queer as F**k. I read it, immediately put it down, and didn’t look at it again for a week. I was taken aback by how explosive it was. It wasn’t the sexual content: I was just impressed by its in-your-faceness."
Writer Russell T Davies said of the programme: "It was also about putting gay characters centre-stage, not in a “let’s-be-representative” way, but because I thought there were stories that hadn’t been told."
Playing the sexually promiscuous Stuart Allen Jones, Aidan was backed by co-stars Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) and Craig Kelly (Coronation Street).
He recalls: "When I took the part of Stuart, my girlfriend and I had just had our first child, so it couldn’t have been more different. I didn’t know Manchester, and I didn’t know Canal Street."
The programme was massively influential, as Russell remembers: "The House of Lords was debating the age of consent at the time, which was eventually equalised to 16 for gay couples. I don’t for a second think that Queer as Folk was responsible, but it was part of a cultural moment. Sometimes you’re there at the right time."
What else would I have seen him in?
Aidan was a name to note after Queer As Folk. He went on to star as Tommy Carcetti in the US smash-hit series HBO's The Wire alongside Brit actors Dominic West and Idris Elba from 2004 to 2008.
He was then snapped up by Game Of Thrones - also on HBO - where he appeared as Petyr 'Littlefinger' Baelish from 2011 until 2017. More recently, he played Aberama Gold in Peaky Blinders between 2017 and 2019.
What is Kin about?
Now in its second series - both series boasts eight episodes - Kin sees Aidan head up a small Irish crime family. The series follows a war between the Kinsella family and a huge international cartel, sparked by the murder of a young boy.
Aidan plays Frank, head of the Kinsella family. He took over from his brother as the family's new boss in series one, and his nephews are proving hard to control
Jimmy (Emmett J. Scanlan, who has appeared in Peaky Blinders and The Fall) and Michael (Charlie Cox, known for Treason, Daredevil and Boardwalk Empire). Jimmy led a revenge plot in the first season after his son was murdered and Michael ended up helping him, despite having only just being released from prison.
Kin series two starts at 10.40pm on Tuesday, February 13, on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
