It’s A Sin’s Nathaniel Curtis pines for his co-stars with sweet snap after fans praised finale

It’s A Sin star Nathaniel Curtis was pining for his pals from the Pink Palace on Friday as he shared a sweet snap with his co-stars.

The actor, who played Ash Mukherjee in the critically-acclaimed series, wrote he ‘felt like s**t and just wanted them back’ alongside a photo of his co-stars Olly Alexander, Omari Douglas, Callum Scott Howells and Lydia West.

It comes after fans took to social media to laud It’s a Sin’s final episode for ‘shining a light’ on the AIDS crisis, with many admitting they’d been moved to tears by the show’s final scenes. 

Sweet: It's A Sin's Nathaniel Curtis pined for his pals from the Pink Palace on Friday as he shared a snap with (L-R) Omari Douglas, Lydia West, Olly Alexander and Callum Scott Howells

Sweet: It’s A Sin’s Nathaniel Curtis pined for his pals from the Pink Palace on Friday as he shared a snap with (L-R) Omari Douglas, Lydia West, Olly Alexander and Callum Scott Howells

Nathaniel shared a snap of the cast that appeared to have been taken during filming for the last scene of the series, which showed Olly’s character Ritchie Tozer performing a monologue for his pals. 

The scene was even more tragic given fans had seen Ritchie pass away after battling AIDs earlier in the episode, and Callum’s character Colin ‘Gladys Pugh’ Morris-Jones had also succumbed to the disease several episodes before.

Nathaniel captioned the sweet image: ‘Feel like pure sh*t just want them back.’ 

Praised: The actor played Ash Mukherjee in the critically-acclaimed series which depicted a group of friends living in London together at the height of the AIDS pandemic

Praised: The actor played Ash Mukherjee in the critically-acclaimed series which depicted a group of friends living in London together at the height of the AIDS pandemic

Touching: It comes after fans took to social media to laud It's a Sin's final episode for 'shining a light' on the AIDS crisis

Touching: It comes after fans took to social media to laud It’s a Sin’s final episode for ‘shining a light’ on the AIDS crisis

His post was soon flooded with responses from fans of the series, with one writing: ‘Finished watching last night with a whisky and box of tissues. You were all brilliant. Tore my heart in half.’

Another added: ‘Tremendous tremendous series – I don’t think I’ve seen something that’s mixed so many emotions – congratulations to all involved la.’

A third added: ‘Just loved this programme – beautiful writing and beautiful acting. Absolutely broke my heart.’ 

Gushing: Nathaniel's post was soon flooded with responses from fans lauding the drama, with many admitting they were moved to tears by the final scenes

Gushing: Nathaniel’s post was soon flooded with responses from fans lauding the drama, with many admitting they were moved to tears by the final scenes

HIV TRANSMISSION AND PREVENTION

You can get or transmit HIV only through specific activities, most commonly through sexual behaviors and needle or syringe use.

The FDA has approved more than two dozen antiretroviral drugs to treat HIV infection. 

They’re often broken into six groups because they work in different ways. 

Doctors recommend taking a combination or ‘cocktail’ of at least two of them.

Called antiretroviral therapy, or ART, it can’t cure HIV, but the medications can extend lifespans and reduce the risk of transmission.

1) Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NRTIs)

NRTIs force the virus to use faulty versions of building blocks so infected cells can’t make more HIV.

2) Non-nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (NNRTIs)

NNRTIs bind to a specific protein so the virus can’t make copies of itself.

3) Protease Inhibitors (PIs)

These drugs block a protein that infected cells need to put together new copies of the virus.

4) Fusion Inhibitors

These drugs help block HIV from getting inside healthy cells in the first place.

5) CCR5 Antagonist

This stops HIV before it gets inside a healthy cell, but in a different way than fusion inhibitors. It blocks a specific kind of ‘hook’ on the outside of certain cells so the virus can’t plug in.

6) Integrase Inhibitors

These stop HIV from making copies of itself by blocking a key protein that allows the virus to put its DNA into the healthy cell’s DNA. 

‘Watched it week by week, then watched the whole series again this week. One of those stories that just hits you and stays with you. It opens your eyes. 

‘Ash and Richie were such lovely characters, but ultimately heartbreaking. Best thing I’ve seen in years,’ a viewer posted. 

One fan lauded: ‘Rewatched last night! What a truly beautiful show! I feel so ignorant that I didn’t know this happened but I do now and I’ll never forget! Ash and Ritchie stole my heart.’

A second penned: ‘You have friends for life. How beautiful. The chemistry amongst you all made your characters all the more believable. It’s a sin was quite simply a gift.’

Fans were moved to tears watching Ash’s on-off romance with Ritchie, with the pair finally admitting their feelings for one another after the budding actor revealed he was dying of AIDS. 

It’s A Sin has already had 6.5 million views on All 4, making it the streaming service’s biggest ever instant box set, third biggest series to date, and most binged new series ever. 

The show has also been credited with boosting HIV awareness, with a sharp increase in numbers of the public taking tests. 

A spokesperson for the Terrence Higgins Trust told MailOnline: ‘There has been a surge in HIV test following the It’s A Sin effect.

‘This is the biggest ever National HIV Testing Week (1-7 Feb) with tests being ordered at a faster rate than we’ve ever seen before.

‘On Monday we saw a x4 increase on a “usual day” or National HIV Testing Week to over 8,000.

As a result, the Public Health England has released 10,000 additional HIV self-sampling tests due to demand to make sure tests continue to be available.’ 

Last week, the programme’s creator Russell T. Davies revealed that even the music legend Elton John had called the cast to voice his praise.  

‘He phoned them up to congratulate them. That’s the man who’s raised half a billion pounds for AIDS research, so that was the ultimate [compliment], I think. That was the ultimate reward,’ said Russell. 

Information about HIV, other sexually transmitted infections and how to maintain good sexual health can be found out at https://www.tht.org.uk  

Lauded: It’s A Sin has already had 6.5 million views on All 4, making it the streaming service’s biggest ever instant box set, third biggest series to date, and most binged new series ever