Jill Nalder is a Welsh actress and activist. She is known for her career in theatre as well as her contribution to HIV/AIDS activism.
She was the inspiration behind the character Jill Baxter in the hit UK TV series It's a Sin, which is available on TVNZonDemand.
It's a Sin - Olly Alexander as "Ritchie" and Lydia West as "Jill Baxter" Photo: upplied TVNZ / Ross Ferguson
It centres on a group of young gay men and their friends in the decade from 1981 living through the HIV/AIDS crisis.
She plays the mother of one of the characters in the series and is a long-time friend of the series creator, Russel T Davies.
Nalder tells Saturday Morning it was an emotional experience to relive that time through acting in the series.
Nalder moved to London in the early 1980s for drama school and says it was an open and fun environment.
“When you’re young, it’s all an adventure. You have all that excitement ahead of you. I got into drama school and I was meeting new people and the gay scene in London was really vibrant.
“It wasn’t overly hedonistic, we weren’t crazy, but we were just having fun.”
When HIV/AIDS first hit, people were unaware of what the virus was and how it could affect people.
Actor Jill Nalder Photo: Supplied
“Initially it was a bit of rumour that you hear, then people thought it was only in America so don’t get involved with anyone from America.
“I remember reading about flu symptoms and people became a bit paranoid about feeling anything, a fever or something like that, you start to think, 'have I got it'?”
People first believed that HIV/AIDS only affected gay men and Nalder says there were a lot of negative headlines about the ‘gay plague’ affecting the community.
“The boys were really frightened and you’re frightened on their behalf because they’re more likely to catch it and they would die if they got it. It sort of started to close in on you.”
Added to that, people were unsure how the disease could be caught which meant gay men were further stigmatised and people didn’t want to be around anyone who had caught the disease.
“In the very beginning, it was called a ‘gay lifestyle disease’ without it being known it was a virus, it was being blamed on the way people behaved which gave it that extra sort of horrible stigma to it.”
There was also a double whammy for many parents who were finding out that their son was gay and had HIV/AIDS at the same time.
“Some parents hated the fact that their son was gay and other people were absolutely amazing, there was every permutation in between.”
With modern and effective treatment, Nalder says people have put HIV/AIDS in a box and are beginning to forget about it.
“People didn’t have to think about it anymore. Can you actually imagine if there was still no treatment and what a terrible state we would all be in?
“Things changed when there was something out there and then people just forgot about it and I feel terribly sad about that.”
