Mumbai, Feb 3 (IANS): Hollywood actor Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Henry Coltrane in the upcoming drama series 'It's a Sin', said he hopes the series will offer a new perspective to the audience on the subject of HIV/AIDS. The five-part series revolves around the HIV/AIDS crisis that hit the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s.

It follows the story of five gay friends and how they formed a friendship group amid rapidly spreading AIDS crisis. The series explores themes like freedom and expressing oneself freely, and is helmed by Peter Hoar.

Commenting on the dialogue around HIV/AIDS, Harris said: "The conversation is still alive and necessary and in many ways more important now than ever."

The actor said: "I talk at length and relatively often with Elton John and David Furnish about their AIDS Foundation, which has done such extraordinary things. They recognise that there's a tipping point, that HIV/AIDS could be eviscerated to zero in our lifetimes."

He added that there has been a perceptible shift in the handling of the disease.

"That's a big deal considering how it started, in such uncertainty and with so much fear," Harris said. "At the beginning of all this, if you went into a hospital with HIV/AIDS, there was a strong probability you were not going to come back."

"So, to continue the conversation with perspective, to be able to look at that generation with a bit of hindsight, makes the morals and lessons and warnings more vivid."

Adding further as to how the series will provide a new perspective to the younger generation about the time gone by when HIV/AIDS was a big thing to deal with, Harris said: "There's a younger generation that perhaps often only knows HIV/AIDS through the idea that, if you're on PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis drugs), you're good to go. I hope it allows them to have a new perspective and awareness of the lives that were led before."

He also praised the show's creator for putting together the story, "I applaud Russell for creating this wonderful, brave original story of a group of people coming into their own under this shadow of such uncertainty and darkness. Rooting for these people, being so excited to see them living, f***ing, being proud, and simultaneously recognising that this series is about something much bigger."

Delving deeper into the show, Harris said: "The first episode ends on such a happy note, and you wish them all success, joy, happiness, love, enthusiasm, excitement in their worlds. Yet you're terrified for their safety and concerned about how these stories will end. It's an amazing dynamic."

Shedding light on his character, the actor said: "Henry works at a Savile Row tailors. He seems to be an antagonist for Colin, but quickly realizes Coli's a bit green, a bit young and innocent and naive, so takes him under his wing and provides an example for a way of existing that Colin did't know about.

"He's been with his boyfriend for a long time, living his lovely independent existence with calm and happiness, which makes a nice juxtaposition to the desperate need for chaos and individuality some of the younger generation at that time were seeking", he concluded.

'It's a Sin', which also stars Olly Alexander, Nathaniel Curtis and Shaun Dooley in lead roles, will be streaming on Lionsgate Play from February 4.