Crowdfunder Link: RIO CALLING Fundraising Link

An HIV survivor and activist diagnosed in 1988 who held the hand of a dying lover, left London Weekend Television through ill health, and found emotional support in a Battersea rescue dog called Ron.

In 1988, Jim Vogiatzis was working at London Weekend Television and noticing that his partner was becoming frail with unexplained illnesses - illnesses that coincided with his own. He asked repeatedly. His partner could not bring himself to say. Jim went to James Pringle House, identified only by a number in a waiting room of twenty men giving each other knowing looks. The two-week wait was a nightmare. On the tube journey back, he rehearsed every scenario. The doctor said: I'm really sorry to tell you, but you're HIV positive. Jim left the clinic as fast as he could, walked outside for fresh air, then went straight back to work.

He had already watched friends die - stroking their hair, telling them they were loved - and he chose early to be in the fight rather than be a bystander. The early combination therapy pills required alarms set for the middle of the night: you never felt truly rested. The side effects have lasted decades - peripheral neuropathy, osteoporosis, and incontinence from PCP that has stopped him being in a relationship.

Jim held his lover Stuart as he died - ten days after a stroke that destroyed the active person he had been. One moment they were talking; the next, Stuart looked at him, and passed away. Today, Jim shares his flat with Ron, a Battersea rescue dog who pawed his arm through the bars of his pen and has given him focus and companionship in isolation.

• [00:01] Midnight alarms - the early combination therapy regime: pills during the day, alarms in the night, and never feeling truly rested
• [02:42] The diagnosis - 1988, James Pringle House, identified by number, and a tube journey rehearsing every possible outcome
• [05:07] The mask at work - continuing at London Weekend Television, keeping up the smiling face while waiting for results
• [07:55] Holding hands with the dying - watching friends become frail, being there when they died, and seeing it as a privilege
• [24:41] Stuart - a warrior, an activist, a lover who was afraid to be loved but wanted to be loved
• [25:55] PCP, a stroke, and ten days - Stuart's rapid deterioration, the decision to die at home, and the moment he passed
• [29:10] The physical legacy - peripheral neuropathy, osteoporosis, incontinence, and the side effects that last a lifetime
• [34:10] Ron - a Battersea rescue dog who pawed Jim's arm through the bars and became his emotional support

Jim remembers Stuart, a warrior, activist, and lover who left an indelible mark on his heart.

Jim Vogiatzis was diagnosed with HIV in 1988. He worked in media at London Weekend Television until ill health prevented him from continuing. He is an activist, fundraiser, and passionate advocate for human rights. He lives with his rescue dog Ron.

• Terrence Higgins Trust
• Positively UK
• National AIDS Trust

Crowdfunder Link: RIO CALLING Fundraising Link

A mother of four, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and one of the UK's most influential HIV advocates - diagnosed in rural Louisiana in 1999 when an immigration doctor told her she had about seven years to live.

Susan Cole-Haley had recently married her second ex-husband - she collects them, she says, like shoes - and moved to rural Louisiana. The immigration HIV test didn't cross her mind. The doctor said: the good news is you don't have syphilis. The bad news is you're HIV positive. He gave her about seven years. Her children were five and seven. She didn't know anything about combination therapy. Back in the UK, her mother sent Aidsmap booklets across the Atlantic, and Susan realised the doctor was wrong.

Her own GP had previously refused to test her - oh no, dear, that doesn't affect ladies like you. When she told her father, his first words were: make sure you don't tell anyone. Years later, an oncologist treating her for triple negative breast cancer asked how she got HIV and circled HIV POSITIVE on her blood test notes. Susan changed hospitals.

She went on to work for Aidsmap and the UK Coalition of People Living with HIV, posed naked on a magazine cover while heavily pregnant to show that women with HIV could have children born free of the virus, and co-founded the Phoenix Health Movement to address health inequalities affecting Black women. Her son James now works for the National AIDS Trust.

• [03:04] Rural Louisiana, January 1999 - an immigration test, no syphilis, and about seven years to live
• [04:27] Tombstones and icebergs - all she knew about HIV was the 1980s campaigns, and children aged five and seven
• [07:42] "Make sure you don't tell anyone" - her father's first words, rooted in Jamaican stigma and a desire to protect
• [08:50] The GP who refused - told it doesn't affect ladies like you, and warned it could stop her getting a mortgage
• [12:54] Triple negative breast cancer - a second diagnosis, an oncologist who circled HIV POSITIVE, and the decision to change hospitals
• [18:14] Telling the children - years of silence, and children whose only complaint was that she didn't tell them sooner
• [21:16] The naked magazine cover - four-inch heels, sheepskin, airbrushed cellulite, and a woman who saw the article and chose not to have a termination
• [24:04] Health inequalities and Black women - pain not believed, concerns dismissed, and a grandmother whose hospital notes read "why bother"
• [29:33] Phoenix Health Movement - co-founded with Dr Vanessa Appiah to address inequalities in healthcare for Black women
• [33:57] Seven years to a fellowship - from a death sentence in Louisiana to Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts

Susan Cole-Haley was diagnosed with HIV in January 1999 in Louisiana. She is a writer, broadcaster, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and co-founder of the Phoenix Health Movement. She has four children, all HIV-free, a white German Shepherd, and a Romanian rescue dog. Her son James works for the National AIDS Trust.

• Phoenix Health Movement
• Positively UK
• National AIDS Trust
• Aidsmap

Crowdfunder Link: RIO CALLING Fundraising Link

One of the UK's longest-surviving people with HIV, diagnosed in October 1982, on bathhouses in San Francisco, standing in the darkest corner of the bar, and why a man in crimson pantaloons saved his life.

In 1982, Jonathan Blake was a 33-year-old actor waiting tables at Joe Allen in Covent Garden. London was horny. He'd just come back from San Francisco and the steam baths. His lymph nodes swelled until he was walking like a gorilla. At the Middlesex Hospital, the cultures took a couple of days. When the results came back: you have a virus, there is no cure, you've got between two and nine months to live. But you can go home.

He felt like a modern-day leper. He would go to the bars in Earl's Court and stand in the darkest corner - wanting people but unable to engage. What was his opening line? Hello, my name is Jonathan, I have this killer virus coursing through my veins. He planned suicide: a hot bath, pills, razorblades. Then his mother's voice: Jonathan, you clear up your own mess. So like a nice Jewish boy, if you can't kill yourself, you better get on and live.

On 1 April 1983, he saw a tiny advert in Capital Gay for a coach to Greenham Common. It said: everybody welcome. As he turned to flee, a voice said: hello, my name is Nigel. Green Wellington boots, crimson pantaloons, a mop of black curly hair. Nigel brought banana and two jam doughnuts to tea and suggested they squat together in Brixton. Jonathan thought: I've got about two months to live. Why not? They were companions for almost 38 years. Jonathan refused AZT, refused the Concorde trial, and survived to combination therapy in 1996. The morning of the fourth week, he woke with such energy he laid a patio. It's still there.

• [00:00] "You have a virus" - diagnosed at the Middlesex Hospital, two to nine months to live, but you can go home
• [04:33] San Francisco steam baths - Turkish baths, fuck rooms, and the year before everything changed
• [09:51] The darkest corner of the bar - wanting people but unable to speak, and the worst chat-up line in history
• [12:41] The Roman way - planning suicide, and a Jewish mother's voice pulling him back
• [14:50] 1 April 1983 - the tiny advert, the coach to Greenham Common, and the man in crimson pantaloons who gave him a life
• [22:43] English National Opera - a letter on a noticeboard thanking colleagues for supporting a man who'd died of AIDS, and thinking: when I get ill, they'll understand
• [26:56] Refusing AZT - the Concorde trial, the belief that never touching the drug is why he's still alive
• [33:14] The morning of the fourth week - combination therapy, the energy of Atlas, and a patio that's still there
• [41:30] U=U - the first unprotected sex since before 1982
• [45:07] Care homes and the closet - the biggest fear of ageing: I ain't going back in the closet

Jonathan remembers George Hudson, met in the Coleherne in 1977, and Nigel Young, who gave him a life and died in 2022.

Jonathan Blake was diagnosed with HIV in October 1982 and is one of the UK's longest-term survivors. An actor, tailor, and activist, his role in Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners was depicted in the film Pride. He lives in south London with a contorted hazel tree he planted in 1989 - a tree injected with something that makes it grow differently, just like him.

• Terrence Higgins Trust
• Food Chain
• National AIDS Trust

Crowdfunder Link: RIO CALLING Fundraising Link

Ten episodes of love, loss and courage from ten inspiring people living with HIV.

Episode 1 drops Friday 19 September, 2025.

Email: [email protected]

• Other work from Producer Dan Hall.
• Positively UK - A peer-led organisation offering support and advice for people living with HIV, including women, youth, and migrants.
• The Love Tank - An organisation focusing on wellbeing of queer communities, especially Black and brown people, through projects like PrEPster and The Grass Is Always Grindr.
• Positive East - London-based support centre offering HIV testing, counselling, community outreach, and health services.
• PrEPster - Community-led PrEP (HIV prevention pill) education project. Offers clear and inclusive info for diverse audiences across the UK.
• National AIDS Trust - A UK policy and campaigning organisation dedicated to ending HIV stigma and promoting effective HIV policies.
• aidsmap - A trusted source for up-to-date, evidence-based information on HIV. Great for learning about treatment, living with HIV, and current research.
• Terrence Higgins Trust - The UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity. Offers support, testing info, prevention resources (PrEP), and education materials.
• In the Key of Q - Podcast celebrating Queer musicians and their stories, also produced by Dan Hall.