''Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves'' () is a 2012 three-part Swedish TV drama about the impact of

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

's gay community in the early 1980s. It is based on the Swedish novelist Jonas Gardell's trilogy with the same name, with each episode covering one of the three novels that are subtitled ''Love'', ''Disease'' and ''Death''. The three-part drama was produced by

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...

, and aired the first time on

SVT1 SVT1 (SVT Ett; commonly referred to as Ettan) is the primary television station of the Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Television in Sweden. History Television in Sweden officially launched on 4 September 1956 with the launch of '' ...

on 8, 15 and 22 October 2012. In September 2013, it was announced that the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

had bought the series, and the first episode was aired on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

on 2 December 2013 to mark World AIDS Day.

Episodes

Episode 1, "Love" ('), focuses on the 19-year-old Rasmus (Adam Pålsson), who after graduation moves from rural

Värmland Värmland () is a ''Provinces of Sweden, landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Name Several Latinized version ...

to attend university. As soon as he arrives in Stockholm, he begins to seek out the gay community, where he meets and befriends Paul (Simon J. Berger). At a Christmas dinner party in Paul's apartment, he eventually meets Benjamin (Adam Lundgren), a young man who is struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality and faith as a Jehovah's Witness. Interspersed with the main narrative, there are scenes of Rasmus as a child and the dying Rasmus. An early scene in the episode shows two nurses dressed in heavy-duty bio-protective clothing in the early 1980s caring for Reine (Kristoffer Berglund); suffering from AIDS. As the nurses tend the pained man, one nurse wipes a tear from his eye, which leads to the second nurse rebuking her afterwards with the sentence that is the title of the series: "Don't ever wipe tears without gloves", reflecting the fear surrounding AIDS at the time. Episode 2, "Disease" ('), focuses on the relationship between Rasmus and Benjamin after they have moved in together. AIDS has started to spread among their friends, and eventually it also reaches them. When Rasmus is found to be HIV-positive, Benjamin finally decides to tell his parents and church elders that he is homosexual, in order to fully support Rasmus. This leads him to being shunned by the church, and forces his parents to stop all contact if they want to remain in the congregation. Episode 3, "Death" ('), deals mainly with the deaths of Paul and Rasmus through AIDS. While Paul's funeral is made into a splendid opera, just like his life, Rasmus's parents refuse to accept Benjamin's request concerning Rasmus's funeral, although they had been deeply in love and Benjamin had remained by Rasmus's side throughout. This episode also includes some reflections by the surviving Benjamin over 20 years later.

Main cast

* Adam Lundgren as Benjamin * Adam Pålsson as Rasmus * Simon J. Berger as Paul * Emil Almén as Seppo * Michael Jonsson as Lars-Åke * Christoffer Svensson as Bengt * Kristoffer Berglund as Reine * Annika Olsson as Rasmus's mother * Stefan Sauk as Rasmus's father * Marie Richardson as Benjamin's mother * Gerhard Hoberstorfer as Benjamin's father * Ulf Friberg as Holger *

Björn Kjellman John Björn Sture Kjellman (born 4 June 1963) is a Swedish actor and singer. Kjellman was born in Östra Grevie, Scania. He played roles in Swedish movies like '' Klassfesten'' and '' Livet är en schlager'', in which he plays a Melodifestiva ...

as the narrator / Benjamin, present * Jonathan Eriksson as Benjamin, 7 years old * Claes Hartelius as Ove * Belle Weiths as Benjamin's sister, 5 years old * Gorm Rembe-Nylander as Rasmus, 7 years old * Alexi Carpentieri as '80s dude * Lisa Linnertorp as Elisabeth * Maria Langhammer as nurse * Sanna Sundqvist as Madde * Jennie Silfverhjelm as Rasmus's doctor * Julia Sporre as Benjamin's sister, 17 years old

Reception

In Sweden, the drama had a 34% audience share, and received good reviews from the Swedish media. It is credited with raising awareness of HIV and AIDS within Swedish society and has been praised by members of the

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

community for its depiction of how the AIDS crisis affected Stockholm in the 1980s. Following the BBC broadcast, '' Time Out London'' rated the first episode at 4 out of 5 stars, asking readers to look past the series' name. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' gave the series opener 4 out of 5 stars in a review, praising the shooting and the use of symbolism. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''s Ellen E. Jones compared the series with the American miniseries '' Angels in America'' in regard to the spread and reaction to HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, finding the series' zeitgeist and character portraits to be strong, though the

bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

at the centre of the plot and generic characters were less inventive.

Awards

* In May 2013, ''Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves'' won the Audience Award at the annual Series Mania Festival in Paris. * On 30 August 2013, ''Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves'' won the award Best TV drama at the Swedish Television Award, ' (The Crystal). * The drama was also nominated for the

Prix Europa PRIX EUROPA – The European Broadcasting Festival – is Europe's largest annual tri-medial festival and competition. The event takes place in the third week of October in Berlin, Germany. PRIX EUROPA awards the best European Televisi ...

2013.

References

External links