Review - When John Hurt portrayed Quentin Crisp the first time around in the late seventies in the movie The Naked Civil Servant it didn't only give Crisp the stardom he always craved for but it also catapulted Hurt straight into the spotlight. Now more than 30 years later John Hurt reprises his role in the follow-up An Englishman in New York.

An Englishman in New York takes off when Crisp lands as a gay icon in New York. It shows Quentin in his seventies when he flees intolerant England and exchanges London for New York. A place where his eccentricity is welcomed and celebrated.

He feels right at home in Manhattan, becomes a resident alien and gets an agent, played by Swoosie Kurtz. We see Quentin start a one-man show off-Broadway and become a movie reviewer for a Christopher Street magazine run by Philip Steele (Denis O'Hare).

It doesn't take long before he becomes a fixture on what he calls "the champagne and peanuts" circuit. Crisp's witty banter and words of wisdom quickly earn him an high place in the gay community with regular appearances on radio and TV but then one of his comments gets him in trouble. He declares that "AIDS is just a fad," and his gay audience, now starting to really suffer from the epidemic, turns away from him.

Declining to retract or explain his remark, Crisp is dropped by his agent and editor until young artist Patrick Angus (Jonathan Tucker), who is dying of AIDS, opens Crisp's eyes. Rescued by performance artist Penny Arcade (Cynthia Nixon), who puts him back on stage, and with Steele proving a loyal friend, the iconic figure lives into his 10th decade and once again wins over the gay community.

The film was made for UK television but will also be shown at several festivals and has already been picked up by MTV's LOGO channel in the US.

Watch An Englishman in New York tonight on ITV 1 at 21.00.