At 63, Russell T Davies remains one of television’s most influential voices, having shaped British culture through seminal works like the 1999 groundbreaking series Queer As Folk. His career, marked by the revival of Doctor Who and a commitment to documenting queer life, has often invited intense polarization. The writer admits to maintaining a high level of personal vigilance, even keeping a kitchen knife by his door for security, a necessity born from years of enduring death threats and online harassment, including frequent false accusations of grooming from figures such as Graham Linehan. If not the world, it’s easy to see how he’s earned a reputation as the most affable man in TV. “I’m called a paedophile and a groomer online by people like [Father Ted creator and anti-trans activist] Graham Linehan, and now people believe what they read. And one person turned up at my house, people have worked out my address. It’s not the maddest thing in the world to come and get me, if you believe a paedophile lives here.
Davies views these attacks as symptoms of a broader societal decline in truth, noting that people readily accept misinformation when it is presented to them, much like the fringe belief that the Earth is flat. While he remains unfazed by physical confrontations—recalling a past incident involving bus conductors as merely a minor scuffle—the psychological weight of these persistent smears has been significant. Despite this, he remains steadfast in his creative choices, maintaining that he would still write controversial material today, such as the age-gap romance in Queer As Folk, even given the changing sensitivities around such depictions. That was just a bit of a thumping in the street, that time he was gay-bashed by a gang of bus conductors? “People have been beaten up far worse than me.
Life at his home in Swansea reflects his enduring habits, such as his insistence on keeping the television running continuously, a quirk he maintains even when away from home. The interior, adorned with a ceramic Tardis and an original Peanuts illustration purchased for £2,000, serves as a backdrop to his creative process. His writing routine is often characterized by years of incubation for ideas, occasionally followed by sudden, rapid execution. He notes that scripts for projects like It’s a Sin took decades to reach fruition, while others, including certain Doctor Who episodes, were penned in a single weekend. When the production schedule of his dystopian drama Years and Years forced him back to work within days of his husband’s death? “Writing was a nice escape. Even a story about his “tough” father branding him “yesterday’s man” after his initial departure as showrunner on Doctor Who concludes with a cheerful: “I knew I wasn’t.
The writer’s relationship with his father, Vivian, was complicated by the elder man’s inability to grasp the nature of Davies’ career. Fearing his father would view his creative work as lacking stability, Davies kept his profession a secret from 1991 until his father’s death, allowing the elder man to believe he held a traditional nine-to-five job. This guardedness was a symptom of a larger struggle to balance professional autonomy with personal truth, an ongoing theme that echoes through his recent memoir, The Queerest of Folk.
Davies’ personal life took a profound turn in 2011 when his partner of 12 years, Andrew Smith, was diagnosed with a stage four brain tumour. Despite an initial prognosis of 18 months, Smith survived until 2018. During these years, Davies focused heavily on caring for his partner, working from home to maintain proximity. He reflects on their 20-year bond with deep sentimentality, noting that he had always prioritized work in earlier years but found himself fully devoted to Smith’s side during his illness.
Following a long period of mourning, a new chapter began when Davies connected with 27-year-old model Oliver Cole via Instagram. The pair engaged in digital correspondence for months before meeting, eventually navigating the public curiosity regarding their 36-year age gap with resilience. Davies notes that while he initially hesitated due to the age difference, Cole’s maturity and directness quickly won over his social circle. This relationship has brought new experiences, including a trip to New York earlier this year, marking Davies’ first holiday in 14 years.
Reflecting on his professional journey, Davies acknowledges the challenges of the current television landscape, where projects like Years and Years and It’s a Sin were initially met with rejection by major broadcasters before becoming successes. He credits his early financial discipline—saving like a miser since the early 90s—with providing the independence required to navigate these industry hurdles. Today, he continues to develop new scripts, occasionally forgetting past pitches in his enthusiasm for fresh ideas, but always driven by the same creative fervor that defined his early work.
