Russell T. Davies

Often described as a genius, 'Russell T. Davies' (qv) is one of the leading British television writers of his generation, who specializes in emotional dramas, frequently with gay and sex-related adult themes. He was born in Swansea, Wales (UK) in 1963. After initially taking a BBC Television director's course in the 1980s, he briefly moved in front of the cameras to present a single episode of the BBC's version of _Play School (1964)_ (qv) in 1987, before deciding that his abilities lay in production rather than presenting.Working for the children's department at BBC Manchester, from 1988 to 1992 he was the producer of summertime activity show _Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go and Do Something Less Boring Instead? (1973)_ (qv) which ironically showcased various things children could be doing rather than sitting at home watching the television. While serving as the producer of "Why Don't You?" he also made his first forays into writing for television, creating a children's sketch show for early Saturday mornings on BBC One called _Breakfast Serials (1990)_ (qv).In 1991, he wrote his first television drama, a six-part serial for children entitled _Dark Season (1991)_ (qv) for BBC One, which effectively comprised of two different three-part stories based around a science-fiction / adventure theme. The production was very low budget but nevertheless successful, and noteworthy for showcasing the acting talents of a young 'Kate Winslet' (qv). Two years later he wrote another equally well-received science-fiction drama in the same vein, entitled _Century Falls (1993)_ (qv).In 1992, he moved to Granada Television, producing and writing for their successful children's hospital drama _Children's Ward (1989)_ (qv). One of the episodes Davies wrote for this series won a BAFTA Children's Award for Best Drama in 1996. At Granada he also began to break into working for adult television, contributing an episode to the ITV crime quiz show _Cluedo (1990)_ (qv), a programme based on the popular board game of the same name, in 1993, and also working on the daytime soap opera _Families (1990)_ (qv). He continued working on "Children's Ward" until 1995, by which time he was already consolidating his position outside of children's programming with the comedy _The House of Windsor (1994)_ (qv) and camp soap opera _Revelations (1994)_ (qv).After a brief stint as a storyliner on ITV's flagship soap opera _Coronation Street (1960)_ (qv) (for which he later wrote the straight-to-video spin-off _Coronation Street: Viva Las Vegas! (1997)_ (qv)) and contributions to Channel 4's _Springhill (1996)_ (qv), the following year he wrote and created the hotel-set mainstream period drama _The Grand (1997)_ (qv) for prime time ITV, winning a reputation for good writing and high audience figures. He contributed to the first series of the acclaimed ITV drama _Touching Evil (1997)_ (qv), before beginning his fruitful collaboration with the independent Red Productions company.His first series for Red was the ground-breaking adult gay drama _Queer as Folk (1999)_ (qv), which caused much comment and drew much praise when screened on Channel 4 in early 1999. A sequel followed in 2000 and a US version, which still runs successfully in that country to this day, was commissioned by the Showtime cable network there. In 2001 he followed this up with another popular mini-series with a gay theme for Red, _Bob & Rose (2001)_ (qv), this time screened on the mainstream ITV channel in prime time. After writing an episode for a Red series he had not created, _Linda Green (2001)_ (qv) (shown on BBC1) in early 2003 he wrote the religious telefantasy drama _The Second Coming (2003)_ (qv) starring 'Christopher Eccleston' (qv), which cemented his position as one of the UK's foremost writers of TV drama.His other work includes another Red mini series for ITV, _Mine All Mine (2004)_ (qv), a series about the life of _Casanova (2005)_ (qv) which made a star of 'David Tennant' (qv) and the screenplay for a film version of the _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1998)_ (qv) cheating scandal. Most famously, he is the chief writer and executive producer of the BBC's big budget revival of _Doctor Who (2005)_ (qv), as well as the spin-offs _Torchwood (2006)_ (qv), _The Sarah Jane Adventures (2007)_ (qv) and _Wizards vs. Aliens (2012)_ (qv). He subsequently created more gay drama with _Cucumber (2015)_ (qv) and the sex-themed documentary series _Tofu (2015)_ (qv). He has also written _A Very English Scandal (2018)_ (qv), which stars the legendary 'Hugh Grant' (qv) as gay Liberal Party leader 'Jeremy Thorpe' (qv), whose political career was destroyed by conspiracy to murder allegations. He then won further acclaim with his serial _It's a Sin (2021)_ (qv), written about the HIV/AIDS crisis which swept through the gay community in the 1980s.Outside of television and film, his prose work has included the novelization of _Dark Season (1991)_ (qv) and an original "Doctor Who" novel, "Damaged Goods", for Virgin Publishing in 1996.He lives in Manchester, UK.::taylor_mayed