Russell T. Davies shelving projects to care for partner
{jcomments off}Welsh writer Russell T Davies has put his American projects on hold to care for his partner.
The Torchwood creator and writer revealed in an interview with Pink News that he had put on hold his American projects to care for his partner who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. Following his work for the Starz/BBC production of Torchwood: Miracle Day the writer was working on a project, titled Cucumber, about gay men for Showtime. The premium American broadcaster previously aired a remake of Davies’ drama Queer as Folk which ran for five critically acclaimed seasons.
In an interview with Pink News the writer discussed how his partner hadn’t been feeling well while they were living in Los Angeles – where Torchwood: Miracle Day was filmed – and when they returned to the UK they went to see a doctor ‘We wondered if it was the change of city, the water or the fact he wasn’t working. It was getting bad so we decided he’d see a doctor when we came back in August for a three-week holiday. He went to the doctor, who sent him for a scan. When we got the results they told us he had cancer of the brain. They needed to operate straight away. Three days later he was having surgery.’
Davies told Pink News that he had put all his work on hold, including his proposed gay series Cucumber, to look after his partner Andrew. ‘The lives we had in LA just sort of closed down overnight, I haven’t worked since August. We’re lucky we’ve got enough money in the bank that, if need be, I can take the whole of next year off. It was a simple decision: he’s more important. Who gives a fuck about writing scripts if I can stay at home with him and make his day a bit happier?”
As for the future of the drama Davies said ‘It’s the best thing I’ve written in a decade. Showtime loved it. We’d just got to the point of casting when Andrew and I came back to Britain. There’s no way I’d let it happen without me. It was originally written for America, but in theory I could rewrite it for Britain. It’s tricky because it’s a BBC property, but it uses much stronger language and attitude than I’ve ever seen before on the BBC.’
Davies early breaks in television drama were writing children’s dramas such as his critically acclaimed creations Dark Season and Century Falls as well as CITV‘s Children’s Ward. He moved into adult drama in the mid 1990s with shows such as Revelations and The Grand but it was his Channel Four drama Queer as Folk, about the lives of gay men in Manchester, that really put the writer on the map. He wrote critically acclaimed drama The Second Coming, starring Christopher Eccleston, for ITV and Casanova, starring David Tennant, for the BBC.
In 2005 he revived Doctor Who for BBC One re-inventing the sci-fi series for the 21st century while remaining true to the original series. The success of Doctor Who convinced television executives of the demand of family drama’s on a Saturday evening leading to the likes of Robin Hood and Merlin on BBC One and Demons and Primeval on ITV1. Under Davies tenure spin-offs Torchwood, starring John Barrowman, and The Sarah Jane Adventures, starring the late Elisabeth Sladen, were launched to much success.