Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Russell T Davies: If I had Tardis I would travel to first meeting with husband

Russell T Davies spoke about his late partner (Jane Barlow/PA)
Russell T Davies spoke about his late partner (Jane Barlow/PA)

Russell T Davies has said if he had a Tardis he would travel back to the moment he first met his late partner.

The Doctor Who writer cared for his husband Andrew Smith in the final years before his death.

Davies said those eight years of care were the best of their relationship, and treasures the kindness of his late love.

BFI and Radio Times Television Festival
Russell T Davies cared for his husband during his final years (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

The writer said that if he had the power to time travel he would journey back to the moment in a Manchester club when they first met.

He spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs about his time with Smith, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011.

Davies said: “People always say ‘where would you go if you had Tardis?’ I would go back to that club and be a bystander. We caught eyes. What a magic moment.”

He added: “I became his carer. I was lucky enough to be able to do that.

“Those eight years that I cared for him are our happiest years.

“They were so intimate and so honest. Everything else just falls away. There’s no nonsense. He was properly cherished.

“He will be in every good man I ever write now.”

Smith died at home by the side of Davies, who praised the kindness of his long-term partner.

The writer said there are many stories of love and emotion from the LGBT community still to tell, as that section of society has been silenced for so long.

Davies says he has no issue in being called a “gay writer”, because there is such rich material to use from the community.

He said: “Any sense of queernesss, any sense of otherness, is still very, very new.

“We’ve always been there, behind the scenes, making the sensible decisions, for thousands of years.

“As an ‘out’ society, we’re less than 50 years old really, and that’s nothing.

“There are things that we said, things that we felt, emotions in our hearts that have not been put on screen yet, or on the page, or into fiction.

“It’s all there to be celebrated, it’s wonderful, it’s rich, open territory.”

The full interview with Davies can be heard on BBC Radio 4 at 11.15am.