As the creative force who brought Doctor Who back from the dead, Russell T Davies has always understood the power of time, memory and second chances. And now, at 62, it seems he is embracing a brand-new chapter of his own.
It can be revealed that Davies is in a relationship with Australian waiter and aspiring model Oliver Cole, who is 27 — almost four decades his junior.
The pair quietly marked Oliver’s birthday last month with a special visit to the Doctor Who set, where Davies treated him to a spin inside the iconic Tardis. The moment even sparked playful speculation among devoted fans that Cole could somehow be linked to the show’s future, rumours that insiders quickly dismissed as harmless fantasy.
Davies, who turns 63 in April, also shared a festive selfie with Cole over Christmas, wishing followers a Merry Christmas and subtly confirming their growing closeness.
According to a friend of the couple, Oliver has brought renewed happiness into Davies’s life. The source says Oliver has brought a great deal of joy into Russell’s world and that, despite the age gap, they are very much on the same wavelength. The relationship, they insist, feels serious and built to last.
This marks Davies’s first meaningful romance since the devastating loss of his husband Andrew Smith, who died from a brain tumour in 2018. The couple had been together for more than two decades, and Davies famously stepped back from his career for two and a half years to care for Smith during his illness.
Reflecting on that time, Davies once admitted he was surprised that people were shocked by his decision to put work aside, saying he simply did what love required.
He has also spoken movingly about the night he first met Andrew, revealing that if he truly had access to a time machine, that is the moment he would revisit. He recalled standing in Cruz 101 on Canal Street in Manchester in April 1998, catching eyes across the room — a memory that remains etched in his heart.
Now, friends say, Davies is allowing himself to look forward again — not by erasing the past, but by honouring it while stepping into something new.
