Welsh screenwriter Russell T. Davies was BOTD in 1963. Born in Swansea, he studied at Oxford University, where he started writing plays. After graduation, he worked for the BBC, smuggling queer characters into TV drama serials Revelations and The Grand. He rose to fame in 1999 as the creator and writer of Queer as Folk, a high-octane comedy-drama set in Manchester’s gay scene, introducing millions of shocked viewers to rimming, underage sex, lipstick lesbians and gay antiheroes. Davies’ later work included a successful reboot of TV sci-fi series Doctor Who; the Whovian spin-off series Torchwood, starring John Barrowman as queer hero Captain Jack Sparrow; Bob and Rose, a melodrama about a gay man who falls in love with his girlfriend; A Very English Scandal, a rollicking biopic about politician Jeremy Thorpe’s attempt to murder his ex-boyfriend Norman Scott, played respectively by Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw; and the dystopian drama Years and Years, in which he coolly killed off his gay lead character, played by Russell Tovey. He struck gold again with the 2021 series It’s A Sin, a hard-hitting drama about AIDS in 1980s London starring Olly Alexander. The finale was watched by 18.9 million Britons, sparking a national conversation about homophobia and prompting a spike in HIV testing. Davies married long-term partner Andrew Smith in 2012, remaining together until Smith’s death in 2018. His current relationship status is unknown.