Interview: Russell T Davies on shelving US projects, his partner’s cancer diagnosis and coming home

He’s one of the most talented writers of his generation. He first came to prominence in 1999 when he wrote, produced and became the public face of Queer as Folk. He was later credited with reviving British Saturday night TV drama with his 2005-2010 revival of Dr Who, the success of which enabled him to create the spin off series The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood.

In 2008 he was awarded an OBE for services to drama. Laurence Watts meets Russell T Davies.

Russell and I are meeting at a restaurant in Manchester. I’m hoping it’s third time lucky.

Twice before we’d agreed to meet only for Russell’s plans to change, forcing him to cancel. The last cancellation has been playing on my mind. We’d been due to meet in Los Angeles, but he’d emailed me from a planned holiday in Britain to say he wasn’t returning to America. His partner, Andrew, needed long-term medical treatment and they wanted to be closer to friends and family. At the time I didn’t want to pry. Now that we meet, I’m wondering whether Russell is OK to talk about it. He is.