Russell T Davies on 40 years of bringing gay stories to our screens – podcast

The Dr Who showrunner made his name with taboo-busting series such as Queer As Folk. He tells Helen Pidd about how he changed the way queer lives were depicted on British television

Even if you don’t know his name, you will almost certainly have watched one of his TV shows if you grew up in the UK. As well as rebooting Doctor Who, Russell T Davies been bringing stories of gay lives to our TV screens for the last 40 years.

It’s been his mission since he came of age as a young man in the 1980s, a time when LGBTQ people were unable to get married or serve in the armed forces, and when queer kids grew up in the shadow of section 28 and the Aids crisis. Stories about gay life back then, if shown at all, tended to be about shame, fear, and ruin.

The Queerest of Folk: A Life in Television by Russell T Davies, published on 8 October by Transworld at £25. To support the Guardian, order your copy from guardianbookshop.com