has revealed how he met his boyfriend Oliver Cole, admitting he was not looking for love when the pair first connected on Instagram.
The writer opened up about his relationship during an appearance on Davina McCall’s podcast, explaining how a simple comment on social media led to an unexpected romance.
Davies, who lost his husband Andrew Smith to brain cancer in September 2018, said he had struggled to imagine finding love again after such a significant loss.
“I looked at his photo and I went, ‘Oh, hello'” – Russell T Davies on his now-boyfriend Oliver Cole
“After losing a big love, it’s very hard to believe you’ll ever find love again,” McCall told him.
“Yeah, that’s very true,” Davies replied, before explaining that he had assumed his age and relatively quiet lifestyle meant another relationship was unlikely.
“I literally thought, I’m 63 now, who’s looking for anything like that?” he said. “And I’m not particularly social. I don’t really go out. I don’t go to parties. So I wasn’t remotely looking at all.”
However, that changed when Cole, an Australian model, commented on something Davies had posted on Instagram.
“I looked at his photo and I went, ‘Oh, hello,'” he recalled. “So a genuine ‘hiya’, like that, and then we got chatting.”
“He’s wonderful, and it’s a great lease of life in my life. He’s just gorgeous” – Davies on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast
After three months of messaging, Cole suggested they meet for dinner in London. “I literally didn’t think that was a date,” he said. “I just thought it’d be really lovely to have dinner with a really nice man.”
The screenwriter was taken by surprise when Cole leaned over and kissed him during their meal. “And I was like, ‘What the hell?’” Davies recalled.
“And then here we are. Isn’t that mad? Just wasn’t looking for it at all.”
Davies has previously spoken about the 36-year age difference between himself and Cole, who is 27.
Speaking on the How To Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast, Davies acknowledged that his boyfriend was considerably younger, describing the age gap as “ridiculous”.
“He’s a lot younger, he’s 27, which is ridiculous, I know,” he said, before praising Cole’s maturity. “He’s wonderful, and it’s a great lease of life in my life. He’s just gorgeous.”
Davies lost his husband Andrew Smith in 2018
Davies was previously in a relationship with Andrew Smith for 35 years. The couple entered into a civil partnership in 2012, and Smith died in September 2018 after eight years of treatment for glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer.
Speaking on the On the Marie Curie Couch podcast earlier this year, Davies described losing Smith as his “greatest loss”, explaining that he would have continued caring for his husband for another 50 years without complaint.