Years and Years on BBC title card: Who is Andrew Smith? Why is it dedicated to him?
YEARS AND YEARS on BBC and HBO ends with a title card paying tribute to Andrew Smith. Writer Russell T Davies has spoken at length about who Andrew Smith is and why this episode is dedicated to him.
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Years and Years came to an end last night (Monday, July 30) on HBO with a title card in memory of Andrew Smith. Andrew Smith was the husband of Years and Years writer Russell T Davies, who has paid tribute not only in his BBC series but also in a number of interviews since he died in 2018. Russell T Davies married Andrew Smith in 2012 after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Who is Andrew Smith?
Andrew Smith was the husband of Years and Years writer Russell T Davies.
Smith, who married Davies in 2012, died in 2018 following after being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011.
Davies told the Radio Times that prior to Smith’s death, he took two and a half years away from writing to care for his husband.
He said: “We had seven years of that illness together, and it’s lovely to come and talk about my shows, but that’s the greatest work I’ll ever do on this Earth.
“I surprised myself because I thought my work was more important to me.
“He was a bit disabled but quite able-bodied so I didn’t have to do the dirty end of caring, but nonetheless I was there.
“He wasn’t steady on the stairs, so I was with him night and day to help him and get every meal ready.”
Speaking about how he had met his husband, Davies said they met in a club: “At 10 to two in the morning.”
He met Smith in the late 1990s as the writer was working on his breakout show, Channel 4’s Queer as Folk.
He said of Smith: “He was so handsome. Across the club I could not believe that there was this handsome man and he was looking at me.”
In an interview with Wales Online, Davies said he agreed to marry his husband after turning him down multiple times.
However, after the tumour was diagnosed and Smith was given a three percent chance of survival, he finally said yes.
He said of this: “I only got married ’cos he was so ill. I mean, I had to be dragged kicking and screaming down that aisle.
“It was a hilariously sad wedding, just six people, but that day we had the biggest laugh, because it was so tragic, so wonderful.
“They were laughing at the look on my face when I had to get married at last.
“And Andrew, bless him, who was on steroids, he was a great big whale, and loving it, loving every second of it.”
Years and Years is streaming now on BBC iPlayer