Doctor Who's Russell T Davies, 62, and his boyfriend Oliver Cole, 27, enjoy a speedboat ride as they jet off on a romantic trip to Venice

Russell T Davies and his boyfriend Oliver Cole enjoyed a speedboat ride as they jetted off on a romantic trip to Venice this weekend. 

The Doctor Who show runner, 62, went Instagram official with aspiring model Oliver, 27, over Christmas in 2025 as he shared a selfie of the pair and penned: 'Merry Christmas! From me & Oliver'. 

However the TV producer actually hinted at his romance with the Australian waiter over a month before after he let Oliver explore the TARDIS.

It's Russell's first serious relationship since the death of his husband, Andrew Smith, from a brain tumour in 2018. 

Taking to his Instagram page on Saturday, Russell shared an array of sweet snaps with his boyfriend as they enjoyed a speed boat ride around Venice. 

Both Russell and Oliver looked smitten as they displayed huge smiles in the selfies, while speeding through the water.  

Back in November, Oliver shared a hint into his romance with Russell as he was seen frolicking around the iconic Doctor Who set, sparking speculation among the show's obsessive fans that he could be the next Time Lord.

Oliver captioned the video: '27- Another Year Passes. But it's alright I have a TARDIS x'.

He then reassured fans: 'Not the new Doctor Promise x' while Russell also wished Oliver a happy birthday in the comments.

A close friend of the couple told The Daily Mail's Richard Eden: 'Oliver has brought a great deal of joy into Russell's life and they make each other genuinely happy. 

'Despite the age gap, they're very much on the same wavelength – this relationship feels like one for the long haul.'

Russell and his late husband Andrew had been together for more than 20 years and the screenwriter took two-and-a-half years away from work to care for him during his battle with the terminal illness.

'I was surprised by how many people were surprised that I did that,' he later reflected.

Russell has often said that, given a time machine, he would travel back to the night he met his late husband. 

'If I had a Tardis, I would go to Canal Street in Manchester and be a bystander in Cruz 101 on April 12, 1998, as I was standing by the railing, and he [Andrew] was standing at another railing with his friend, and we caught eyes,' he said.

Andrew was diagnosed with a brain tumour back in 2011 when the couple were living in LA.

Given only a three per cent chance of recovery, the pair moved back to Manchester and Russell took two years off work. 

Speaking in an interview with the Radio Times back in 2019, six months after his passing, Russell described caring for Andrew as the 'the greatest work I’ll ever do on this Earth.'

He explained: 'All the widows warned me that six months was hard, and it is hard. I expected to miss him but we knew he would die one day. 

'We had 13 years before he was ill but it's hard to remember that at the moment. I’m stuck in the last four weeks of him dying.

'Little by little, I know it will pass. I knew I would miss loving him, but what I didn’t know I would miss is being loved. That's quite hard. 

'That's hideous, actually. No one warns you about that. I didn't expect that to vanish but it's just gone.'