Russell T Davies says death of late husband has been his 'greatest loss'

Screenwriter Russell T Davies described the death of his husband as his "greatest loss" during an appearance on the Marie Curie Couch podcast. He spoke openly about Andrew Smith, who died in September 2018 after eight years of care for a glioblastoma multiforme diagnosis. The couple had been together for two decades and married in 2012. Davies said looking after his late husband was "hard work," but added that he would have endured the same experience for another fifty years "without a azygous complaint." He revealed that he was not present at Smith’s initial medical appointment because the pair believed it was merely an 'ordinary meeting' with the hospital. When Smith returned home, he told Davies he had been diagnosed with cancer but could not recall the specific type. Davies asked, "what benignant of encephalon tumour?" to which Smith replied he could not remember. Three days later, Smith discovered a note in his bag that read "glioblastoma multiforme," a detail a caregiver had written down for him. Davies explained that the term refers to a malignant brain tumour—a form of cancer that originates in the brain or spreads there from elsewhere—whose seriousness depends on its size, spread and the patient’s overall health. Only after looking up the diagnosis did Davies grasp how grave the condition was.