Doctor Who star Matt Smith to play gay writer

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a pink background.

The latest Doctor Who actor Matt Smith is to play gay writer Christopher Isherwood in a drama about the writer’s life.

Isherwood wrote A Single Man, which was recently adapted for a film starring Colin Firth.

The drama will see Smith, 27, playing Isherwood as a young man who escapes his suffocating mother to move to Berlin in the 1930s.

Titled Christopher And His Kind, the show is based on Isherwood’s memoirs of the same name.

A source told The Sun: “This is a world away from what Matt’s fans will expect. He’s really excited and can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Smith became the 11th Doctor Who last year, succeeding David Tennant.