The 'Arts and Leisure Section' of Sunday's New York Times featured a full-page article by Dave Itzkoff on the new Doctor Who TV series and its creator Russell T. Davies.  The new Who, which began airing on Fridays in March on the Sci Fi Channel (see 'Sci Fi Channel Gets Doctor Who'), has been a major smash in the U.K., and the Times' Itzkoff clearly credits a good portion of the new series' success to the efforts of Davies, who may be best known to American audiences as the creator of Queer as Folk.

Davies' crucial decision was casting Christopher Eccleston (Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later) as the ninth Doctor and teaming him with pop star Billie Piper, who has been unexpectedly effective as the good Doctor's female sidekick.  While some fans feared that Davies would be using the series to 'push his gay agenda,' the vibe generated by the show's attractive leading actors is distinctly heterosexual.

According to Itzkoff the first season of the new Doctor Who series 'has more sexuality, both submerged and overt, than the several hundred episodes that preceded it, the show's producers argue that it is Mr. Davies' creativity, not his sexual identity, that has made their show a hit' and that he as created 'possibly the most heterosexual Doctor we've ever had.'