"Dr. Who?" Star Matt Smith to Play Gay Pioneer Christopher Isherwood

Pink News Reports:

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.

Smith can be seen as the 11th Doctor in the current season of "Dr. Who?" on BBC America.