Russell T. Davies, OBE (born Stephen Russell Davies, 27 April 1963), is a critically acclaimed Welsh television producer and writer. He is known for controversial drama serials such as Queer as Folk and The Second Coming, and for spearheading the successful revival of the popular science-fiction television series Doctor Who. He created the latter's spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Davies was born in Sketty, a suburb of Swansea in Wales, where he attended Olchfa School. He was then educated at Worcester College, Oxford, graduating with a degree in English Literature in 1984. He completed a postgraduate Theatre Studies course run by Cardiff University based at the Sherman Theatre. After initially working in the theatre back in Swansea, he joined the staff of BBC Television, working as a floor manager and production assistant before taking the in-house director's course in the late 1980s. He briefly moved in front of the cameras to present a single episode of the BBC's famous young children's show Play School in 1987, before deciding that his abilities lay in production rather than presenting. It was around this point that he began adding the "T" to his name on credits, in order to distinguish himself from the well-known radio presenter Russell Davies.

Working for the children's department at BBC Manchester from 1988 to 1992, he was a producer for summertime activity show Why Don't You? which ironically showcased various things children could be doing rather than sitting at home watching the television. While serving as the producer of Why Don't You? he also made his first forays into writing for television, scripting the comedy dubbed version of The Flashing Blade for the On the Waterfront Saturday morning programme (1989) and creating a children's sketch show for early Saturday mornings on BBC One entitled Breakfast Serials (1990). In the early 1990s, Davies also wrote three episodes of the slapstick comedy children's TV show ChuckleVision.