Maxim Baldry on starring in Russell T Davies’ ‘Years and Years’ and kissing Russell Tovey
The actor stars as openly gay Ukrainian refugee Viktor in the BBC dystopian family drama.
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
20 years ago, Davies revolutionised gay representation on TV with the hit 1990s show Queer as Folk and since then he has continued to make waves in TV with Cucumber, Doctor Who and last year’s A Very English Scandal.
But now, he is set to return to the Beeb for his latest project, Years and Years – a dystopian family drama starring the likes of Emma Thompson, Rory Kinnear and Russell Tovey, set to air on BBC One in May.
And 23-year-old Maxim Baldry has nabbed himself a role as the gay Ukrainian refugee Viktor, whose presence interrupts the home life of Tovey’s out character, Daniel.
Maxim Baldry, shot by Markus Bidaux exclusively for Attitude’s June issue
“He comes to the estate, then he meets Daniel who’s his housing officer,” Maxim tells Attitude’s June issue – which is available now to buy or globally download.
“They strike up a relationship, they keep seeing each other and eventually it blossoms into love.
“At the heart of all these crazy world issues, Years and Years is a delicate love story between two people, and that’s what makes it profound on a lot of levels.”
Like most of Davies’ projects, sex is a key element – any gay man will remember Charlie Hunnam’s sex scene with Aiden Gillan in the first episode of Queer as Folk – and Maxim admits he hopes a sex scene won’t end up on the editing floor.
He continues: “It’s just a story about two people wanting to be together and loving each other – and who wouldn’t want to kiss Russell Tovey?
“I haven’t seen any of the show yet but there’s a sex scene in the first episode that I hope they managed to get in.
“I remember they were trying to see if the BBC were OK with that.”
Read Maxim’s full interview in Attitude’s June issue – out now.
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