Matt Smith plays gay author

'Doctor Who' star Matt Smith is to play a gay author in a new BBC drama.

The 27-year-old actor portrays Christopher Isherwood in the feature length programme 'Christopher and His Kind'.

The story will be screened on BBC Two later this month and will focus on the late writer's life in 1930s Berlin and his works which inspired the musical phenomenon 'Cabaret'.

Viewers will see Matt share romantic scenes with Burberry model Douglas Booth, 17, but he insists he wasn't bothered about being intimate with another man.

He said: "I've kissed lots of boys!"

Matt - who is dating model Daisy Lowe - is not afraid to take on challenging roles and previously played a son who was involved in an incestuous relationship with his mother in Polly Stenham's play 'That Face'.

The actor is currently shooting the new series of 'Doctor Who'.

He has been spotted in Cornwall this week where he and his co-stars - including Karen Gillan, who plays the Time Lord's companion Amy Pond - have been filming scenes on a pirate ship for a storyline which is said to be a cross between 'Treasure Island' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.