Andrew Hayden-Smith, known for his roles in Byker Grove and Doctor Who , has been enjoying a holiday in Sitges, Spain, with his boyfriend, posting a series of sun-soaked snaps to Instagram . But the star previously opened up about his journey to coming out as gay. Andrew was compelled to publicly announce his sexuality during his time as a CBBC presenter in the early 2000s, due to threats from others to reveal it on his behalf.
Reflecting on the experience in 2018, he shared: "I did a coming out article in Attitude when I was like 21. And I was a presenter on CBBC at the time. We got a call from a newspaper saying they were gonna do a story on it.
And my boss was like, 'We've just had this phonecall...
do you wanna just do it yourself in Attitude and get it over with? " So I did it, and then nothing more was said about it. "In a conversation with QX, he further added: "Some people were quite surprised when I came out though. I think because I was from Newcastle, and a little bit laddy, and on Byker Grove.
"In 2016, Andrew joined the cast of Hollyoaks for a brief stint as policeman DS Armstrong, but is perhaps most recognised for his role in Ant and Dec's teen drama Byker Grove. Last year, fans were thrilled to hear that the show would be making a comeback.The refreshed series, now titled Byker, will once again be filmed and produced in the North East.
Ant and Dec, who portrayed the fun-loving best friend duo PJ and Duncan in the original series, will take on the roles of exec.
