Link to the n*de dudes

In the 2023-24 season of Doctor Who, Episodes 1.7 and 1.8, the time-and-space zapping Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and his latest companion, Ruby Sunday visit UNIT, the time-and-space anomaly-investigation agency to solve two mysteries:

1. Why does an elderly woman pop up in various guises in all of their recent adventures?

2. Ruby's mother left her on a church doorstep on Christmas Day. They want to go back in time to discover who she is, but the Doctor can't use his regular time-traveling power, for reasons, so they use one of UNIT's experimental devices.

Things go terribly wrong, of course, and they release Sutekh, the Great Beast, the Abomination, the Destroyer, the Bringer of Death, the One Who Waits...who actually looks rather like a giant dog. He intends to destroy all life in the universe. Well, it's better than yet another visit from the Dahh-leks.

UNIT is staffed primarily by the Doctor's retired companions, all ladies, but there are a few hunks wandering around:

Tachia Newall (top photo) as Col. Chidozie, who gets sanded to death by the Giant Dog

Alexander Devrient (left) as Col. Ibrahaim, whose muscles are praised by the Doctor (bisexual this season): "You've been working out!"

And Aneurin Barnard as Roger ap Gwillam, who will become the most evil Prime Minister in the history of Britain. N*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

And a cute kid: Lenny Rush as12-year old super-genius Morris Gibbons, who runs the time-travel device, fights the Giant Dog, gets dusted and resurrected, and after the Dog's demise, invites everyone out to a pizza party.

Lenny was originally cast in Episode 1.1, as one of the sentient babies running an orbiting space nursery, but he was so great that they decided to cut his scene and cast him in this much bigger role.

As of this writing, Lenny is 16 years old and looks a bit younger, so I won't be searching for beefcake or n*de photos. I'll post some of his co-stars instead.

But at 3'2" he's a perfect addition to the Short Guy Brigade, so I'm going to research the other usual questions of a profile:

1. Has he played any gay characters?

Lenny has 14 acting credits listed on the IMDB, beginning with 4 episodes of the animated Apple Tree House (2018-19) and 7 episodes of The Dumping Ground (2021-22), about children "dumped" in a foster home.

There were two lesbians in The Dumping Ground, but no gay boys.

Dodger (2022-23) featured the Victorian-era pickpocket Artful Dodger (Billy Jenkins) and his mentor Fagin (Christopher Eccleston) before their adventures in Dickens' Oliver Twist. Lenny played Morgan the Crossing Sweeper and Dodger's gay-subtext boyfriend, here receiving a bit of bad news.

More after the break

His most significant work to date is in Am I Being Unreasonable (2022-25), a Britcom about a disagreeable lady hiding a dark secret. Lenny won a BAFTA Best Male Actor award for playing her son, who is also hiding a dark secret (seen her with Dustin Demri-Burns as her boyfriend).

In the festive drama Dear Father Christmas, scheduled for December 2025, Lenny will play a 16-year old boy trying to convinced his bah! humbug! Dad (James Buckley) that Father Christmas is real.

Dustin & James get n*ked on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends.

But I'm most interested in the upcoming Reluctant Vampire, based on the novel by Eric Morecambe: Growing up in a family of vampires, Val (Lenny) has always felt "different." One day he realizes that he's not a vampire at all, he's human! He must keep his secret from his conservative parents while trying to "find out who he truly is."

Could the gay symbolism get any more obvious?

Answer: A lot of subtexts and symbolism, but you'd hardly expect more from a child actor.

#2: Is he gay in real life?

None of the interviews with Lenny bring up the topic, and his social media posts show only family, co-stars, and celebrities who he's met. It may be significant that he's hugging a lot of men but very few ladies, that he attended the BAFTA Awards with bisexual comedian Joe Lycett, or that he won a diversity award, but maybe not. His height and youthful appearance may make it difficult to draw the romantic interest of other teenagers, boys or girls.

Answer: Ask again in a few years.