Mark Gatiss has won the UK Theatre Award 2023 for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre.
The news comes ahead of the UK Theatre Awards ceremony taking place on Sunday 8 October 2023 at the Guildhall in London, hosted by actor Zoe Birkett (The Witches, Moulin Rouge! The Musical).
The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide awards to honour and celebrate outstanding achievements in theatre throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland by UK Theatre members.
Nominations for the 2023 awards were announced last week.
Mark Gatiss is a prolific writer, director, producer, author and actor. His recent projects include directing the comedy The Unfriend, which started at Chichester Festival Theatre, played a season at the Criterion Theatre in London, and is heading back to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre from 16 December 2023.
He also directed the comedy The Way Old Friends Do at Birmingham Rep, which also transferred to the West End; and has adapted A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story, which started life at the Nottingham Playhouse, and is heading back to London this festive season playing the Alexandra Palace Theatre from 24 November 2023 starring Keith Allen.
Mark Gatiss is also an Olivier Award winning actor, with his stage work including recent hit National Theatre play The Motive and The Cue playing John Gielgud. The show is transferring to the Noël Coward Theatre from 9 December 2023.
His other stage work includes Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse, The Boys In The Band at the Park Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre, and Three Days In The Country at the National Theatre, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
On TV he is a member of The League Of Gentlemen and as the co-creator and executive producer of the multi-award winning BBC series Sherlock, in which he played Mycroft Holmes; and on TV and film he has appeared in Mission Impossible 7, Operation Mincemeat, The Father, The Favourite, Christopher Robin, Gunpowder, Wolf Hall, Coalition and Game Of Thrones.
Mark Gatiss said: “I’m very flattered and delighted to receive this unexpected honour. The theatre holds a very special place in my blackened old heart, and it’s been a delight to have been so thoroughly immersed in it in recent years.”
Claire Walker, Co-CEO of Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre, said: “We would like to offer congratulations to the recipient of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre Award, Mark Gatiss. The impact he has made on national theatre is immeasurable – from his Olivier Award winning performances on stage as an actor, to his work in regional and West End productions as a director. We are so looking forward to celebrating his achievements at the UK Theatre Awards ceremony on Sunday 8 October.”
