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Mark Gatiss

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Mark Gatiss
Gatiss in 2017
Born (1966-10-17) 17 October 1966 (age 58)
Sedgefield, County Durham, England
Other namesRondo Haxton
Alma materBretton Hall College of Education
Occupations
  • Actor
  • screenwriter
  • television producer
  • comedian
  • novelist
  • director
Years active1993–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2008)​
Mark Gatiss's voice
from the BBC programme Desert Island Discs, 23 October 2011.[1]

Mark Gatiss (/ˈɡeɪtɪs/ ⓘ;[1][2] born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. He is best known for his work in television acting in and co-creating shows with Steven Moffat. Gatiss has received several awards including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and two Laurence Olivier Awards.

Gatiss co-created, co-wrote and acted in BBC comedy series The League of Gentlemen (1999–2002). He co-created and portrayed Mycroft Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock (2010–2017) and Frank Renfield in BBC / Netflix miniseries Dracula (2020). He also wrote several episodes of Doctor Who during Moffat's tenure as showrunner, as well as two episodes during Russell T Davies' earlier tenure. His other TV roles include Tycho Nestoris in Game of Thrones (2014–2017), Stephen Gardiner in Wolf Hall (2015), and Peter Mandelson in Coalition (2015). He has acted in films such as Victor Frankenstein (2015), Denial (2016), Christopher Robin (2018), The Favourite (2018), The Father (2020), Operation Mincemeat (2021), and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023).

On stage, Gatiss played Menenius in the revival of William Shakespeare's Coriolanus (2013) for which he earned a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role nomination. He took on the role of King George III in a revival of the Alan Bennett play The Madness of George III (2018). He portrayed Sir John Gielgud in the Jack Thorne play The Motive and the Cue (2023) for which he earned the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor. His other theatre roles include in The Recruiting Officer (2012), The Vote (2015), and A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story (2021).

Early life and education

[edit]

Gatiss was born in Sedgefield, County Durham,[3] England, to Winifred Rose (née O'Kane, 1931–2003) and Maurice Gatiss (1931–2021).[4] He grew up opposite the Victorian psychiatric hospital Winterton, and later in Trimdon, before his father, a colliery engineer, took a job as engineer at the School Aycliffe Mental Hospital in Heighington.[5][6] His family background is working class.[5] His passions included watching Doctor Who and Hammer Horror films on television, reading Sherlock Holmes and H. G. Wells, and collecting fossils. All those interests have influenced his creative work.[7][8][9][10]

One of his early forays into theatre was in Darlington in March 1983, playing Dad, in The Waiting Room by Tony Stowers, a macabre and surreal Pinteresque comedy, which explores a disintegrating family unit. In July of the same year, he would have acted in Stowers' follow-up, A Sense of Insecurity, but was unable to take the role because his father insisted he take his exams instead.[11]

Gatiss attended Heighington Church of England Primary School, and Woodham Comprehensive School in Newton Aycliffe. At the latter, he was two years ahead of Paul Magrs, who also went on to write Doctor Who fiction.[12][13] Gatiss then studied Theatre Arts at Bretton Hall College, an arts college affiliated to the University of Leeds.[14]

Career

[edit]

1999–2005: Career beginnings

[edit]
Gatiss in 2006

Gatiss is a member of the sketch comedy team The League of Gentlemen (along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and co-writer Jeremy Dyson). He first met his co-writers and performers at Bretton Hall, Yorkshire, a drama school which he attended after finishing school and having spent a gap year travelling around Europe. The League of Gentlemen began as a stage act in 1995, which won the Perrier Award at Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1997.[7] In the same year the show transferred to BBC Radio 4 as On the Town with the League of Gentlemen, and later arrived on television on BBC Two in 1999. The television programme has earned Gatiss and his colleagues a British Academy Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award and the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux. In 2005, the film The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse was released, to generally positive reviews.[7]

Shearsmith and Pemberton reunited in 2009 to create a similarly dark BBC sitcom, Psychoville, which featured an episode guest-starring Gatiss. The three reunited again in 2012 to film a series of sketches for the fourth series of CBBC show Horrible Histories.[15][16]

Outside The League, Gatiss' television work has included writing for the 2001 revival of Randall & Hopkirk and script editing the popular sketch show Little Britain in 2003, making guest appearances in both. In 2001 he guested in Spaced as a villainous government employee modelled on the character of Agent Smith from The Matrix film series. In the same year he appeared in several editions of the documentary series SF:UK. Other acting appearances include the comedy-drama In the Red (BBC Two, 1998), the macabre sitcom Nighty Night (BBC Three, 2003), Agatha Christie's Marple as Ronald Hawes in "The Murder at the Vicarage", a guest appearance in the Vic & Bob series Catterick in 2004 and the live 2005 remake of the classic science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment. A second series of Nighty Night and the new comedy-drama Funland, the latter co-written by his League cohort Jeremy Dyson, both featured Gatiss and aired on BBC Three in the autumn of 2005. He appeared as Johnnie Cradock, alongside Nighty Night star Julia Davis as Fanny Cradock, in Fear of Fanny on BBC Four in October 2006, and featured as Ratty in a new production of The Wind in the Willows shown on BBC One on 1 January 2007. He wrote and starred in the BBC Four docudrama The Worst Journey in the World, based on the memoir by polar explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard.

Gatiss appears frequently in BBC Radio productions, including the science fiction comedy Nebulous and The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes story The Shameful Betrayal of Miss Emily Smith. In 2009, he was The Man in Black when BBC Radio 7 revived the character (originally played by Valentine Dyall and Edward de Souza) to introduce a series of five creepy audio dramas. He is also involved with theatre, having penned the play The Teen People in the early 1990s, and appeared in a successful run of the play 'Art' in 2003 at the Whitehall Theatre in London. In film, he has starred in Sex Lives of the Potato Men (2004) and had minor roles in Birthday Girl (2001), Bright Young Things (2003), Match Point (2005) and Starter for 10 (2006). The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, a film based on the television series, co-written by and starring Gatiss, was released in June 2005. He also plays the recurring character of Gold in the audio revival of Sapphire and Steel produced by Big Finish Productions. Gatiss also appeared in Edgar Wright's fake trailer for Grindhouse, Don't, a homage to 1970s' Hammer Horrors.

2007–2017: Doctor Who and Sherlock

[edit]
Mark Gatiss at "A Scandal in Belgravia" episode screening

Gatiss has also made three credited appearances in Doctor Who. In 2007, he played Professor Lazarus in "The Lazarus Experiment".[17] In 2011, he returned in the Series 6 episode "The Wedding of River Song" as a character known as Gantok, and in the 2017 Christmas special "Twice Upon A Time" as "The Captain".[18][19] Also in 2007, he appeared as Robert Louis Stevenson[20] in Jekyll, a BBC One serial by his fellow Doctor Who scriptwriter Steven Moffat.[21] In 2008, he appeared in Clone as Colonel Black. Gatiss also wrote, co-produced and acted in the BBC Four ghost story Crooked House (2008).

He appeared in the stage adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar's All About My Mother at the Old Vic in London from 25 August-24 November 2007. He won much critical acclaim for his portrayal of the transgender character Agrado. In the 2008 English language re-release of the cult 2006 Norwegian animated film Free Jimmy, Gatiss voiced the character of "Jakki," a heavy-set, bizarrely dressed biker member of the "Lappish Mafia." In this his voice is used along with the other actors of League of Gentlemen such as Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith. The dialogue was written by Simon Pegg and other actors included Pegg himself, Woody Harrelson and David Tennant, who worked with Gatiss on Doctor Who. He was scheduled to perform in Darker Shores by Michael Punter, a ghost story for all the family, at Hampstead Theatre 3 December 2009 – 16 January 2010 but had to withdraw after a serious family illness. Tom Goodman-Hill took over his role.[22]

In 2010, he portrayed Malcolm McLaren in the BBC drama Worried About the Boy which focused on the life and career of Boy George. He adapted H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon into a television film of the same name for the BBC, also playing Professor Cavor.[3][23] He also made a three-part BBC documentary series entitled A History of Horror, a personal exploration of the history of horror cinema.[24] This was followed on 30 October 2012 with a look at European horror with the documentary Horror Europa.[25] In March 2010, he was a guest on Private Passions, the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3.[26] From December 2010 to March 2011, Gatiss was playing the role of Bernard in Alan Ayckbourn's Season's Greetings at the Royal National Theatre in London alongside Catherine Tate. In December 2011, he appeared in an episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage in an episode entitled The Science of Christmas, alongside Brian Cox, Robin Ince and Richard Dawkins. In January 2012, he took the role of Brazen in The Recruiting Officer at the Donmar Theatre, London.[27] From 18 October – 24 November that year he was Charles I in the Hampstead Theatre production of 55 Days by Howard Brenton, a play dramatising the military coup that killed a King and forged a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell.[28]

With Steven Moffat, with whom Gatiss worked on Doctor Who and Jekyll, he also co-created and co-produced Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. He also portrayed Mycroft Holmes in the series. Premiering in 2010, the series is a modernised adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories, in which Gatiss plays the role of Sherlock's brother Mycroft. Gatiss has influence on all episodes as producer and he has written four episodes, one for each series: the finale, "The Great Game," for the first series, "The Hounds of Baskerville" for the second, "The Empty Hearse" for the third and "The Six Thatchers" for the fourth. He also co-wrote "Many Happy Returns," a mini-episode released in late December 2013 which acts as a prelude to the third series, with Steven Moffat; the episode "The Sign of Three" with Moffat and Steve Thompson; and "The Abominable Bride", a special episode released in early January 2016, with Moffat. Finally, he co-wrote the final episode of Sherlock, "The Final Problem", with Moffat, released in January 2017.

In December 2013, Gatiss joined the cast of the Donmar Warehouse production of Coriolanus as Senator of Rome, Menenius. The play went from 6 December 2013 through 13 February 2014.[29] For his performance, Gatiss received a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.[30] On 25 December 2013, a version of the ghost story "The Tractate Middoth" by M. R. James and adapted by Gatiss was broadcast on BBC Two as part of the long-running A Ghost Story for Christmas series. It starred Sacha Dhawan, John Castle, Louise Jameson, Una Stubbs, David Ryall, Eleanor Bron, Nick Burns and Roy Barraclough.[31][32] It was followed on 25 December 2013 by a screening on BBC2 of a new documentary by Gatiss titled M. R. James: Ghost Writer. The programme saw Gatiss explore the work of James and look at how his work still inspires contemporary horror today.

He appeared in season four of Game of Thrones in 2014 playing Tycho Nestoris[33] and reprised this role in season five and season seven.[34][non-primary source needed] In the BBC's 2015 series Wolf Hall, Gatiss played King Henry VIII's secretary Stephen Gardiner. He also appeared in Channel 4's Coalition in 2015.[35] In 2016, he played Harold in the groundbreaking American play The Boys in the Band, play at Park Theatre (London) opposite his husband Ian Hallard. They made history when the play transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in 2017 as the first married gay couple to appear together on a West End stage.[36]

Gatiss appeared as the Prince Regent (later George IV) in the eight-part historical fiction television drama series Taboo (2017)[37] first broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2017 and in the United States on FX on 10 January 2017. In May 2017, Gatiss began a recurring role on The Secret History of Hollywood, a series of podcast biopics on Golden Age-era Hollywood. Its 11-part series, Shadows tells the story of Val Lewton's life and career, with Gatiss providing the introductions for each episode.

2018–present: Theatre roles and expansion

[edit]
Gatiss portrayed Sir John Gielgud in the play The Motive and the Cue (2023) earning a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination

In November 2018, Gatiss portrayed the lead, King George III in a revival of the Alan Bennet play The Madness of George III at Nottingham Playhouse. The production was broadcast live to cinemas as part of National Theatre Live.[38] Kate Maltby of The Guardian wrote of his performance, "Productions of The Madness of George III live or die by their star, and Gatiss delivers a tour de force. This is a viscerally repulsive depiction of the gap between public and private life."[39] That same year he played a supporting role as John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough in the Yorgos Lanthimos directed black comedy The Favourite (2018) starring Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, and Rachel Weisz.[40] Also in 2018 he acted in the children's film Christopher Robin starring Ewan McGregor and The Mercy with Colin Firth. In 2020 he acted opposite Anthony Hopkins in the film The Father based on the Florian Zeller play Le Père.[41] In October 2021, Gatiss wrote and played Jacob Marley in a new adaptation of A Christmas Carol – A Ghost Story by Charles Dickens playing at both Nottingham Playhouse and Alexandra Palace in 2021.

He appeared as a modern-day incarnation/descendant of Count Dracula's servile companion Renfield in the series of his own co-creation, Dracula in the third and final episode, "The Dark Compass". In 2017, Gatiss and Steven Moffat re-teamed to write three episodes for TV miniseries Dracula.[42] The series premiered on BBC One on 1 January 2020, and was broadcast over three consecutive days.[43] The three episodes were then released on Netflix on 4 January 2020.[44] In June 2021, a new adaptation of The Ghosts by Antonia Barber, written and directed by Gatiss for Sky One, was announced.[45] It broadcast on 24 December. In 2021 he acted in the British war film Operation Mincemeat portraying Ivor Montagu. That same year he acted in Locked Down, The Road Dance, and The Sparks Brothers.[46] He joined the Mission Impossible franchise acting in action film Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) starring Tom Cruise.[47]

In May 2022, Gatiss directed The Unfriend, a new play by Steven Moffat at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester, starring Amanda Abbington, Frances Barber and Reece Shearsmith. The play transferred to London's West End Criterion Theatre in January 2023. In February 2023, Gatiss directed The Way Old Friends Do a new play by Ian Hallard at the Birmingham Rep. This also transferred to the Criterion in August. In April 2022, Gatiss starred as Lawrence in the seventh series opener of Inside No. 9.[48] In April 2023, Gatiss played as Sir John Gielgud in The Motive and the Cue,[49] a new play written by Jack Thorne and directed by Sam Mendes at London's National Theatre. The story of how Richard Burton (played by Johnny Flynn) and Gielgud clashed as they staged Hamlet on Broadway in 1964, the play has received good reviews, particularly the two leads.[50][51] Leonie Cooper of Time Out wrote of his performance, "Mark Gatiss launches himself into a condescending but sensitive Gielgud...[who] is just as impressive, his uncanny Gielgud manifesting a man in flux, as a new era of performance threatens to subsume his traditional take on stagecraft. Gatiss's Gielgud is lonely and lost, but still more than capable of getting one over on the wayward Burton."[52] For his performance Gatiss won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.[53]

Filming got underway in Belgium in April 2024 on Bookish, which Gatiss co-wrote and stars.[54]

Writing for Doctor Who

[edit]
Gatiss at the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, promoting Doctor Who

At the age of eleven, Gatiss won a school literary competition with a short science fiction story "The Anti-Noise Machine", published in a booklet by Darlington Borough Council.[55] Gatiss had a childhood interest in the BBC science-fiction show Doctor Who and devoted much of his early writing to the series, despite its 1989 cancellation. Gatiss's earliest published work as a professional writer was a sequence of novels in Virgin Publishing's New Adventures series of continuation stories and novels. In these works, he tried to correct the problems which had led to the show's decline in the late 1980s.[8] The first television scripts Gatiss wrote were for a BBV direct-to-video series called "P.R.O.B.E." Gatiss's four scripts each featured a different actor who had played Doctor Who's titular character of the Doctor: Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy. The videos have since been released on DVD despite Gatiss once commenting that he would not authorise their re-release, as he regarded them as a learning exercise.[8] His other early contributions to the Doctor Who franchise included four novels, two audio plays for BBV and two audio plays for Big Finish Productions.[56][57]

Gatiss has written nine episodes for the 2005 revival of the show. His first, "The Unquiet Dead," was the third episode of the revived series in 2005; the second, "The Idiot's Lantern," aired the following year in the second series.[58] Although he acted in the third series and proposed an ultimately unproduced episode for the fourth, involving Nazis and the British Museum, it took until 2010 for Gatiss to return as writer. He wrote "Victory of the Daleks" for that year's fifth series and went on to contribute "Night Terrors" for series 6, "Cold War" and "The Crimson Horror" for series 7[59] and "Robot of Sherwood" for series 8. He also wrote "Sleep No More" for series 9 and "Empress of Mars" for series 10. He has also contributed to the franchise outside the main show. His early work (see above) was primarily Doctor Who expanded media.

Gatiss wrote and performed in the comedy spoof sketches The Web of Caves, The Kidnappers and The Pitch of Fear for the BBC's "Doctor Who Night" in 1999 with David Walliams. He penned the 2013 docudrama An Adventure in Space and Time, a drama depicting the origins of the series, to celebrate the show's fiftieth anniversary.[60] It ended with a cameo by Gatiss's League of Gentleman castmate Reece Shearsmith, portraying Patrick Troughton, who played the Second Doctor. A "Making Of" feature about this programme, narrated by Gatiss, was made available on the BBC Red Button service, and also posted on the BBC's official YouTube channel.[61] He has written for Doctor Who Magazine, including a column written under the pseudonym "Sam Kisgart," which he was originally credited as in the Doctor Who Unbound audio play Sympathy for the Devil for his role as the Master. "Sam Kisgart" is an anagram of "Mark Gatiss", and is also the name under which he was credited for his cameo in Psychoville.

Novels

Gatiss has written several non-fiction works, including a biography of the film director James Whale and the documentary M.R. James: Ghost Writer, which Gatiss also presented. The documentary followed Gatiss's directorial debut with an adaption of one of James's stories, "The Tractate Middoth", for BBC Two, which was broadcast on Christmas Day 2013. His first non-Doctor Who novel, The Vesuvius Club, was published in 2004, for which he was nominated in the category of Best Newcomer in the 2006 British Book Awards. A follow-up, The Devil in Amber, was released on 6 November 2006. It transports the main character, Lucifer Box, from the Edwardian era in the first book to the roaring Twenties/Thirties. A third and final Lucifer Box novel, Black Butterfly, was published on 3 November 2008 by Simon & Schuster.[62]

Personal life

[edit]

Gatiss was featured on The Independent on Sunday's Pink List of influential gay people in the UK in 2010,[63] 2011[64] and 2014.[65] He entered into a civil partnership with actor Ian Hallard in 2008 in Middle Temple, in the City of London.[66][67][68] Gatiss once built a Victorian era laboratory in his north London home, as the fulfilment of a childhood dream.[7] Gatiss is an atheist.[69] The University of Huddersfield awarded him an honorary doctorate of letters in 2003.[70]

Filmography

[edit]

Actor

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1994 P.R.O.B.E.: The Zero Imperative Dr. William Bruffin Video; also writer
1995 P.R.O.B.E.: The Devil of Winterborne Georgie Video; also writer
1996 P.R.O.B.E.: Unnatural Selection Mr. Emerson Video; also writer
2001 Birthday Girl Porter[71]
2003 Bright Young Things Estate agent[71]
2004 Sex Lives of the Potato Men Jeremy[71]
Shaun of the Dead Radio Presenter With 'Spaceship' Theory
Wildlife voiceover 		Voice; Uncredited
2005 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Additional Vogon voices Collectively credited as "The League of Gentlemen"
Match Point Ping pong player[71]
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse Various characters / Himself Also writer
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Miss Blight (voice)
2006 Starter for 10 Bamber Gascoigne[71]
The League of Gentlemen Are Behind You! Various
2007 Grindhouse Eye Gouging Victim Segment: Don't
2008 Free Jimmy Jakki (voice) English dub
2015 Victor Frankenstein Dettweiler
2016 Dad's Army Colonel Theakes
Our Kind of Traitor Billy Matlock
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Publisher
Denial Robert Jan van Pelt
2018 The Mercy Ronald Hall
Christopher Robin Giles Winslow
The Favourite Marlborough
2020 The Father The Man
2021 Locked Down Terry
The Sparks Brothers Himself
A Silent Imprisonment Mr. Murphy Short film
The Road Dance Doctor Maclean
Operation Mincemeat Ivor Montagu
2023 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One NSA
2025 Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning Post-production

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1993 Harry Diner Manager Episode #1.5
1994 Catherine Cookson's "The Dwelling Place" Bowmer Episode #1.3
1998 In the Red Junior Detective 3 episodes
1998–1999 This Morning with Richard Not Judy Various voices 18 episodes; uncredited
1999–2002,
2017 		The League of Gentlemen Various characters Also co-creator and co-writer
2000 Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) Inspector Large[71] Episode: "Drop Dead"; also writer
Barbara Archie Episode: "Christening"
2001 Spaced Agent[71] Episode: "Back"
Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible Hang Man Chang Episode: "Frenzy of Tongs"
2002 Robbie the Reindeer in Legend of the Lost Tribe Viking (voice) Television film
2003 Little Britain Theatrical Agent Episode: "Smallest Ant"
2004 Catterick Peter[71] Episode #1.5
Footballers' Wives Teddy – Agent Episode #3.7
Agatha Christie: A Life in Pictures Kenyon Television film
Agatha Christie's Marple Ronald Hawes Episode: "The Murder at the Vicarage"
2004–2005 Nighty Night Glenn Bulb[71] 10 episodes; also writer
2005 The Quatermass Experiment John Patterson[71] Television film
Funland Ambrose Chapfel[71] 4 episodes
2006 Fear of Fanny Johnnie Cradock Television film
The Wind in the Willows Ratty Television film
2007 Gina's Laughing Gear Episode: "Stairlift to Heaven"
The Worst Journey in the World Apsley Cherry-Garrard Television film; also writer
Jekyll Robert Louis Stevenson Episode #1.5
Consenting Adults PC Butcher Television film
2007, 2010–
2011, 2017 		Doctor Who Professor Lazarus / Danny Boy / Gantok / The Captain 5 episodes; also writer
2008 Sense and Sensibility John Dashwood Miniseries, 2 episodes
Agatha Christie's Poirot Leonard Boynton Episode: "Appointment with Death"; also writer
Clone Colonel Black 6 episodes
Crooked House Curator Miniseries, also creator and writer
2009 Psychoville Jason Griffin Episode: "David and Maureen"
Spanish Flu: The Forgotten Fallen Ernest Dunks Television film
2010 Midsomer Murders Rev. Giles Shawcross Episode: "The Sword of Guillaume"
Worried About the Boy Malcolm McLaren Television film
The First Men in the Moon Professor Cavor Television film; also writer
A History of Horror Himself Documentary; also writer
2010–2017 Sherlock Mycroft Holmes Also co-creator and writer of 6 episodes
2011 The Infinite Monkey Cage Himself Episode: "The Science of Christmas"
The Crimson Petal and the White Henry Rackham Junior Miniseries, 2 episodes
2012 Being Human Mr Snow[71] 2 episodes
Inspector George Gently Stephen Groves Episode: "The Lost Child"
Horror Europa Himself Documentary; also writer
2013 Psychobitches Joan Crawford Episode #1.1
Horrible Histories Hollywood Producer No. 2 2 episodes; as part of "The League of Gentlemen"
2014 Mapp & Lucia Major Benjy 3 episodes
2014–2017 Game of Thrones[72] Tycho Nestoris[73] 4 episodes
2015 Wolf Hall Stephen Gardiner 4 episodes
Coalition Peter Mandelson Television film
The Vote Steven Crosswell Television film
London Spy Rich[71] Episode: "Blue"
2016 Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge The Partridge Playhouse Players (voice) Episode: "Foxhunter + Radio Play"
2017 Taboo Prince George 5 episodes
Thunderbirds Are Go Professor Quentin Questa (voice) Episode: "Volcano!"
Gunpowder Robert Cecil 3 episodes
2017–2018 Horizon Narrator 2 episodes
2018 Sally4Ever Doctor 2 episodes
The Dead Room Radio Announcer (voice) Television film; also writer
2019 Brexit: The Uncivil War Peter Mandelson (voice) Television film
Good Omens Harmony 2 episodes
2020 Dracula Frank Renfield Episode: "The Dark Compass", also co-creator and writer
In Search of Dracula with Mark Gatiss Himself (presenter) Television documentary film
2021 The Amazing Mr. Blunden Mr Wickens Television film; also writer and director
2022 Inside No. 9 Callum Series 7 episode 1[48]
2023 Nolly Larry Grayson
2024 3 Body Problem Isaac Newton Episode: "Destroyer of Worlds"
2024 Time Bandits John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich Episode: "Georgian"
2024 Moonflower Murders Parris/Berlin Post-production[74]
2025 Bookish Gabriel Book In production[75]

Writer

[edit]
Production Notes Broadcaster
P.R.O.B.E. The Zero Imperative (1994)
The Devil of Winterbourne (1995)
Unnatural Selection (1996)
Ghosts of Winterbourne (1996)
(released direct to video)		 N/A
Randall & Hopkirk "Two Can Play at That Game" (2001)
"Painkillers" (2001)		 BBC One
The League of Gentlemen Also co-creator
22 episodes (1999–2002, 2017)
(with Jeremy Dyson, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith)		 BBC Two
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse Feature film (2005)
(with Jeremy Dyson, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith)		 N/A
Doctor Who 9 episodes; BBC One
The Worst Journey in the World TV film (2007) BBC Four
Crooked House Also creator
3 episodes (2008)		 BBC Four
Agatha Christie's Poirot "Cat Among the Pigeons" (2008)
"Hallowe'en Party" (2010)
"The Big Four" (2013)		 ITV
Sherlock 7 episodes, 1 miniepisode, also co-creator (with Steven Moffat); BBC One
The First Men in the Moon TV film (2010) BBC Four
An Adventure in Space and Time TV film (2013) BBC Two
A Ghost Story for Christmas "The Tractate Middoth" (2013)
"The Dead Room" (2018)
"Martin's Close" (2019)

The Mezzotint (2021)
Count Magnus (2022)[76]
Lot No. 249 (2023)

BBC Two/BBC Four
The Lost Man of British Art, John Minton Writer/Presenter (2018) BBC
Dracula Miniseries (2020) BBC One

Director

[edit]
Year Title Notes
2013 The Tractate Middoth Short film
2017 Queers Mini-series
2018 The Dead Room Short film
2019 Martin's Close Short film
2021 The Mezzotint Short film
The Amazing Mr. Blunden TV film
2022 Count Magnus TV film
2023 Lot No. 249 TV film

Theatre

[edit]
Year Title Role Playwright Venue
2009 Darker Shores Stokes Michael Punter Hampstead Theatre, London
2012 The Recruiting Officer Captain Brazen George Farquhar Donmar Warehouse, London
2013 Coriolanus Menenius William Shakespeare
2015 The Vote Steven Crosswell James Graham
Three Days in the Country Shpigelsky Patrick Marber Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre
2016 The Boys in the Band Harold Mart Crowley Park Theatre (London), Vaudeville Theatre
2018 The Madness of George III George III Alan Bennett Nottingham Playhouse
2019 Dark Sublime Kosley the Computer Michael Dennis Trafalgar Theatre 2, West End
2021 A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story Jacob Marley Charles Dickens
Adapted by Mark Gatiss 		Nottingham Playhouse
Alexandra Palace
2022 The Unfriend Director Steven Moffat Minerva Theatre, Chichester
Criterion Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
2023 The Way Old Friends Do Director Ian Hallard Birmingham Repertory Theatre
UK tour
Criterion Theatre
The Motive and the Cue Sir John Gielgud Jack Thorne Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Association Category Project Result Ref.
2011 BAFTA TV Award Best Drama Series Sherlock Won [77]
2014 Best Single Drama An Adventure in Space and Time Nominated [78]
2011 Peabody Award Sherlock: A Study in Pink Won [79]
2012 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Miniseries or Movie Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia Nominated [80]
2014 Outstanding Television Movie Sherlock: His Last Vow Nominated [81]
2016 Sherlock: The Abominable Bride Won [82]
2017 Sherlock: The Lying Detective Nominated [83]
2014 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actor in a Supporting Role Coriolanus Nominated [84]
2016 Three Days in the Country Won [85]
2024 Best Actor The Motive and the Cue Won [86]

Bibliography

[edit]

Books Doctor Who novels

  • Nightshade (ISBN 0-426-20376-3)
  • St Anthony's Fire (ISBN 0-426-20423-9)
  • The Roundheads (ISBN 0-563-40576-7)
  • Last of the Gaderene (ISBN 0-563-55587-4; also 2013 reissue ISBN 1-849-90597-5)
  • The Crimson Horror (ISBN 978-1-78594-504-5)

Doctor Who anthology contributions

  • Doctor Who: The Shooting Scripts (teleplay "The Unquiet Dead") (ISBN 0-5634-8641-4)
  • The Doctor Who Storybook 2007 (short story "Cuckoo-Spit") (ISBN 1-84653-001-6)
  • The Doctor Who Storybook 2009 (short story "Cold") (ISBN 1-846-53067-9)
  • The Doctor Who Storybook 2010 (short story "Scared Stiff") (ISBN 1-84653-095-4)
  • The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2011 (short fiction The Lost Diaries of Winston Spencer Churchill) (ISBN 1-8460-7991-8)
  • The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who 2012 (short fiction George's Diary) (ISBN 1-8499-0230-5)

The League of Gentlemen

Lucifer Box novels

Miscellaneous non-fiction

Miscellaneous fiction

Audio plays

  • 2000 AD (Judge Dredd audio) Death Trap

Doctor Who (and related)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Mark Gatiss". Desert Island Discs. 23 October 2011. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  2. ^ Presented by Brian Cox and Robin Ince (26 December 2011). "Science of Christmas". The Infinite Monkey Cage. Series 5. Episode 6. Event occurs at 2:28. BBC. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 28 December 2011. There is still a 49% chance that his name will be mispronounced. So please welcome Mark Gatiss not Gatiss.
  3. ^ a b Jeffries, Stuart (11 October 2010). "Mark Gatiss: Rocket man". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 May 2012. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Mark Gatiss featured article on TheGenealogist". TheGenealogist. Archived from the original on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  5. ^ a b Mark Lawson Talks to Mark Gatiss
  6. ^ "Mark Gatiss". Apple Podcasts. Archived from the original on 1 August 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d Michael Deacon (15 October 2010). "Mark Gatiss: the journey of a geek made good". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Stephen Phelan (7 November 2004). "Renaissance gentleman". The Sunday Herald. Archived from the original on 13 September 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
  9. ^ Angelique Chrisafis, Angelique (3 November 2004). "A league of his own". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  10. ^ "Film Info. Interview with Steve Pemberton and Mark Gatiss". The League of Gentlemen. 7 November 2004. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  11. ^ The Chiseller by T Stowers ISBN 9781501005046).
  12. ^ "Remembering Heighington's past with pride; The headteacher". The Northern Echo. 26 March 2007. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. One Heighington alumnus is actor Mark Gatiss, the star of hit comedies The League of Gentlemen and Little Britain.
  13. ^ Pratt, Steve (8 May 2007). "Golly goth". The Northern Echo. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2010. Coincidentally, another Doctor Who fan and novel writer, The League of Gentlemen's Mark Gatiss also went to Woodhall, where he was two years above Magrs and in the same drama group.
  14. ^ David Leavey (25 March 2011). The Essential Cult TV Reader. The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0813125688.
  15. ^ "Horrible Histories: CBBC meets Royston Vasey". The Independent. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
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  20. ^ "I Always Wanted to be a Rat". The Northern Echo. 20 December 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  21. ^ "Mark Gatiss joins James Nesbitt in BBC One's Jekyll". BBC. 16 November 2006. Archived from the original on 27 August 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  22. ^ "It's on with the show (From Watford Observer)". Watfordobserver.co.uk. 10 December 2009. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  23. ^ Moonstruck Mark Gatiss Sends H.G. Wells Into Orbit Archived 14 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine Herald Scotland – October 2010
  24. ^ "A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss – Q&A with Mark Gatiss". BBC. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
  25. ^ Mark Gatiss (1 January 1970). "Media Centre – Mark Gatiss returns to BBC Four to tell story of European horror cinema" (Press release). BBC. Archived from the original on 25 November 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  26. ^ "Private Passions". BBC Radio 3. Archived from the original on 29 May 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  27. ^ Shenton, Mark (15 February 2012). "The Recruiting Officer". The Stage. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  28. ^ Wooley, Sarah. "55 Days". Hampstead Theatre. Archived from the original on 27 October 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  29. ^ "Coriolanus 6 December 2013 – 13 February 2014". Donmar Warehouse. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  30. ^ "Olivier awards 2014 full list". The Guardian. 10 March 2014. Archived from the original on 16 September 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  31. ^ Jones, Paul (3 December 2013). "The Tractate Middoth and An Adventure in Space and Time to air on Christmas Day on BBC2". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  32. ^ Daly, Emma (5 September 2013). "Mark Gatiss casts Sherlock's Una Stubbs in festive ghost story". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  33. ^ McAlpine, Fraser. "WATCH: 'Sherlock's Mark Gatiss Makes His 'Game of Thrones' Debut". BBC America. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  34. ^ "Mark Gatiss returning for Game of Thrones season 5". Watchers on the Wall. 27 August 2014. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  35. ^ Cadwalladr, Carole (1 May 2015). "Mark Gatiss: 'Doctor Who is my first love, my last, my everything']". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  36. ^ "The Boys in the Band to Receive Short West End Outing". Playbill. 18 November 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
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  40. ^ "The Favourite Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
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  42. ^ Clarke, Stewart (20 June 2017). "'Sherlock' Team Reuniting for New 'Dracula' Series (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  43. ^ Fullerton, Huw (3 December 2019). "BBC's Dracula will air three days in a row from New Year's Day". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  44. ^ Romano, Nick (13 December 2019). "Dracula's Netflix premiere awakens in bloody trailers for Sherlock team's miniseries". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  45. ^ "Sky orders Gatiss Xmas drama". Broadcast. 7 June 2021. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
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  47. ^ "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  48. ^ a b "TV tonight: Diane Morgan crashes The League of Gentlemen cast reunion". The Guardian. 20 April 2022. Archived from the original on 20 April 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  49. ^ The Motive and the Cue. "A new play by Jack Thorne". National Theatre London. Royal National Theatre. Archived from the original on 18 May 2023. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
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  53. ^ "Olivier Awards: Sarah Snook, Sarah Jessica Parker, Andrew Scott Receive Noms". The Hollywood Reporter. 12 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  54. ^ Cremona, Patrick (29 April 2024). "Call the Midwife and Poldark stars join Mark Gatiss's new drama Bookish". Radio Times. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  55. ^ Wilson, Daniel (29 December 2019). "Noise, Drama, Jeremy Beadle's Noise Research, the Darlington Quiet Town Experiment, and the Earliest Published Story by Mark Gatiss". Miraculous Agitations. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 22 October 2020.
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  63. ^ "The IoS Pink List 2010". The Independent on Sunday. London. 1 August 2010. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2010. The League of Gentlemen star is set for a bonanza 2010. As well as co-creating the BBC's acclaimed Sherlock Holmes reboot, he'll also be seen in his adaptation of HG Wells' First Men in the Moon. An appearance in an Alan Ackybourn revival at the National Theatre is also mooted.
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  66. ^ Greenstreet, Rosanna (6 February 2016). "Q&A: Mark Gatiss – 'Best kiss? My husband, or Ben Whishaw in London Spy'". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  67. ^ Randall, Lee (17 November 2008). "The Monday Interview: Mark Gatiss – Top of the League". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 28 October 2010. Amid all this activity, Gatiss found time, last spring, to get married. He and Ian have been together for nearly a decade... He and Ian are the devoted 'parents' of Bunsen, a Labrador retriever.
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  86. ^ "Olivier Winners 2024". Laurence Olivier Awards. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
[edit]
Preceded by Narrator of Doctor Who Confidential
2006 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mark_Gatiss&oldid=1257960131"