Recipients of this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours from the performing arts world include actors Maureen Lipman, David Suchet, Adrian Lester and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, writer and actor Arinzé Kene, entertainer Tommy Steele, choreographer Siobhan Davies and Mamma Mia! creator Judy Craymer.
The Honours are normally announced during the summer months but have been delayed because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Producer Judy Craymer commented:
“It’s bittersweet to receive an honour when theatre is thrown into such darkness and we are in such calamity, but at the same time it’s great an honour can shine a light on the industry and visibility of the arts and theatre.”
Highlights include:
Dames
- Actress Maureen Lipman
- Author Susan Hill (The Woman in Black)
- Choreographer Siobhan Davies
- Vikki Heywood (Former chair of the Royal Society for the Arts)
Knighthoods
- ‘First rock n roll star’ and entertainer Tommy Steele
- Actor David Suchet
- TV producer and screenwriter Phil Redmond (Grange Hill, Brookside, Hollyoaks)
CBE
- Theatre producer Judy Craymer (Mamma Mia!)
- Actor, director and writer Adrian Lester
- Susan Whiddington (Mousetrap Theatre Projects)
OBE
- TV writer/director Sally Wainwright (Gentlemen Jack)
- Chief executive and artistic director Dawn Walton (Eclipse Theatre)
MBE
- Actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
- Writer and actor Arinzé Kene
- Playwright Polly Stenham
- Geoff Clifton and Andrew Bentley (Founder and chief executive of Chester Storyhouse)
- Costume supervisor Sarah Bowern (English National Opera)
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