Mark Gatiss

Mark Gatiss (born October 17, 1966 in Sedgefield, County Durham) is a British actor and writer. He is best known as a member of the sketch comedy team The League of Gentlemen (along with fellow performers Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and co-writer Jeremy Dyson), which initially began as a stage act in 1995, transferred to BBC Radio 4 as On the Town with the League of Gentlemen in 1997 and then arrived on television on BBC Two in 1999. The latter has seen Gatiss and his colleagues awarded with a BAFTA Television Award, a Royal Television Society Award and the prestigious Golden Rose of Montreux.

Related Topics:
October 17 - 1966 - Sedgefield - County Durham - British - Actor - Writer - The League of Gentlemen - Reece Shearsmith - Steve Pemberton - Jeremy Dyson - 1995 - BBC Radio 4 - On the Town with the League of Gentlemen - 1997 - BBC Two - 1999 - BAFTA - Royal Television Society - Golden Rose of Montreux

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He met his League of Gentlemen co-writers and performers at Bretton Hall drama school in his late teens, which he began attending after finishing school and having spent a gap year travelling around Europe.

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Outside of the League, Gatiss' television work has included writing for the 2001 revival of comic telefantasy Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and script editing the popular sketch show Little Britain in 2003, making guest appearances in both. Other acting appearances include the comedy-drama In the Red (BBC Two, 1999), the macabre sitcom Nighty Night (BBC Three, 2003), and the live 2005 remake of the classic sci-fi serial The Quatermass Experiment. A second series of Nighty Night and the new comedy-drama Funland, co-written by his League cohort Jeremy Dyson, both feature Gatiss and are due to air on BBC Three in the autumn of 2005.

Related Topics:
2001 - Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - Script editing - Little Britain - 2003 - BBC Two - 1999 - Nighty Night - BBC Three - 2005 - The Quatermass Experiment - Funland - Jeremy Dyson

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He appears frequently in BBC Radio productions, including the sci-fi comedy Nebulous. 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 Bright Young Things (2003) and Birthday Girl (2001). The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, a film based on the television series, co-written by and starring Gatiss, was released in June 2005.

Related Topics:
BBC Radio - Sci-fi - Nebulous - 2003 - London - Sex Lives of the Potato Men - 2004 - Bright Young Things - Birthday Girl - 2001 - The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

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Gatiss is famously a long-time fan of the British television science-fiction series Doctor Who, preferring its style from the 1970s. Much of his writing has been devoted to the series, including the BBV video spin-off series P.R.O.B.E., four novels, two audio plays for Big Finish Productions and, fulfilling a lifelong dream, the television episode The Unquiet Dead for the new series, which aired on April 9, 2005.

Related Topics:
Television science-fiction - Doctor Who - 1970s - BBV - P.R.O.B.E. - Novels - Big Finish Productions - The Unquiet Dead - April 9

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He also wrote and performed the comedy sketches The Web of Caves and The Pitch of Fear for the BBC's "Doctor Who Night" in 1999 with Little Britain's David Walliams, and played the Master in the Doctor Who Unbound play Sympathy for the Devil under the name "Sam Kisgart", a pseudonym he had previously used for a column in Doctor Who Magazine. (The pseudonym is an anagram of "Mark Gatiss", a nod to the Master who often used anagrams or translations of his title as false names.)

Related Topics:
The Web of Caves - The Pitch of Fear - David Walliams - The Master - Sympathy for the Devil - Pseudonym - Doctor Who Magazine - Anagram

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In mainstream print, Gatiss is responsible for an acclaimed biography of the film director James Whale. His first non-Doctor Who novel, The Vesuvius Club, was published in July 2004, and a follow up, Devil in Amber, is expected in 2005.

Related Topics:
James Whale - 2004

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He lives in London, and his partner won't allow him to have a home laboratory there.

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