Mark Gatiss

Actor/Writer/Producer/Director

photo by BERTIE WATSON

Mark Gatiss has had a long and varied career as a writer, director and producer behind the camera, as well as being a critically-acclaimed actor and published author.

His early success on television was as part of the comedy troupe The League of Gentlemen, for which he both wrote and appeared onscreen as various characters.  

He had a childhood passion for Doctor Who and both wrote for and starred in the modern revival.  He was also the writer and executive producer of An Adventure in Space and Time, a drama of the genesis of the series as part of the show’s 50th Anniversary celebrations in 2013. 

Mark is the co-creator and executive producer of Sherlock, the hit BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman which has seen unprecedented global success and in which he also plays Sherlock’s brother Mycroft Holmes.  The show has won a total of nine Emmys and twelve BAFTAs across its four series.  

Mark’s other writing credits for television include Crooked House (2008), his adaptation of HG Well’s The First Men in the Moon (2010), Dracula (2019), The Amazing Mr Blunden (2021) and all three episodes of the documentary series A History of Horror and its one-off sequel Horror Europa, all of which he presented as well.  Additionally, he has written and directed several Christmas ghost stories for the BBC in recent years including The Tractate Middoth (2013), The Dead Room (2018), Martin’s Close (2019), The Mezzotint (2021), Count Magnus (2022) and Lot No. 249 (2023).

In 2017, he curated and directed Queers – a series of eight monologues for BBC Four to mark the 50th Anniversary of the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which saw the partial decriminalisation of male homosexuality.

Recent screen roles include Larry Grayson in ITV’s Nolly (2023), Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I (2023) The BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated The Favourite (2018), Disney’s Christopher Robin (2018), Gunpowder (2017), Wolf Hall (2015) and Game of Thrones (2014-2017). He also starred opposite Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman in the Oscar-winning screen adaptation of Florian Zeller’s The Father.

On stage, he is currently starring as Sir John Gielgud in The Motive and the Cue at the Noel Coward Theatre which won Best New Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and is directed by Sam Mendes. He has also starred alongside Tom Hiddleston in Coriolanus (2013), as Harold in Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band (2016) and as Doctor Shpigelsky in Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Turgenev’s Three Days in the Country for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

As a stage director he recently helmed The Unfriend - a new play by Steven Moffat and The Way Old Friends Do written by Ian Hallard.

Anjli Mohindra

Actor/Writer

Photo by DAVID REISS

Anjli Mohindra grew up in Nottingham and trained at The Television Workshop – an East Midlands-based training centre for young acting talent.
  
Her first major TV role was as Rani Chandra in CBBC’s The Sarah Jane Adventures – a part she played for four series between 2008-2011.
 
She has since had roles in many television dramas including Cucumber (Channel 4), written by Russell T Davies, Paranoid (Netflix), The Boy with The Topknot (BBC Two), Bancroft (ITV), Dark Heart (ITV), The Dead Room (BBC Four) opposite Simon Callow and Wild Bill alongside Hollywood star Rob Lowe.
 
She starred as Nadia in the BAFTA-winning BBC/Netflix thriller Bodyguard, a controversial role for which she received critical acclaim and in 2021 starred in Vigil - the BBC’s biggest new drama of the year - alongside Suranne Jones.

She recently featured in Netflix film Munich: The Edge of War with Jeremy Irons and George MacKay and starred in The Lazarus Project - a thriller for Sky alongside Paapa Essiedu as well as The Suspect for ITV with Aidan Turner.

She recently wrapped as the lead in The Red King, a brand new folk horror series which will air in Spring 2024.

Anjli recently secured a development deal with Urban Myth Films to create a TV series based on the life Princess Sophia Duleep Singh - the daughter of the last Maharajah of Punjab and a goddaughter of Queen Victoria.
 
Anjli lives in London.
 

“Full credit in particular to Anjli Mohindra, who played Nadia and who managed to say so much with her eyes throughout the series. From the terrified naivety she presented at the start, to the calculated zealotry she revealed at the end. ”

— The Guardian

“Anjli Mohindra deserves special recognition for that amazing transformation, a reverse superhero, and for a fabulously evil future ahead of her in Bodyguard – cast against type, as the best villains sometimes are”

— The Independent

Prasanna Puwanarajah

Actor/Writer/Director

Photo by pip

Prasanna is an actor, director and writer.

His acting credits include playing Martin Bashir in The Crown (Netflix) as well as key roles in Payback (ITV) Ten Percent (Amazon/Bron Studios), Patrick Melrose (Sky), Defending the Guilty (BBC) and Doctor Foster (BBC). In addition, he has worked on various productions for the National Theatre, RSC, Donmar Warehouse and Young Vic. 

His writing credits include Boy starring Timothy Spall which screened at the London 2012 Opening Ceremony and the award-winning The Half Light in 2011. His first stage play Nightwatchman was produced by the National Theatre in 2011. His graphic novel, Sleeper, co-written with Jed Mercurio (Line of Duty) was published in August 2021. He and Mecurio have also teamed up on writing Breathtaking - a new series for ITV about the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic based on the bestselling book by Doctor Rachel Clarke.

He recently directed his first feature film Ballywalter which was selected as part of 2021’s Cannes ‘Great 8’ and was released in the UK and Ireland in 2023. On stage he directed Venice Preserved for the RSC to mainstream critical acclaim in 2019.

Ambreen Razia

Actor/Writer

Ambreen is an actor and writer from South London. Her critically acclaimed play The Diary of a Hounslow Girl toured nationally around the UK in 2016 and was adapted as a BBC Three pilot. She has since had roles across film and television including Murdered By My Father (BBC), Hounslow Diaries (BBC), Black Mirror (Netflix), This Way Up (Channel 4), Starstruck (BBC), and Scrapper (BFI/Film 4) which recently won the World Grand Jury prize at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

She recently played Shandy Fine in the latest series of Ted Lasso (Apple TV), Shivani in Starstruck (BBC) and Detective Thread in Channel 4’s The Curse.

Her play Pot was published by Oberon books and completed its national tour around the UK in 2018. Her subsequent play Favour finished its run at the Bush Theatre in 2022 receiving critical acclaim. She has also recently been part of the writers’ rooms for the award-winning We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4) and Extraordinary (Disney+). It was recently announced that Ambreen is developing a new comedy drama Wasted (working title) about alcoholism and post partum depression in Muslim communities.

Ambreen co-edited and starred in season one of the BBC Radio 4 chat show Gossip and Goddesses alongside Meera Syal. Her short film Dues centring around exploitation within county lines recently screened at the Chicago International Children’s Festival and the British Urban Film Festival. 

Ambreen was part of the BBC Talent Hotlist as well as being a member of the Royal Court Writers Group. Awards include Best Newcomer (Asian Media Awards), Eastern Eye’s Emerging Artist award and Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Television Awards.

Maya Sondhi

Actor/Writer

Maya Sondhi was born and raised in Birmingham.  She attended the National Youth Theatre and after completing her A-levels studied a Diploma in Acting at LAMDA. 

 As an actor she has featured in Line of Duty (Series 3, 4 and 5) as key character PC Maneet Bindra, The Split (BBC), The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies (BBC) and has been a regular voice on the kids animated series Paddington (Nick. Jr) Dennis and Gnasher Unleashed (CBBC) and Milo (Channel 5). 

After starring in Line of Duty she was encouraged by the show’s creator Jed Mercurio to write her own TV series and subsequently became the creator, showrunner and executive producer of ITV Drama DI Ray starring Parminder Nagra.  She has also been part of the writers’ room for This is Going to Hurt starring Ben Whishaw (BBC) and has written episodes of Eastenders and Ackley Bridge.  DI Ray Season 2 is due to air on ITV in Spring 2024.  

Maya lives with her partner and two children in South London.

Vincent Jerome

Actor

Vincent Jerome is a London-based artist with a degree in Performing Arts from London Metropolitan University.

Since working in theatre venues he has gone on to act in films such as Transformers: The Last Knight and Wonder Woman 1984.

He has written, produced and starred in two award-winning short films and has various upcoming film and TV roles including a lead role in the BBC revival of beloved school drama Waterloo Road.

He is an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry and recently became an ambassador for the Anna Fiorentini Performing Arts School for young people based in East London. 

Gwyneth Keyworth

Actor

Photo by Montana Lowery

Gwyneth grew up in Aberystwyth, Wales where she was involved in youth theatre and a Welsh language acting group. Inspired by the likes of Julie Walters, Shirley Henderson and Jane Horrocks, she joined the National Youth Theatre aged 15. Two years later she was performing a comedy sketch about the NHS at the Soho Theatre, where she was spotted by her current agents.

In 2010 Gwyneth was billed as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow after which she trained at RADA, graduating in 2014.

Her screen roles to date include Misfits (E4), Game of Thrones (HBO/Sky), Doctor Thorne (ITV), Wasted (E4) and Black Mirror (Channel 4). In 2018 she starred as Megan Ruddock in Welsh crime drama Craith/Hidden (S4C/BBC) – a role for which she was nominated for Best Actress at the Welsh BAFTAs.

On stage, Gwyneth has performed in As You Like It (The Globe), The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (Bristol Old Vic) and Raising Martha (Park Theatre).

Most recently, Gwyneth starred alongside Katherine Parkinson, Will Sharpe and Prasanna Puwanarajah in BBC Two’s Defending the Guilty – a comedy about pupil barristers in London. In Spring 2020 she starred alongside Dawn French in ITV comedy drama The Trouble with Maggie Cole.

In January 2022 she was announced as Scout opposite Rafe Spall as Atticus Finch in Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird which will play at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End.

Gwyneth is bilingual and was primarily educated in Welsh. She lives in East London.

Ian Hallard

Actor

Photo Credit: Michael shelford

Ian was born in Birmingham, and studied English Literature at Sheffield University before his drama training at Mountview Theatre School.

In 2016, Ian played the lead role of Michael in an acclaimed revival of the classic American play ‘The Boys in the Band’, directed by Adam Penford and also starring Mark Gatiss, Jack Derges, James Holmes and Daniel Boys. The show opened at the Park Theatre in London before embarking on a tour of the UK. In February, 2017 he reprised the role when the show transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End. He was subsequently nominated for Best Actor in a Play at the Whatsonstage awards, alongside Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen, Ralph Fiennes and Jamie Parker.

His other theatre work includes playing Alan Turing in the Hope Theatre’s Lovesong of the Electric Bear and in its subsequent transfer to the Arts Theatre, The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse and Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest at Jermyn Street Theatre.

He has performed at the National Theatre in Howard Barker’s Scenes from an Execution and in Richard Bean’s riotous satire about the tabloid press Great Britain, directed by Nicholas Hytner, alongside Billie Piper and Robert Glenister.

Other stage work encompasses Shakespeare, musical theatre, opera, operetta and pantomime. 

Ian’s television roles include Alan-a-Dale in the Doctor Who episode ‘Robot of Sherwood’, and Moriarty’s barrister, Mr Crayhill, in Sherlock. Other TV appearances include The Crown, Poirot, An Adventure in Space and Time and Hustle.

As a writer, he has also been a script associate on two episodes of ITV’s Poirot and co-wrote a third: The Big Four with Mark Gatiss.

For stage he has written Horse-Play which played at Riverside Studios in Autumn 2022 and will be starring in his latest work The Way Old Friends Do which will open at the Birmingham Rep in Spring 2023.

He lives in Islington with his partner and labrador.

“Ian Hallard as Michael makes what could easily be a self-hating, lapsed Catholic archetype into someone you recognise as real”

— The Independent (The Boys in the Band)

“Standouts are Hallard, who expertly suggests Michael’s self-loathing”

— The Evening Standard (The Boys in the Band)

Ingrid Oliver

Actor/Writer/Director

Born in Germany, Ingrid Oliver spent her early childhood in Kuwait before attending Tiffin Girls’ School in Kingston and then reading Modern Languages at New College, Oxford. On completion of her degree she trained at Arts Educational Schools, London. 

Following sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2006 and 2007 she and her comedy partner Lorna Watson were commissioned for their own television sketch show (Watson & Oliver) on BBC Two in 2012 which ran for two series.  

In 2013 she was cast as scientist Petronella Osgood in the 50th Anniversary special of Doctor Who – a role which she reprised in subsequent series starring alongside Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman.  

Ingrid returned to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 with a new solo show entitled Speech! which explored the spectrum of political opinion through various character sketches in the wake of Brexit referendum. 

In 2019 she starred alongside Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson in The Hustle - a female-led remake of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels directed by Chris Addison and alongside Emilia Clarke and Emma Thompson in Last Christmas, a romantic comedy directed by Paul Feig. She recently featured in BBC America/BBC Two series The Watch.

Ingrid wrote and directed her first short filmed entitled The Story of Ken which was selected for the Aesthetica Film Festival 2018, The London Lift Off Festival and Film Bath.

Additional TV credits include Peep Show (Channel 4), Lead Balloon (BBC Two), Twenty Twelve (BBC Two), The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret (IFC/More4) and Plebs (ITV).  She has also been a regular on many BBC Radio 4 comedies including Recording for Training Purposes, The Castle and Elvenquest. Her film credits include You, Me and Him (2018), 96 Ways to Say I Love You (2015) and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008). 

“She’s a fine performer”

— The Scotsman

“Double act Ingrid Oliver and Lorna Watson don’t disappoint in this hugely enjoyable new sketch show”

— The Telegraph

“Ingrid Oliver can really act”

— The Independent

Ashley Zhangazha

Actor

photo by joseph sinclair

Ashley was born in Camden, North London to Zimbabwean parents. He studied Politics and Economics at the University of Manchester before training with the National Youth Theatre, where he is now an associate, and then the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on the 3 year Acting Course.

Following his training he featured in Michael Grandage's production of Danton's Death and starred in Emily Lim's production of Pericles in the title role – both at the National Theatre.

In 2018 he won the UK Theatre award for Best Performance in a Musical for his role as Sky Masterson in the all black production of Guys and Dolls at the Royal Exchange, Manchester (Dir: Michael Buffong). In 2013 he won the prestigious Sunday Times/National Theatre Ian Charleson award for his performance as Ross in Macbeth at the Sheffield Crucible (Dir: Daniel Evans).

Other theatre credits include performances at the Donmar Warehouse, the Royal Court, the Young Vic and in London's West End opposite Lenny Henry in Fences and Jude Law in Henry V.

On screen credits include in Victoria (ITV/PBS) Humans (Channel 4/AMC) Ordinary Lies (BBC) and Doctors (BBC).

In 2018 Ashley wrote the short monologue 'Love Liquidators' for the Alchymy festival at the North Wall, Oxford.

From March 2019 to March 2020 he has played the role of Ike Turner in the hit West End production of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre.

Ashley lives in North London and is a mentor at both the National Youth Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is a passionate advocate for increased access to the arts and further diversity in the industry.