Stephen Graham, David Harewood

Source: Vertigo Releasing/Subject’s own

Stephen Graham, David Harewood

Boiling Point star Stephen Graham, and actor, director and presenter David Harewood are among the names recognised in the UK’s 2023 New Year Honours list.

The commonly awarded ranks are: Companion of Honour, knight or dame, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and British Empire Medal. 

Graham has been awarded an OBE for services to drama. The Merseyside-born actor’s film credits include This Is England, Boiling Point and Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical. He has also worked extensively in TV, appearing in the This Is England spin-off series, Peaky Blinders and The North Water, and will star in the upcoming Boiling Point BBC spin-off series.

Harewood, who received an MBE in 2012 for services to drama, has been honoured with an OBE for services to drama and charity. He is best known for his role in US TV series Homeland, and has also campaigned for mental health awareness, chronicling his own struggles in BBC documentary David Harewood: My Psychosis And Me. His directorial feature debut is in the works with Fulwell 73 producing. Benn/Eubank tells the story of UK boxing rivals Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn.

Visual artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah has been knighted for his services to the arts. He previously received a CBE in 2017. He was a co-founder of the pioneering arts initiative, Black Audio Film Collective in the 1980s, and documented the consequences of the 1985 Handsworth Riots in Birmingham in 1986 film, Cannes premiere Handsworth Songs. In 2019, he participated in the inaugural Ghana Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, with his piece Four Nocturnes. He has also sat on the boards of Film London and the British Film Institute (BFI).

Actress and wildlife campaigner Virginia McKenna OBE has been made a dame, for services to wildlife conservation and wild animal welfare. McKenna, who is 91 years old, founded the Born Free Foundation, which commits to preventing animal suffering. McKenna was inspired to take up the cause after starring alongside her husband Bill Travers in 1966 film Born Free, about an orphaned lioness that was rehabilitated and returned to the wild.

Composer George Fenton has been given an OBE for services to music. He has written scores for feature films including Gandhi, Groundhog Day, The Duke and several of Ken Loach’s features, including The Wind That Shakes The Barley, It’s A Free World, I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You.

Paddy Higson has been issued with an OBE for services to the film and television industry and to diversity and inclusion in film and television. Higson is currently CEO for Glasgow Media Access Centre (GMAC) Film, a skills and talent development creative hub based in Glasgow, that aims to empower young and emerging filmmaking talnet.

TV executive Philip Edgar-Jones has also received an OBE. He is director of Sky Arts and Entertainment, as well as being on the board of the National Film and Television School and father of Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Rachel De-Lahay has recieved an MBE for services to drama. The playwright and screenwriter has written for TV dramas including The Eddy, Noughts + Crosses and Kiri.

Cleo Sylvestre has an MBE for services to drama and charity. She was the first Black woman to play a leading role at London’s National Theatre and has appeared in films including Paddington and Kidulthood.

Jason Young, the writer and director whose documentary Women In Church Leadership screened at the British Urban Film Festival, has been given an British Empire Medal for services to cultural heritage and public awareness of Black British history through the creative arts.

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