As well as being Mycroft Holmes onscreen, Mark Gatiss has a long
and varied career as a writer and producer behind the camera, as
well as a published author.
Thanks to a childhood interest in Doctor Who, his early writing
was devoted to the series. His earliest published fiction was a
sequence of novels in Virgin Publishing's New Adventures series of
Doctor Who stories.
In mainstream print, Gatiss is responsible for a biography of
the film director James Whale. His first non-Doctor Who novel, 'The
Vesuvius Club', was published in 2004, and from there he wrote two
further novels in the series to complete a trilogy.
Mark's great early success on television was as part of the
comedy troupe The League of Gentlemen, where he both wrote and
appeared onscreen.
Like Steven Moffat, Gatiss is one of the few writers to have
written for all three Doctors in the modern television revival of
'Doctor Who', and the first three of his episodes are notable for
their use of British historical figures and events. His first, 'The
Unquiet Dead', with Christopher Eccleston, featured Simon Callow as
Charles Dickens. The second, 'The Idiot's Lantern', starred David
Tennant and was set on Coronation Day. His first episode starring
Matt Smith, 'Victory of the Daleks', was set during the Second
World War and featured Ian McNeice as Winston Churchill. Gatiss'
series six episode entitled 'Night Terrors' broke the historical
run, tapping into his lifelong love of horror while being set in a
contemporary block of flats. Mark has written two episodes for
Doctor Who's seventh series, as well as the screenplay for 'An
Adventure in Space and Time', a 90 minute dramatisation of the
genesis of the series that will form part of the 50th Anniversary
celebrations.
Mark's other writing credits for television include episodes of
'Nighty Night' [2004 - 2005], the ghost story miniseries 'Crooked
House' [2008] which he also executive produced, two episodes of
Agatha Christies' 'Poirot', his adaptation of HG Well's 'The First
Men in the Moon [2010] and all three episodes of the documentary
series 'A History of Horror' [2010] and it's one off sequel 'Horror
Europa' [2012], all of which he also presented.
He has written two episodes of Sherlock, 'The Great Game' in
series one and 'The Hounds of Baskerville' in series two. Mark
serves as an Executive Producer and Co-Creator on the series, and
is invariable found on set when filming is underway, even though he
may not be twirling Mycroft's umbrella.
Perrier Award
Won: In 1997, along with his fellow League of
Gentlemen (Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmithand Jeremy Dyson), he
won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Olivier Award
Nominated: In 2002, along with Steve Pemberton,
Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson for Best Entertainment at the
Olivier Awards for their show The League of Gentlemen: Live at
Drury Lane (2001)