Alumni
The impact of the ADC on British theatre is vast. Our alumni include Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, Simon Russell Beale, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Rachel Weisz and many many more
We boast an alumni list far longer than any other theatrical training ground.
The impact of the ADC on British Theatre is almost inestimable; four of the five directors of the National Theatre (Sir Peter Hall, Richard Eyre, Sir Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner) are alumni of the Theatre.
In the world of comedy too, names as diverse as Peter Cook, Monty Python, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie to more recent alumni such as David Mitchell and Robert Webb all learnt their craft here.
Many of our performers today will be the famous names of tomorrow.
| Morwenna Banks | Simon Russell Beale |
| Eleanor Bron | David Buck |
| Hayley Canham | Tony Church |
| Emma Corrin | Christian Coulson |
| Julie Covingron | Julian Curry |
| Sam Dastor | Kate Duchene |
| Robin Ellis | Stephen Fry |
| Orlando Gibbs | John Grillo |
| Roger Hammond | Phyllida Hancock |
| Terrence Hardiman | Jonah Hauer-King |
| Tom Hollander | Sir Derek Jacobi |
| Maddie Jackson-Smith | Simon Jones |
| Richard Kay | Oscar Kong |
| Christopher Luscombe | Miriam Margolyes |
| Daniel Massey | Sir Ian McKellen |
| Poppy Miller | Michael Pennington |
| Bryan Pringle | Corin Redgrave |
| Sir Michael Redgrave | Jonathon Cake |
| John Shrapnel | Clive Swift |
| Tilda Swinton | Emma Thompson |
| Justine Waddell | Ian Wallace |
| Bill Wallis | Rachel Weisz |
| Olivia Williams | Mark Wing-Davey |
| Peter Woodthorpe | Sarah Woodward |
| David Yelland | Hannah Yelland |
| Alexander Armstrong | Will B-F |
| David Baddiel | Sacha Baron Cohen |
| John Bird | Simon Bird |
| Tim Brooke-Taylor | Graham Chapman |
| John Cleese | Peter Cook |
| Hugh Dennis | Celeste Dring |
| Jimmy Edwards | Milo Edwards |
| John Finnemore | Jason Forbes |
| John Fortune | George Fouracres |
| Stephen Fry | Graeme Garden |
| Mel Giedroyc | Kit Hesketh-Harvey |
| Andy Hamilton | Archie Henderson |
| Alex Horne | Eric Idle |
| Tim Key | Hugh Laurie |
| Ania Magliano | Rory McGrath |
| Ben Miller | David Mitchell |
| Nick Mohammed | Jimmy Mulville |
| Rob Newman | John Oliver |
| Sue Perkins | Steve Punt |
| Leo Reich | Griff Rhys-Jones |
| Emma Sidi | Tony Slattery |
| Johnny Sweet | Joe Thomas |
| Sandi Toksvig | Phil Wang |
| Mark Watson | Robert Webb |
| Michael Apted | Annabel Arden |
| John Barton | John Boorman |
| Jez Butterworth | Richard Cottrell |
| Declan Donnellan | Dominic Dromgoole |
| Mark Elder | Sir Richard Eyre |
| Stephen Frears | Malcom Griffiths |
| Sir Peter Hall | Carey Harrison |
| Nicholas Hytner | David Jones |
| Jonathon Kent | Nicolas Kent |
| Jonathon Lynn | John Madden |
| Simon McBurney | Michael McCaffrey |
| Sam Mendes | Roger Mitchell |
| Robin Midgley | Jonathon Miller |
| Mike Newell | Trevor Nunn |
| Tony Palmer | Clive Perry |
| Steven Pimlott | David Poutney |
| James Runcie | George Rylands |
| Iain Softley | Tim Sullivan |
| Tim Supple | John Trademan |
| Chris Weitz | Peter Wood |
| Douglas Adams | Clive Anderson |
| Mary Allen | William Allen |
| Cecil Beaton | Timothy Birdsall |
| Michael Birkett | Howard Brenton |
| David Brierley | AS Byatt |
| Alistair Cooke | Margaret Drabble |
| Sir John Drummond | Anthony Everitt |
| Julian Fellowes | Peter Fincham |
| John Finnemore | Michael Frayn |
| Sir David Frost | Bamber Gascoigne |
| Germaine Greer | Lee Hall |
| Nick Hancock | Sir David Hare |
| Norman Hartnell | Peter Hemmings |
| Clive James | Nathan Joseph |
| Chris Kelly | Tom Kempinski |
| Duncan Kenworthy | Raymond Leppard |
| Graham Marchant | Denis Marks |
| Toby Marlow | Matthew Mitchell |
| Jonathan James Moore | Lucy Moss |
| William Nicholson | Timothy O'Brien |
| Gary O'Connor | Bill Oddie |
| Nick Ormerod | Sue Perkins |
| Julian Pettifer | Jan Pienkowski |
| Sylvia Plath | Simon Relph |
| Tom Rosenthal | Nick Salmon |
| Peter Samuelson | James Sargant |
| Anthony Shaffer | Peter Shaffer |
| Julian Slade | Philip Steadman |
| Richard Stilgoe | Robert Thorogood |
| Sir John Tooley | John Tusa |
| Michael Winner | Guy Woolfenden |
Alumni Updates
We would love to hear from our alumni about any relevant life updates or theatrical successes. Please get in touch with hello@adctheatre.com to share your news with us.
If you would like to receive alumni bulletins by email, please make sure you are opted into alumni communications in the contact preferences section of your online account, and that you are tagged as an Alumnus in the other preferences section. Or you can call our Box Office on 01223 300085.
| 2024 | Congratulations to Orlando Gibbs (2013-2019) who has followed his time at the Bedouin Shakespeare Company with a West End debut in Back To The Future. |
| 2024 | We were honoured to have Sir Ian McKellen return to the theatre to present the trophy for University Challenge 2024-5 to the team from Christ's College alongside Amol Rajan. |
| 2024 | Congratulations to Oscar Kong (2018-2021) who has joined the cast of Starlight Express in London as Silver Bullet. |
| 2024 | Death in Paradise writer and former Footlights President Robert Thorogood has debuted series The Marlow Murder Club through UKTV and Masterpiece. |
| 2025 | Congratulations to Maddie Jackson-Smith (2019-2022) who has made her West End debut in Operation Mincemeat at the Fortune Theatre. |
| 2025 | We are delighted that former Footlight and Chortle Award Finalist Ania Magliano (2016-2021) has been selected as a contestant for the twentieth season of Taskmaster, by fellow alumnus Alex Horne. |
| 2025 | Congratulations to Hayley Canham (2020-2023) whose show Sappho: The Poetess has opened at The Other Palace in London. |