A Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for the actor Roger Allam.

We the undersigned request that the theatre and television actor Roger Allam is made a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Roger Allam was born on 26th October 1953 and is not a well known actor but a great one all the same. He is best known for his stage career which probably explains why non theatre goers don't recognise his name. It was after a visit to the Old Vic theatre, which at the time was the National Theatre, to see Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead that he decided that he wanted to make a career on the stage. He was a founder member of Monstrous Regiment and has worked at Contact Theatre in Manchester, Brimingham Rep and Glasgow Citizens Theatre. His roles included Macbeth, Angelo in Measure for Measure, Macheath in Threepenny Opera and The Sheriff of Nottingham in Babes in the Wood. He joined the RSC in 1981 and is an associate artist of the company. His Shakespeare roles there include: Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Theseus/Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Brutus in Julius Caesar, Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, Duke Vincentio in Measure for Measure, Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and the title role in Macbeth. Other classical roles there have included Subtleman/Richmore in Twin Rivals with Miles Anderson, The Dreamplay, Trigorin in The Seagull and Trissotin in The Learned Ladies. New plays that he was in with the RSC have included Our Friends in the North, The Party, Today, The Archbishop's Ceiling, Heresies and Jekyll and Hyde. In London and elsewhere Roger has appeared in Sus (Soho Poly), Una Pooka (Tricycle Theatre), Madras House (Lyric Hammersmith) and The Fairy Queen (Aix-en-Provence Festival). His West End roles have been Javert in Les Miserables (also originally at the RSC), Stone in City of Angels, Bernard Nightingale in Arcadia, John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, Mirabell in The Way of the World (RNT), Serge in ART and Marc in ART. In 1999, Roger was part of the highly successful Ensemble that Trevor Nunn formed at The National Theatre and he gave excellent performances as Ulysses in Troilus and Cressida, Henry Graves in Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Money alongside Simon Russell Beale and Patricia Hodge, for which he won an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor and Bassov in Maxim Gorky's Summerfolk. Summerfolk then returned to the National for a second run when Roger continued in his role of Bassov. From then he went on to take the role of Hitler in The National's Production of Albert Speer. The play also starred Alex Jennings. In September Roger went on to appear in The Cherry Orchard, again at The National Theatre, starring alongside Vanessa and Corin Redgrave. The play was directed by Trevor Nunn. Roger's television credits include Who Bombed Birmingham?, Inspector Morse, Between The Lines, Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat and The Bill. Whatever role Roger plays he's brilliant and it is time he was rewarded for his acting ability.

Roger has never received any official recognition from the state and we feel it is time he did.

Please consider what has been said in this petition because the person to whom it concerns has got real genuine talent.