Dame Penelope Wilton to receive honorary doctorate for service to drama and arts

Downton Abbey actress Dame Penelope Wilton is set to receive an honorary doctorate for more than 50-years of contribution to drama and the arts.

The 76-year-old stage and screen actress will be given the recognition by Coventry University in her home town of Scarborough, where the institution has an outpost.

She has played Isobel Crawley from the start of the period drama series until the recent 2022 film, Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Dame Penelope has also had leading roles in Ever Decreasing Circles, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The History Boys, Doctor Who, Calendar Girls and Much Ado About Nothing.

She said: “I feel very honoured to be receiving this award from Coventry University and particularly proud to be presented it in Scarborough, the town in which I was born.

“Being able to develop my lifelong passion for acting into a successful career, working with so many remarkable people along the way, is something I feel very fortunate about and I have been lucky enough to use my profile to help a number of amazing charities.”

Dame Penelope is a patron of Halifax Square Chapel Arts Centre and an ambassador for educational charity Children and the Arts, who ran a project in Halifax to encourage students to engage with poetry.

She is also a patron of York-based charity Kyra, which helps women recover from domestic abuse or mental illness and is fundraising for them to move into a larger premises.

The star also works with CBM, a charity that works overseas to protect and restore the sight of those suffering from conditions causing blindness.

In 2004 she was made an OBE for her services to acting before being made a DBE in 2016.

Professor John Latham, Coventry University Vice-Chancellor, said: “Her work has not only served to entertain the nation, it has doubtless helped to inspire others to pursue careers within the industry.

“She has also used her profile to help a number of good causes and we are proud to honour an individual as highly respected as Penelope.”

Dame Penelope also acted in The Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn which ran in London and on Broadway.

The trilogy of plays was first performed at Stephen Joseph Theatre, linked to the university’s acting course in Scarborough.

The Olivier Award winning actress will receive her honorary doctorate during a ceremony in Scarborough on Thursday.