Outlander’s Sam Heughan and new Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa to be honoured at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

They are two talented young actors who will forever be linked to the city of Edinburgh – and now Sam Heughan and Ncuti Gatwa are to honoured by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Outlander star Heughan, who has said in the past that moving to Edinburgh as a teenager shaped him into the person he is today, will be awarded an honorary degree by the Conservatoire on July 7.

The Balmaclellan-born star will be joined by Rwanda-born Gatwa, the former Boroughmuir High School pupil who has just been named as the BBC’s next timelord in Doctor Who, alongside musician Marin Alsop and composer Errollyn Wallen.

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Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, its principal, said the Conservatoire was “delighted to be honouring four exceptional artists who not only entertain audiences across the globe but continue to inspire and show real leadership”.

Ncuti Gatwa, left, and Sam Heughan, right, are to be honoured at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.Ncuti Gatwa, left, and Sam Heughan, right, are to be honoured at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Ncuti Gatwa, left, and Sam Heughan, right, are to be honoured at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

More than 300 students are set to graduate from the Glasgow-based conservatoire next month after spending years studying across the disciplines of music, drama, dance, production, film and education.

Professor Sharkey said: “Graduation is a highlight of the year, and we can’t wait to join our students for what is always a wonderful day of joyful celebration.

“To be able to come together in person to mark their achievements, after the challenges of the last two years, will have extra significance. It is also an opportunity to recognise the ground breaking artists who use their art, and platforms, as powerful vehicles for change.”

Gatwa, an alumnus of the Conservatoire’s BA acting programme in 2013, is best known for playing the much-loved and scene-stealing character Eric Effiong in Sex Education.

And the 29-year-old will soon take on one of the biggest roles in television when he takes control of the Tardis in Doctor Who.

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Heughan also graduated from the Conservatoire as part of the class of 2003. The 42-year-old went on to find worldwide fame playing the lead character of Jamie Fraser in Outlander.

In the past, he has said he owes a lot of his success to the Edinburgh Steiner School, where he studied over 20 years ago.

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During an interview with the prestigious school a couple of years back, he opened up about his time there and how it helped him as an actor.

He said: ”Looking back on it, It was a really good time, a really warm time, it felt like a really safe environment. There was a real bond between not just the teachers but the students too.”

Wallen, a visiting professor of composition at the Conservatoire will also be awarded an honorary degree.

The multi-award winning Belize-born British composer and performer has 22 operas to her name and a large catalogue of orchestral, chamber and vocal works which are performed and broadcast throughout the world.

She was the first black woman to have a work featured in the Proms and the first woman to win the Ivor Novello Award for Classical Music, as well as composing for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2012, and for the Cop26 conference in Glasgow.

Alsop, who became the first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the United States, South America, Austria and Britain, will also be recognised with the honorary degree next month.

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