New Year Honours List 2021: Craig David and Lesley Manville among celebrities recognised by Queen

Soap stars, cinematographers and screenwriters also made the list

Craig David, Lesley Manville (Rex)

Craig David and Lesley Manville are among those to be recognised in the New Year Honours List 2021.

David, star of the Nineties UK garage scene and artist behind hits such as “7 days” and “Fill Me In”, has been recognised with an MBE.

Academy Award nominee Lesley Manville, known for Mum and Phantom Thread, is made a CBE for services to drama and charity, while actor Toby Jones, who counts the Harry Potter franchise among his many film credits, becomes an OBE.

Actor Sheila Hancock, who made her name in the West End before becoming a perennial figure on British TV screens, has been given a damehood. Commenting on the award, Hancock joked she felt “slightly miscast”.

“I've never felt myself this sort of person. It just doesn't happen to people like me. I feel I may be lowering the tone. I feel slightly miscast, let's put it that way,” she said.

Other actors to make the cut include former EastEnders actress Nina Wadia and Coronation Street stalwart Sally Dynevor, whose daughter Phoebe is currently starring in Netflix’s Bridgerton.

Wadia, who rose to fame in sketch show Goodness Gracious Me, is made an OBE, while Dynevor, who has played Sally Webster on the soap since 1986, becomes an MBE.

One of the big names from behind the scenes to receive a gong is two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, who is based in California and is knighted in the overseas list.

He has received 15 Academy Award nominations over the course of his career, winning for the films Blade Runner 2049 and 1917.

Screenwriter and producer Jed Mercurio, who gripped the nation with TV hits including Line Of Duty and Bodyguard, is made an OBE.

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The honours system, in which most recipients receive titles linked to the Order of the British Empire, has faced renewed criticism for allegedly glorifying Britain's colonial past.

Welsh actor Michael Sheen revealed on Tuesday (29 December) that he had handed back his OBE so he could air his views about the monarchy and its role in Wales without being a “hypocrite”.

Additional reporting by PA