The creator of some of British television’s most beloved sitcoms, a Match of the Day presenter and a Chuckle Brother are among the figures from the arts and media to be recognised in the new year honours list.
Roy Clarke, who created some of the most popular BBC shows of the previous century, has been honoured with a knighthood. He has had a huge impact on British television, creating shows including Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances and Open All Hours.
The success of his work has immortalised some of his fictional characters, including the curtain-twitching snob Hyacinth Bucket, who featured in Keeping Up Appearances alongside her put-upon husband, Richard.
Compo, Clegg and Nora Batty, from Last of the Summer Wine, are also among his lasting creations.
Clarke worked as a taxi driver and teacher before finding a talent for writing thrillers for radio. Last of the Summer Wine first aired in 1973. It ran for 31 seasons, with an audience peaking at 18 million viewers in the heyday of linear television.
Open All Hours was the peak of the collaboration between Ronnie Barker and David Jason. Barker’s character, miserly shopkeeper Albert Arkwright, spent four series setting tasks for his assistant, Granville, played by Jason.
A damehood was awarded to Meera Syal, the actor and star of The Kumars at No 42. Syal, one of the first British Asian people to regularly star on British TV and a staple of the influential comedy show Goodness Gracious Me, has been praised as a barrier-breaking pioneer.
Accepting a Bafta lifetime achievement award in 2023, she said the TV industry needed more diversity, “not just in front of the camera but in the writers’ rooms, in makeup vans and around tables where deals are done”.
Paul Elliott, known for his role as half of the Chuckle Brothers, said the MBE he received was “probably the best shock” of his life. Nearly 300 episodes were made of the slapstick children’s show ChuckleVision, which featured Elliott and his brother Barry, who died of bone cancer in 2017, aged 73.
Elliott has been a prominent supporter of the Marie Curie cancer charity, which provided end-of-life care for Barry.
Gabby Logan, the sports presenter who is one of Gary Lineker’s replacements hosting Match of the Day, was awarded an OBE for services to sports broadcasting and to charity.
Clive Tyldesley, formerly ITV’s lead football commentator, was recognised with an OBE. His most famous commentary came in the 1999 Champions League final, when he crowned Manchester United’s dramatic comeback win against Bayern Munich with the words: “And Solskjaer has won it.”
Elsewhere in the entertainment world, there was an MBE for Location, Location, Location presenter Phil Spencer and former Coronation Street star Sally Lindsay, who played Rovers Return landlady Shelley Unwin.
Comedian and former Great British Bake Off presenter Matt Lucas said he had to check whether his letter informing him he had been awarded an OBE was a prank. An MBE went to fellow comedian Bill Bailey.
Richard Osman’s runaway success as an author, which followed a career as a TV executive and co-host of the quizshow Pointless, brought him an OBE for services to literature and broadcasting. His book The Impossible Fortune, the fifth in his Thursday Murder Club series, topped the bestsellers list for 2025.
There were also OBEs for two women touted as possible successors to Tim Davie, the outgoing BBC director general. They were awarded to Charlotte Moore, until recently the BBC’s chief content officer, and Alex Mahon, formerly Channel 4’s chief executive.
