Actor Stephen Tompkinson to receive honorary Teesside degree

The Stockton-born star of stage and screen joins rock climber Steve McClure and logistics company boss Maurice Dawson in being chosen for the honours, which will be given out in graduation ceremonies between November 23 and 30.

Mr Tompkinson has been a well-known face in television and film for three decades and is currently playing detective Alan Banks in the ITV crime drama DCI Banks.

Before that he made his name in hit TV shows Ballykissangel and Wild at Heart and his film credits include the 1996 comedy-drama Brassed Off.

His first big break was playing Damien Day in comedy Drop the Dead Donkey from 1990 to 1998.

Mr Tompkinson was born in Oulston Road in Stockton, with his grandparents living nearby at Windermere Road, while his aunt and uncle living in Grangefield Road.

He moved to Scarborough when he was four but remains an avid Boro fan and often returned to Teesside to visit relatives.

Mr McClure, who was born in Saltburn and whose parents were climbers, jokes that he learned to climb before he could walk.

He is regarded as one of the best rock climbers in the world, competing on the world and European stage over a number of years. In 2007 he made the free ascent of Overshadow in Malham Cove. He is an experienced coach.

Mr Dawson, the chairman of logistics, freight and transport company AV Dawson, will receive a doctor of Business Administration. The company was founded by his father in 1938 and he became managing director in 1971. He has grown the company over four decades and it now employs 240 people and has built award-winning facilities at Dawson's Wharf on Teesside.

Professor Paul Croney, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Teesside University, said: “It will be a pleasure to welcome them to the Teesside University family and I am sure their stories of hard work, dedication and achievement will help to inspire the thousands of graduates who will be receiving their degrees during the week.”