Sid Sagar

Sid is the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Magdalene. He is an award-winning actor, playwright and screenwriter.

Sid is an actor, playwright and screenwriter. He grew up in India, Kenya, Spain and Russia before moving to Hertfordshire at the age of eight. He read History at the University of Bristol and trained as a writer at Soho Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Almeida Theatre, The London Library, Oxford Playhouse, Oxbelly and Channel 4.

His recent plays for theatre include Gifted and Talented (Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2026) and Biting Point (published by Faber, 2025). The former was performed by Stratford East's Young Company; the latter explores road rage and race and was produced in car parks in Hull and the North East of England. It was described by one reviewer as "an adrenaline shot to the senses...and one of the most memorable and powerful events to be staged in the city". He was the 2025 Jerwood Writer-in-Residence at Pentabus, the nation's rural theatre, as well as a recent recipient of a Peter Shaffer Commission from the National Theatre. He is currently on Attachment at the National Theatre Studio and under commission to Pentabus and Hampstead Theatre.

His plays for BBC Radio 4 include Middle Men, a comedy drama about part-time football referees, and John from Hemel, a drama inspired by the Magic Roundabout in Hemel Hempstead, and Shortlisted for Best Original Single Drama at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2026.

For screen, his first short film Baked Beans was produced by BFI NETWORK and was selected for various festivals in the UK and internationally. He has had scripts for TV commissioned by Channel 4, BritBox and Sky Studios and been part of writers' rooms for Channel 4, CBeebies and Netflix. In 2023, he was one of 12 UK-based emerging screenwriters selected for the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course, as well as being one of 12 writers from across the world selected for the inaugural Oxbelly Episodic Programme in Greece.

As an actor, Sid regularly works on stage and screen. On stage, he won an Eastern Eye Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Starry Messenger in the West End (opposite Matthew Broderick). Other credits include Summerfolk, Ballet Shoes and The Father and the Assassin at the National Theatre, and Mrs Warren's Profession (opposite Imelda Staunton) and the Olivier Award-winning revival of Cabaret in the West End. Credits in TV include Slow Horses (Apple TV+) and Anatomy of a Scandal (Netflix); forthcoming work includes the second season of Mark Gatiss' Bookish (U&Alibi) and Steven Moffat's Number 10 (Channel 4). Credits in film include The Batman, Cruella and Dolittle, as well as Belfast, Death on the Nile and Murder on the Orient Express, which were all directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Sid is also an audiobook narrator and has narrated nearly 100 titles across a range of genres. He has won two AudioFile Earphones Awards for his work on Salman Rushdie's Victory City and Natasha Pulley's The Hymn to Dionysus. Notable credits in non-fiction include William Dalrymple's The Anarchy, Sathnam Sanghera's Journeys of Empire and Robert Barrington's Corrupted Kingdom. Notable credits in fiction include George Orwell's Burmese Days, David Baddiel's The Taylor TurboChaser and several titles by acclaimed crime novelist Janice Hallett.

Sid has previously mentored young people in education and the arts through organisations such as Tutors Green, Arts Emergency and London Bubble. He is a qualified football referee and a keen tennis player. He is based in North London.

Qualifications

First Class (Hons), History, University of Bristol (2015)

Career/Research Highlights

As a playwright

• Remember, Remember: Longlist, Verity Bargate Award 2026; Shortlist, Alpine Fellowship 2025; Longlist, Woven Voices 2025
• John from Hemel (Radio): Shortlist, Best Original Single Drama, BBC Audio Drama Awards 2026
• John from Hemel (Theatre): Longlist, Verity Bargate Award 2024
• Middle Men: Longlist, Theatre503 International Playwriting Award 2023
• Dark Faces in the Night: Winner, Rose Theatre Kingston New Writing Festival 2019; Shortlist, Finborough Theatre ETPEP Award 2019

As a screenwriter

• Baked Beans: Official Selection, Bolton International Film Festival 2022; Official Selection, Cambridge Film Festival 2022; Official Selection, London Indian Film Festival 2023; Shortlist, Best Short Film, Film the House 2024.

As an actor

• Eastern Eye Best Actor Award for The Starry Messenger
  - AudioFile Earphones Award for Salman Rushdie's Victory City
  - AudioFile Earphones Award for Natasha Pulley's The Hymn to Dionysus

Professional Affiliations

• Member of Equity and Writers' Guild of Great Britain