Sir Gary Oldman to receive the Edinburgh TV Festival's Global Icon award

The Slow Horses actor will be honoured in August.

The Edinburgh TV Festival, supported by Screen Scotland, has announced that Sir Gary Oldman, one of the UK’s most successful screen stars and a true industry trailblazer, will receive the 2026 Global Icon Award.

Highly regarded as one of the foremost actors of his generation and an internationally renowned cultural figure, he has the distinction of appearing in more successful films than any other artist spanning the past twenty years.

Known to millions for his diverse range of performances and iconic portrayals of Winston Churchill, Sirius Black, Commissioner Jim Gordon, Dracula, Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald and many more besides.

In recent years, Oldman has transitioned into a highly acclaimed television career, anchoring Apple TV's hit espionage drama, Slow Horses, which returns for its sixth series on 16th September.

Slow Horses follows a dysfunctional team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 known unaffectionately as Slough House.

Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but cantankerous leader of the spies who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes and who frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world.

At this year’s Festival, Oldman will be in conversation with Edith Bowman, reflecting on six seasons of Slow Horses and much more from his incredible career.

Ahead of receiving the honour, Sir Gary Oldman said "My heartfelt thanks to the Edinburgh TV Festival for this generous honour. To receive an award bearing the title “Global Icon” is both enormously flattering and faintly alarming! In all seriousness, I am touched by this generosity and thankful to all those whose creativity, trust, and collaboration have shaped my journey. My warmest thanks to the festival, and I very much look forward to being with you in Edinburgh."

Further speaker and session announcements will be made in the coming weeks.

This year’s Festival, by Screen Scotland, will once again be held at the EICC in Edinburgh, and passes are on sale now here.

Edinburgh TV Festival runs Tuesday 25th to Friday 28th August