Sir Rupert Alexander Gavin (born 1 October 1954) is a British businessman and theatre impresario.
Gavin served as chairman of Historic Royal Palaces from 2015 to 2022 and as a member of the Honours Committee for Arts and Media from 2016 to 2022. He was chief executive officer of BBC Worldwide from 1998 to 2004 and of Odeon Cinemas from 2005 to 2014. As a producer and financier, he has produced or co-produced more than 300 plays and musicals through his company, Incidental Colman.
In 2025, Unicorn published Gavin's book Amorous or Loving? The Highly Peculiar Tale of English and the English, which examines the history and development of the English language.
In 2024, Gavin was appointed the Chair of English National Ballet. In 2025, he was also appointed Women’s Prize for Playwriting charity's trustee. He also chair the Village Cinemas, Greece and the Living Room Cinema.
He is chairman of the theatre production company Incidental Colman, which has produced/co-produced in the West End and on Broadway and won seventeen Olivier Awards.
He is senior assistant in Court Court of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, and also Chairman of the HMG Honours Committee for Media and the Arts and commenced his second term as of January 2019. He is a Senior Assistant of the Court of the Worshipful Company of Grocers, having served as Master for 2017/18. He is serving as the Chairman of the Living Room Cinema, the new start-up cinema chain. Gavin is a director of the West End industry body, SOLT.
Gavin was educated at Magdalene College at Cambridge University, where he had an exhibition in economics. After graduation, and a stint as a film script writer, he took a copywriting role at Sharps advertising agency where he would eventually become an equity partner before it was sold to Saatchi & Saatchi. While working at Sharps he established close links with Dixons Stores Group, and would eventually become deputy managing director of the electronics retailer. In 1994, he joined British Telecom to work on its internet and multimedia strategy; he became managing director of the firm's consumer division. In 1998, he became chief executive of BBC Worldwide. He was CEO of Odeon Cinemas and UCI Cinemas Group from 2006 to 2014
In 2012 the Evening Standard newspaper dubbed Gavin "Mr West End" about London's Theatreland. Productions/co-productions by Incidental Colman have won thirty Olivier awards for either Best New Play, Best Play Revival, Best New Musical, Best Musical Revival or Best Entertainment.
Personal life
Gavin married Ellen Miller in 1991; the couple has two daughters, Alexandra and Isabella, and live in London. Debrett's lists his leisure activities as "...theatre producer, lyricist and gardener". He is a Fellow of the Royal Television Society.
Charitable activities
Gavin is Chair of the English National Ballet and a trustee of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting. He is also a trustee of the Theatre Development Trust.
Gavin has been involved with the Grocers’ Charity, which supports a range of small charities. He currently sits on the Education and Charities Committee of the Grocers' Company. He is a Patron of the Hay Literary Festival, the London Library, and the Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival. He sits on the Development Council of the Almeida Theatre.
Ancestry
He is of direct descent from James Gavin (b 1658), the Kirk Beadle of Lunan, Angus, and the family motto is By industry we prosper.
