SHERLOCK co-creator and Doctor Who writer Mark Gatiss has been praised for his generosity after he doubled the amount raised for charity at a special event held his honour.

The kind-hearted comedian and novelist, who was brought up in School Aycliffe, County Durham, offered to match any funds raised at an ‘in conversation’ event looking at his life and career held in Darlington, earlier this month.

And, when the total raised in support of Darlington Mayor Gerald Lee’s chosen charities – the Butterwick Hospice and the Phoenix Recovery Centre, in Catterick – was revealed to be £5,200, Mr Gatiss was as good as his word.

Councillor Lee said the gesture was “quite amazing” and praised the comedian for his generous spirit.

Mr Gatiss is a regular visitor back to the North East and agreed to take part in the question and answer event after Cllr Lee made a suggestion to his father, Maurice, a family friend.

Cllr said: “He [Mark Gatiss] gave so much of his time to come and do the event and he didn’t charge or ask for any expenses. I did genuinely think he had done enough.

“As we were walking out of the venue together at the end he said ‘Whatever you have made, double it’.

“Even when I said we were hoping to have raised £5,000, he said ‘It doesn’t matter, double it’.

“I was gobsmacked really. It’s a wonderful gesture from a wonderful man.”

The sell-out event held at Carmel College, arranged with the help of Teesside University, saw Mr Gatiss talk about his career and drop tantalising hints about the future of his hit series Sherlock and the possible return of The League of Gentlemen.

Although the event over-ran by almost an hour Mr Gatiss offered to stay behind and sign autographs and pose for pictures with every person who attended.

Cllr Lee added: “He was such a lovely, approachable person. He has a great gift for making people feel at ease.

“The theme of my year of office is to celebrate the achievements of youth and I thought it was wonderful of him to come and show our young people that here is a local lad who has found such success through his own hard work and talent.”