His portraits of Nigel Hawthorne in character as King George III were commissioned by the British National Theatre to promote their premiere production of the Alan Bennett play The Madness of George III.

In 2006, Newley's full-length portrait of Hawthorne was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum for their permanent collection celebrating Theatre in the 20th century.

[5] In 2016, Newley completed a series of portraits of Kenneth Branagh, Judi Dench, Adrian Lester, Derek Jacobi and Lily James.

Newley worked on the portraits for a year, and was granted access backstage at the Garrick Theatre in order to capture the energy and dynamism of the actors in character.

[10][11] In 2017, Newley completed his memoir Unaccompanied Minor, illustrated with 28 of his own paintings, an account of growing up within a dysfunctional family as the son of two international stars.