Trivia: Attended kindergarten with Peter Morgan, the British film writer and playwright. Had his first television role at 22. Featured in art duo Gilbert and George's photographic work The World. Enjoys driving camper-vans. Is close friends with Harry Enfield. Was awarded an honorary doctorate from Bournemouth University in 2007. Elected president of the British Horse Society in June 2011. Became patron of Animal Care in Egypt in 2011. Appointed an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in her 2015 Birthday Honours. Owns a farm where cart horses are bred. Supports Weldmar Hospicecare Trust in Dorset and The Dog Resue Federation. Has been involved with the Comic Relief charity which funds Survival International and African Initiatives.

Trivia: After joining Equity, the trade union for actors in the United Kingdom, she found that somone had the same name as her and so changed to Caroline Catz. Decided on the name Catz after seeing a doodle of a cat. Is allergic to cats. Used to sing in a band called Monoland and a folk band called Sapphire. Appeared in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' music video for More News From Nowhere.

Trivia: A member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, British actor Ian McNeice has found additional success playing supporting roles in feature films and on television. He made his first film appearances in 1983, and has subsequently specialized in comedies, ranging from the gentle The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain (1995) to the riotous Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) to the surreal A Life Less Ordinary (1997). McNeice's television credits include performances in several PBS productions, including Edge of Darkness and Nicholas Nickelby.

Trivia: One of England's most renowned stage actresses, Eileen Atkins has been a staple of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and London's West End since the 1960s. She has also popped up occasionally on film and television, and she has made numerous contributions to both mediums as a scriptwriter, most notably for the acclaimed series Upstairs Downstairs and House of Eliott and the well-received screen adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.A product of London's East End, where she was born in the Clapton Salvation Army Home on June 16, 1934, Atkins grew up in a council home as the third child of a homemaker and a gas meter reader. She began performing as a tap dancer in working men's clubs at the age of seven, and she had done professional pantomime by the time she was 13. Under the encouragement of a school instructor -- who gave Atkins voice lessons to remove her Cockney accent and introduced her to Shakespeare -- she went on to attend the Guildhall School of Drama, where she did a teaching course and took drama classes.Atkins struggled to begin her professional career, finding it difficult to get stage roles of any substance, to say nothing of stage roles, period. She got her first break when she moved to Stratford with her then-husband, Julian Glover, who had found work with the RSC. Atkins got her start in Stratford as an usherette, and she gradually moved her way up until she was allowed into the company. She first performed on the Stratford stage as Audrey in As You Like It, chosen to fill in for the understudy of Dame Peggy Ashcroft after both had taken ill. Atkins spent several years with the RSC, performing in both classical and contemporary plays alongside the likes of Lawrence Olivier and Alec Guinness. On the London stage, she portrayed numerous characters, earning a Best Supporting Actress Olivier Award for her performance in Peter Hall's production of The Winter's Tale. Her one-woman show, A Room of One's Own, was an international success, earning Atkins a Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance and a special Citation from the New York Drama Critics Circle for her portrayal of Virginia Woolf.Although the international stage has been the centerpoint of Atkins' career, she has made many contributions to film and television. Aside from her work on the aforementioned Upstairs, Downstairs, The House of Elliot, and Mrs. Dalloway (the last of which earned her the Evening Standard British Film Best Screenplay award), she has appeared in such films as Let Him Have It (1991), Jack and Sarah (1995), and John Schlesinger's Cold Comfort Farm (1995). Among the endless honors Atkins holds is a Commander of the British Empire. Atkin would appear in several notable projects over the coming years, including Gosford Park, The Hours, Cold Mountain, and TV series like Doc Martin and Psychoville.

Trivia: Appeared in Sun-Pat peanut butter adverts as a child. Made his acting debut in Antonia and Jane in 1991. Won the Best Actor Award at the British Soap Awards for his role as Matthew Rose on Eastenders in 2000. Appeared in the celebrity version of Total Wipeout in 2010 and won £10,000 for charity. Is a patron for the Hill Park Autistic Trust.

Trivia: Met IT Crowd co-star Chris O'Dowd while they were attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Left the LAMDA to star in the play The Age Of Consent at the Bush Theatre in London in 2002. Won the British Comedy Best TV Actress Award in 2009 for her role in The IT Crowd. Received a second British Comedy Best TV Actress Award and a BAFTA TV Award in 2014 for her role in The IT Crowd. Was nominated for an Olivier Award in the Best Actress category for her role in Home, I'm Darling in 2019. In 2019, her debut work as a playwright Sitting had its London premiere, following a month-long run at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Trivia: In 1999, performed in the Tennessee Williams play 'Baby Doll' at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Between 2007 and 2019, starred as PC Joe Penhale in ITV Drama Doc Martin. In 2012, performed as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company production of The Taming of the Shrew. Starred as Ray Wilson in BBC drama In the Club between 2014 and 2016. Performs as part of comedy duo The Brothers Marquez, alongside his real-life brother Martin.

Trivia: Has a history with Dublin's The Gate Theatre; played Ruth in The Homecoming (2001), Alma in The Eccentricities of a Nightingale (2013) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. In 2009, was about to sign a theatre contract when the part of Edith in Doc Martin came up; took an instant liking to Martin Clunes and the character and signed with Doc Martin instead. While appearing in Harold Pinter's Old Times in London, alternated the two female roles with Kristin Scott Thomas during the play's run in 2013.

Trivia: Her father was a foreign correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, leading her to travel abroad occasionally to spend time with her parents in India, Tehran and Beirut. Became a stage manager and worked in repertory theatre after graduating from RADA. Spent ten years on landmark soap, Coronation Street, before leaving in 1971. 18.9 million people watched the funeral of her character, Val, in Coronation Street, in 1971, after she had been electrocuted by a faulty hair drier. Filmed scenes for Love Actually (2003), playing a headmistress tending to her dying partner, but her scenes were ultimately cut from the film. Won the London Film Critics Circle Award for British Actress of the Year in 2004 for the film The Mother. Played Jack's mother in Into the Woods at the Royal Opera House in London in 2007. Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2010. Received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Sunderland in 2015. Underwent hip replacement surgery in 2019.

Trivia: Moved to Wales at the age of 3. Her parents owned the medieval castle fortification turned hotel Ruthin Castle in Wales. Performed in the Cambridge Footlights while at university where she met Tilda Swinton. Used to work as a drama teacher at Leicester Polytechnic. The satirical NHS drama Getting On which she co-wrote with Jo Brand and Vicki Pepperdine, earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Female Performance in a Comedy and a BAFTA Television Craft nomination for screenwriting in 2011 and 2013. Her stage work includes working with Thea Starrock in the production of Cloud 9 at the Almeida Theatre and Top Girls; with Rufus Norris in Vernon God Little at the Young Vic; and appearing in Polly Teale's production of Madame Bovary.