Trivia: Though Brenda Blethyn has enjoyed a long and successful career as an actress on the British stage and in television, it wasn't until the release of Mike Leigh's film Secrets and Lies in 1996 that she became well-known to moviegoers as well, earning a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for what was only her third film.Blethyn's early stage experience included stints in the stock companies of the Bubble Theatre and the Belgrade Theater of Coventry. In 1975, she joined the Royal National Theater, where she worked with some of Britain's leading stage directors, including Peter Wood, Peter Hall, and Bill Bryden, and her roles ran the gamut from Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House to Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday. With the Royal Shakespeare Company, she appeared under the direction of Maximillian Schell in Tales From the Vienna Woods and in Alan Ayckbourn's Wildest Dream. In 1991, she received the British Drama Awards' Best Actress prize for her role in Steaming and the Theatre World Awards' Outstanding New Talent prize for her role in the Broadway production of Absent Friends.Blethyn made her film debut in 1990, with a small part in Nicholas Roeg's The Witches. Robert Redford cast her as Brad Pitt's mother in A River Runs Through It in 1992, but 1996's Secrets and Lies provided Blethyn with her first substantial screen role. In a story developed through six months of improvisations with Leigh and the cast, Blethyn's performance as a woman getting to know the daughter she had given up made her an international sensation almost overnight. Blethyn received another Oscar nomination in 1999, for her role as the overbearing mother in Little Voice; her nomination complemented her growing popularity in Hollywood, reflected by her casting in such high profile projects as Billy Bob Thornton's Daddy and Them (1999). The actress would go on to appear in such films as Beyond the Sea, Pride & Prejudice, and Atonemen.On television, Blethyn would also make splashes in BBC productions like King Lear, Henry VI, Part One, The Labours of Erica, The Buddha of Suburbia, War and Peace, and Vera.

Trivia: Played for Blackburn Rovers F.C. until the age of 19. Turned down a place at drama school to take a role in Oliver Stone's Alexander. Graduated from the National Youth Theatre. Made a short film, Orthodox, that screened at the 58th BFI London Film Festival in 2012. Produced a feature length version of his short in 2015.

Trivia: Appeared in Coram Boy and Coast of Utopia at the National Theatre. Played Alexander in Troilus and Cressida for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Performed opposite Helen Mirren in the play The Audience in the West End in 2013 when she stormed out to quiet a drumming troupe playing outside the theatre in order to finish the play.

Trivia: Began acting at the age of 10 in a co-operative society's drama group. Made his television debut at the age of 15, in an episode of Adam Smith. Starred as Eddie in High Times between 2004 and 2008. As of 2018, has played DC Kenny Lockhart in Vera since its broadcast debut in 2011. Regularly performs as part of musical act Chris Glen & the Outfit.

Trivia: Sang with the Manchester Girls Choir for eleven years. Made her stage debut in The Great Theatre of the World. Appeared as part of the 2008 UNDEREXPOSED exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, bringing attention to of black role models and artistic talent. Won Best Female Performance at the Screen Nation Awards for her role in I Am Slave. Won the 2017 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Damilola, Our Loved Boy.

Trivia: Made his professional stage debut in a 2013 touring production of The Pitmen Painters. Performed in the 2013 award-winning Live Theatre production of Wet House. Appeared in the 2013 Live Theatre production of Cooking with Elvis. Starred as John Worthing in a 2017 production of The Importance of Being Earnest. As of 2018, has appeared as DC Mark Edwards in Vera since its debut broadcast in 2011.

Trivia: Is the second of seven children, born to a Nigerian father and a British mother. Her name was derived from her parents' interest in Egyptology (a small part of Egypt was called The Cush) and the fact they thought she would be a boy. Played the role of Mark Antony in an all-female version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, in 2012. Performed in her own debut play in 2013 titled, Josephine and I, a one-person play about jazz singer Josephine Baker. Made her Broadway debut in The River, alongside Hugh Jackman, in 2014.

Trivia: In 2008, directed the award-winning short film You Me and Captain Longbridge. Appeared as Sean in the first and second series of Stella. In 2013, performed in the UK touring production of The Full Monty. In 2017, played Rick in BBC Drama Love, Lies and Records. As of 2018, has played DS Aiden Healy in Vera since 2015.

Trivia: Made his professional stage debut in 2011, in Gillian Slovo's The Riots. Starred as Borachio in Mark Rylance's 2013 production of Much Ado About Nothing. In 2014, performed in a Bush Theatre production of We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1994-1915. From 2014 to 2018, starred as Dr. Marcus Summer in Vera. Starred as Khalid Walker in 2018 drama Deep State.

Trivia: Made her film debut in 2013 in The Fifth Estate. Between 2012 and 2013, starred as Clara in BBC period drama The Paradise. Between 2012 and 2014, appeared as Celine Ashworth in crime drama series Vera. In 2018, appeared as Hester in sci-fi drama Humans. As of 2019, has starred as Liz Dudley in comedy-drama series Lodge 49 since its 2018 debut.

Trivia: Starred as Kerry in BBC Dark Comedy Psychoville, from 2009-2010. Performed in the National and International tour of No Idea, a play she co-wrote. Performed as Herald in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2011 production of Marat/Sade. Starred as Donna Yates in Eastenders between 2014 and 2018. Co-wrote and starred in 2018 play Still No Idea.

Trivia: Almost didn't get accepted into RADA because of a skin condition on his face. One of the main reasons he was hired for the 1983 British series Auf Wiedersehen, Pet was because he could do a Liverpool accent, which he had learned while living in a city hostel for two years as a teen. Lent his voice to the Wallace and Gromit features Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) and Flushed Away (2006). Other voiceover work includes radio, TV commercials, documentaries, cartoons and looping. Played John Lennon's father, Freddie, in the 2010 biopic Lennon Naked.

Trivia: Attended the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London. Began his acting career as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Made his television debut in the movie Unwanted Woman in 1992. Appeared in several films associated with Ancient Greece – Troy (2004), 300 (2006) and Clash of the Titans (2010). Helped launch South London's Landor Theatre.

Trivia: The daughter of a Liverpool pharmacist, Rita Tushingham developed a flair for acting while attending convent school. At 16, Rita made her first appearance at the Liverpool Rep, playing Rabbit and "Back Legs of Horse" in Toad of Toad Hall. She made her 1961 film debut in somewhat more adult fare: as Jo, the maltreated teenaged heroine of the "kitchen sink" drama A Taste of Honey, she won the BFA "most promising newcomer" award. Her fey, eccentric characterizations in such films as The Leather Boys (1963) and The Girl With Green Eyes (1963) rapidly elevated Tushingham to "critic's darling" status. By 1970, however, her love affair with the press had ended. Forming a production company with director Desmond Davis, Tushingham hoped to jump-start her film career, but things didn't turn out as planned. After a few so-so foreign films and a starring stint on the TV series No Strings, she retired in 1979, making a comeback in the 1986 film Judgement in Stone, directed by her second husband, Ousama Rawi. More recently, Rita Tushingham made a delightful appearance as Aunt Lily in An Awfully Big Adventure (1995).

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the '70s. He is the son of actor Edward Woodward.