Trivia: Left university to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Was narrator of BBC series Airport between 1996 and 2005. Appointed an OBE in 2010. Awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Plymouth in 2012. Patron of The Mare and Foal Sanctuary.

Trivia: Joined the Stockton Youth Theatre as a 14-year-old. Performed in the award-winning Dead Fish at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Reprised his role in the touring production of Dead Fish throughout 1994 and 1995. Played the role of DS Gavin Troy in Midsomer Murders between 1998 and 2003. Ran for Leukaemia Research in the 2003 Great north Run.

Trivia: Starred in the 1975 Birmingham Rep production of Equus. Played Sasha in a 1978 production of Ivanov at the Old Vic. Portrayed the role of Joyce Barnaby in Midsomer Murders between 1997 and 2011. Performed in a world tour of Hamlet throughout 1978, alongside Sir Derek Jacobi. Is a Drama tutor at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Trivia: TV director-producer father Frank Smith created the BBC show Panorama. Started acting in Edinburgh. Breakthrough came playing various roles in the British sketch-comedy series Armstrong and Miller. Relationship with veteran English actor Gerald Harper ended in 2002; he's 42 years her senior. Best known for playing Susan Walker on the hit British comedy Coupling (2000-04).

Trivia: British actress Margaret Tyzack's activities were confined to the stage at the time of her film entree in the early '60s. Her rare film appearances include The Whisperers (1967), with Edith Evans, and the Stanley Kubrick productions 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) (as Elena) and A Clockwork Orange (1971) (as "a Conspirator"). American TV fans are most familiar with Margaret Tyzack through her appearance in several British series telecast in the '60s and '70s by PBS. The actress played Winnifred in The Forsyte Saga (1969), was one of The First Churchills (1971), and had the title role in Cousin Bette (1972).

Trivia: While only in her mid-twenties, British actress Victoria Hamilton won laudatory reviews from every important London newspaper for roles in the plays of William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen and in film adaptations of the novels of Jane Austen. "I have rarely seen an actress more movingly convey the ravages of time and experience," a Daily Telegraph critic wrote in May 1997 of her performance as Nina in Ibsen's The Seagull. "Victoria Hamilton's Cressida...is a remarkable creation," a Guardian critic opined in July 1996 after seeing Hamilton play Cressida in Shakespeare's play Troilus and Cressida. In October 1995, a Daily Mail critic wrote of her stage presence in Ibsen's The Master Builder: "There are moments when a new young artist arrives on a stage and instantly the performance ignites the entire production." For her Master Builder performance as Hilde Wangel, she earned a nomination for a 1995 Ian Charleson Award for Best Classical Actor (under the age of 30). In 1996, she won the London Critics' Circle Award for Best Newcomer and, in 2000, the London Critics' Circle Award as Best Actress for her role as Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It. These achievements helped win her the lead role as Queen Victoria (1819-1901) in a major TV miniseries, Victoria and Albert. After the production debuted in 2001, she received the commendation of critics worldwide as an actress of rare talent. While preparing for the role, she made a spooky discovery: Her height (5'4"), head, wrist, and ankle size were exactly the same as the queen's. While growing up in Guildford, Surrey, Hamilton attended Priors Field, a private school where her curriculum included drama. One week before she was to enroll at Bristol University to work toward an English degree, she told her father (a Guildford advertising executive) and mother (a teacher) that she had decided to study acting instead. But after she performed auditions for the most important drama schools, they rejected her one after another, saying her acting was poor. One year after these rejections, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art finally accepted her and trained her in the classical tradition. After another year passed, she was performing on the London stage in Sir Peter Hall's production of The Master Builder. Though self-effacing and sweetly pretty, Hamilton can breathe fire and exude sensuality when performing -- but only if she is serving art and the scenes are tasteful. Because she is devoted to classic literature, she has rejected roles in high-profile, Hollywood-style movies in favor of parts in film and television productions such as Mansfield Park (1999), King Lear (1997), The Merchant of Venice (1996), Pride and Prejudice (1995), and Persuasion (1995). However, she has not ruled out performances in big-budget motion pictures for sometime in the future.

Trivia: British character actor Neil Dudgeon debuted in the late '80s in his native U.K., and specialized in working-class types with a forceful edge, such as policemen, constables, and inner-city taxi drivers. Dudgeon debuted in Stephen Frears' acclaimed Joe Orton biopic Prick Up Your Ears (1987), then graced the casts of numerous low-profile theatrical movies and telefilms over the following decades, including Revolver (1992), Dirty Tricks (2000), and Messiah 2: Vengeance Is Mine (2002). Dudgeon elevated his profile somewhat in the mid- to late 2000s with bit parts in two key films: the Renée Zellweger/Hugh Grant comedy Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) and director Garth Jennings' bittersweet coming-of-age nostalgia Son of Rambow (2007).

Trivia: British actor David Ross is a veteran of stage, screen, and television. Although he has been performing since the 1960s, he achieved only limited notice from TV and film audiences until he began acting in widely distributed productions in the 1990s. For example, he played to worldwide audiences as Mr. Bumble in the 1999 TV miniseries Oliver Twist, Mr. Sedley in the 1998 TV miniseries Vanity Fair, and the doctor in the 1996 Julia Roberts/John Malkovich film Mary Reilly. In 1962, when he was just 17, Ross decided to act for a living. After learning the rudiments of drama with the Harrogate Rep. Company, he underwent further training at Manchester Polytechnic and later performed for the Manchester Contact Theatre. Then he slowly worked his way up through the ranks, appearing in little-known productions such as Yanks Go Home (TV, 1976), Sherlock Holmes (film, 1984), and Aria (film, 1987). However, he gained a modicum of renown among British audiences between 1988 and 1995 for his guest roles in the Red Dwarf TV series. His film work in the late 20th century included roles in Little Odessa (1994), Eskimo Day (1996), and Basil (1998). Ross has appeared frequently on the stages of U.K. theaters. In the spring of 2002, he began a run at the London Palladium as a "Vulgarian spy" in the Adrian Noble musical adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. One London newspaper praised his performance as "pantomimically funny."

Trivia: Supporting actor, onscreen from the late '50s.

Trivia: Made her television debut in the 1992 historical series Covington Cross.Landed her first leading television role in 1992, playing Tammy Rokeby in sitcom So Haunt Me. In 1996, appeared in drama series Soldier Soldier as Deborah Briggs. Is perhaps best known for playing Cully Barnaby in crime-mystery procedural Midsomer Murders between 1997 and 2011. Performed as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Making Mischief Season in 2016.

Trivia: At the age of nine, presented radio broadcasts for Children's Hour. Worked as a stage hand at the Birmingham Rep at the age of 16. Moved to London to become an actor immediately upon getting his O-Levels. Worked as a fight director and stunt man throughout the 1960s, under the name 'Jack Barry'. Portrayed Dr George Bullard in Midsomer Murders from 1998 to 2011.