Inspector Morse - The Infernal Serpent - 11:50 pm Saturday, July 25 on ITV3

John Thaw (Actor) .. Chief Inspector Morse

Born: January 03, 1942 in Manchester

Best Known For: Inspector Morse.

Early-life: John Edward Thaw was born on January 3, 1942, in Manchester. He had a younger brother, Ray, but theirs wasn't an easy childhood. The boys' mother, Dorothy, left home when John was seven, while their father, Jack, was often away working as a long-distance lorry driver. Despite being painfully shy, John began appearing in amateur dramatics productions and eventually won a place at RADA, where he studied alongside his friend, Tom Courteney.

Career: Thaw's first professional job came at the Liverpool Playhouse. His film debut came in 1962's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which starred Courteney. Thaw worked extensively on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, and early TV roles came in Z Cars and Redcap. But it was The Sweeney, alongside Dennis Waterman, that made him a household name thanks to its uncompromising style. He switched to comedy with Home to Roost, but it was playing Inspector Morse that made him a national treasure. Almost everything he touched then turned to gold; he starred in top-rated dramas such as Kavanagh QC, Goodnight Mister Tom and Buried Treasure. He died in 2002 following a battle with cancer of the oesophagus.

Quote: 'I was born looking fifty.'

Trivia: Divorced first wife Sally Alexander after four years and one daughter in 1968. Married Sheila Hancock in 1974. They had a daughter together, and Thaw adopted Hancock's daughter from her first marriage.

Kevin Whately (Actor) .. Det Sgt Lewis

Born: February 06, 1951 in Newcastle upon Tyne

Best Known For: Playing John Thaw's right-hand man Lewis in Inspector Morse.

Early-life: Kevin George Edward Whately was born on February 6, 1951, in Hexham, and grew up in the remote Northumberland countryside. His father was in the Navy, and Whately only saw him two or three times a year. He began acting at the age of four and it remained a passion throughout school, alongside a short-lived desire to be a doctor. When his careers teacher advised against acting, he went into accountancy for three years. He later trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His brother, Frank, is a drama lecturer.

Career: Whately's TV debut came in a 1979 episode of Shoestring. Two years later he had a six-week stint on Coronation Street. His big break came in 1983, when he landed the role of Neville in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. In 1987, he made his first appearance as Sgt Lewis in Morse, and has since appeared in Peak Practice, the TV dramas Trip Trap, Gobble, and The Broker's Man, as well as Oscar-winning drama The English Patient. Other projects include Paranoid, Silent Cry, Murder in Mind, Purely Belter, Promoted to Glory and The Children. He's now the star of hit Morse spin-off Lewis.

Quote: On John Thaw: 'John had a wonderful sense of humour which is belied sometimes by journalists' impression of him as irascible. He was a wonderful mimic, particularly of people on the set rather than famous people.'

Trivia: Married to actress Madeleine Newton, who appeared alongside him in both Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Inspector Morse. They have two children, Kieran and Kitty. His daughter is an acclaimed opera singer.

Geoffrey Palmer (Actor) .. Matthew Copley-Barnes

David Neal (Actor) .. Dr Julian Dear

Barbara Leigh-Hunt (Actor) .. Blanche Copley-Barnes

Pearce Quigley (Actor) .. Mick McGovern

Michael Attwell (Actor) .. Parsons

Cheryl Campbell (Actor) .. Sylvie Maxton

John Joyce (Actor) .. Mr Gray

Ian Brimble (Actor) .. Phil Hopkirk

Tom Wilkinson (Actor) .. Jake Normington

Born: December 12, 1948 in Leeds

Best Known For: A number of scene-stealing roles.

Early-life: Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson was born on December 12, 1948, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, but moved to Canada with his family when he was just four years old. They returned several years later, and Tom eventually studied at, and graduated from, the University of Kent, before attending Rada.

Career: Wilkinson made his TV debut in the mid-1970s, and went on to appear in programmes including First Among Equals and A Pocket Full of Rye. However, it was his role as Mr Pecksniff in the BBC's 1994 adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit that really put the actor on the map. Three years later Tom won a Bafta for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Full Monty, and the 1990s also saw him appear in such notable films as Shakespeare in Love, In the Name of the Father and Wilde. More recently, he played the gangster Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins, gained great critical acclaim for In the Bedroom, starred alongside George Clooney in Michael Clayton and played German army officer Friedrich Fromm in Valkyrie. He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin in the miniseries John Adams. His recent work on the big screen includes roles in The Ghost, Burke and Hare, The Green Hornet and The Conspirator.

Quote: 'All good actors are easy to work with. It's the ones that aren't very good who tend to be very difficult.'

Trivia: He was awarded an OBE in 2005.

George Costigan (Actor) .. Ron Garrett

Irene Richard (Actor) .. Imogen Garrett

Denys Hawthorne (Actor) .. Chief Supt Rennie

Sydnee Blake (Actor) .. Mrs McGovern

Philippa Howell (Actor) .. Ward sister

Michelle Wesson (Actor) .. Mandy Hopkirk

Catherine Terris (Actor) .. Hopkirk's housekeeper

David Lascelles (Producer)

John Madden (Director)

Alma Cullen (Writer)

Inspector Morse: The Infernal Serpent

11:50 pm - 02:00 am, Saturday, July 25 on ITV3 (10)

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The Infernal Serpent
Season 4, Episode 1

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