Lewis - The Great and the Good - 01:45 am Wednesday, December 24 on ITV3

Laura Rees (Actor) .. Beatrice Donnelly

Richard McCabe (Actor) .. Gavin Matthews

Kwame Kwei-Armah (Actor) .. Danny Adebayou

Jason Watkins (Actor) .. Oswald Cooper

Born: July 30, 1963 in Albrighton near Wolverhampton

Best Known For: Trollied, and The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies.

Early-life: Jason Barrington Watkins was born in Albrighton near Wolverhampton on July 30th, 1963 to Alan and Avis. His father is from Cleethorpes and his mother is from Manchester. Jason was brought up in London. Drama teachers at his Hounslow comprehensive encouraged him to pursue a career in acting. He was accepted into Rada at the same time as Ralph Fiennes, Jane Horrocks and Neil Dudgeon.

Career: Watkins has played supporting roles for most of his career. He has made guest appearances in Soldier Soldier, Casualty, The Bill, William and Mary, Life on Mars, and Lewis among many others. In 2011, he began playing store manager Gavin Strong in Sky1 sitcom Trollied. In 2014, he played his first lead role in The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies. His film credits include Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Onegin (1999), Confetti (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), Wild Child (2008), Lost Christmas (2011), and Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?! (2014).

Quote: "I got quite close to the world record, when I was about 12 or 13, of running the length of a basketball court on my hands."

Trivia: Watkins was nominated for an Olivier award in 2001 for his performance in A Servant for Two Masters.

Laurence Fox (Actor) .. DS Hathaway

Born: May 26, 1978 in Yorkshire

Best Known For: Lewis.

Early-life: Laurence Paul Fox was born in Yorkshire on May 26, 1978. Born into a theatrical family, he is the son of actor James Fox and the nephew of actor Edward Fox and theatre and film producer Robert Fox. Acting relatives also include his brother Jack and sister Lydia, and cousins Emilia Fox and Freddie Fox. Two years after leaving Harrow, Laurence developed a love of acting and enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada). During his time there, he appeared in a number of stage productions.

Career: Fox was still studying at Rada when he landed a role in his first feature film, 2001 horror-thriller The Hole. He went on to star in Gosford Park (2001), TV miniseries Island at War and TV movie Colditz. His big break came in 2006 when he was cast alongside Kevin Whately in Inspector Morse spin-off Lewis. Other credits include Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Becoming Jane (2007), W.E. (2011) and TV movie Fast Freddie, the Widow and Me. Fox has also featured in a number of stage productions, including Strangers on a Train at London's Gielgud Theatre.

Quote: "Acting can be a great job, but you do have to make up things to do when you're not working."

Trivia: Wed fellow actress Billie Piper in 2007.

Kevin Whately (Actor) .. DI Robert 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.

Daniela Nardini (Actor) .. Magda Donnelly

Born: April 26, 1968 in Largs, Scotland

Best Known For: Portraying self-destructive Anna in This Life.

Early-life: Daniela Nardini was born on April 26, 1968 in Largs, Scotland, the only-daughter of an Italian ice-cream selling family. She has described her childhood as happy, but tragedy struck when she was 16 and her elder brother Pietro died in a car accident in Italy. Her original ambition was to be a doctor, but she was later bitten by the acting bug and studied at the Royal Scottish Academy Of Music And Drama. One of her earliest acting jobs involved dressing up as a Tetley tea man and being driven around Edinburgh on a float.

Career: Nardini worked in the theatre for several years before achieving overnight fame with the success of the TV series This Life in 1996. Since then, she has appeared in several TV dramas, including Big Women, Rough Treatment, Undercover Heart, Love In The 21st Century and Sirens. On the big screen, she has starred in Elephant Juice and Festival. Her extensive stage career includes an appearance in A Streetcar Named Desire in 2009 at the Donmar Warehouse in London. She reprised the role of Anna in the 10th anniversary reunion episode of This Life, called This Life +10.

Quote: "I wouldn't like an actor for a boyfriend, because if he was doing love scenes I'd get jealous. I'd be asking: 'What was she like?'"

Trivia: She won a Scottish Bafta in 2009 for her role in comedy drama New Town.

Sean McGinley (Actor) .. Keiron Donnelly

Best Known For: Playing MacClannough in Braveheart.

Early-life: Born in 1956 in County Donegal, Ireland, where his father was working as a customs officer. Sean graduated from University College Galway and was also a member of the Druid Theatre Company from 1977 to 1989.

Career: McGinley's earliest on screen roles include appearances in the films The Field (1990), Fools of Fortune (1990) and Who Bombed Birmingham (1990). He then had a handful of guest roles in TV series before landing the role of MacClannough in Braveheart (1995). He then went on to appear in such TV series as Safe and Sound, DDU, Midsommer Murders and Waking the Dead, as well as the films Gangs of New York (2002), Freeze Frame (2004) and Man About Dog (2004). He played Snagsby in period drama series Bleak House in 2005 and Malachy in Canadian comedy-drama Republic of Doyle from 2010 until 2014. More recently, he played Terry in TV thriller Paula.

Quote: "An actor's life can be precarious at times, whether you are doing theatre, TV or film, and you sometimes might wish you were in a job with a pension."

Trivia: He has two daughters, who are called Roisin and Mairead.

Laura O'Toole (Actor) .. Doctor

Emily Bruni (Actor) .. Jessamine Matthews

Marian McLoughlin (Actor) .. Phoebe

Tim Dutton (Actor) .. Simon Ashton

Wendy Nottingham (Actor) .. Susan Whelton

Rebecca Front (Actor) .. Ch Supt Innocent

Born: May 16, 1964 in Stoke Newington

Best Known For: The Thick of It.

Early-life: Rebecca Louise Front was born in Stoke Newington on May 16, 1964. She comes from an artistic family - her father is an artist, her mother writes children's stories and her brother Jeremy writes (he and Rebecca often write together, most notably Radio 4's Incredible Women). Rebecca knew she wanted to act from the age of six or seven. After leaving school, she studied at St Hugh's College, Oxford, where she began performing with the Oxford Theatre Group.

Career: Front's comedy career took off with the Radio 4 show The Bobo Girls, the second series of which was produced by Armando Iannucci, with whom she's worked with numerous times since, most notably on The Thick of It. Other comedy projects include On the Hour, The Day Today, Absolute Power, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, The Spa and various Alan Partridge projects. Front has also dabbled in drama, with roles in The Rotters' Club, Kavanagh QC, Lewis, Jonathan Creek, and Humans.

Quote: "I'd love a role in Sherlock. Or maybe I could play a Doctor Who monster or something. That'd be brilliant."

Trivia: Front's father, Charles Front, designed the title logo for The Beatles album Rubber Soul.

Clare Holman (Actor) .. Dr Laura Hobson

Beth Goddard (Actor) .. Belinda Ashton

Paul Anderson (Actor) .. Frank Sporetti

Paul Rutman (Writer)

Rebecca Eaton (Executive producer)

Michele Buck (Executive producer)

Ted Childs (Executive producer)

Damien Timmer (Executive producer)

Chris Burt (Producer)

Stuart Orme (Director)

Lewis: The Great and the Good

01:45 am - 03:30 am, Wednesday, December 24 on ITV3 (10)

About this Broadcast

The Great and the Good
Season 2, Episode 4

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