Agatha Christie's Marple - A Pocket Full of Rye - 6:00 pm Sunday, January 11 on ITV3

Julia McKenzie (Actor) .. Miss Marple

Born: February 17, 1941 in Enfield

Best Known For: Fresh Fields and Miss Marple.

Early-life: Julia Kathleen McKenzie was born on February 17, 1941 in Enfield to Kathleen and Albion. She was all set to begin training to become a French teacher when she landed a scholarship to study opera. After graduating from the Guildhall School of Music, she toured in operettas and musical comedies for a number of years before landing a role in 1969 in the London production of Mame.

Career: In the early 1970s, McKenzie took over one of the leading roles in Stephen Sondheim's Company. And so began a long association with Sondheim's work. Her big break came in the mid-1970s in the musical review Side by Side by Sondheim. It was a big success in London and New York. During the 1980s, McKenzie won an Olivier Award for her portrayal of Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls at the National Theatre. McKenzie has also worked extensively on TV, notably in Fresh Fields and its spin-off French Fields, Blott on the Landscape and Cranford. More recently, she has played the title roles in ITV drama Marple and one-off BBC children's drama Gangsta Granny.

Quote: "It's very easy for people to say actors are jealous, but I've never found that, I've always found them very loveable as we know we are all children at heart."

Trivia: In its day, Fresh Fields was the most popular programme of the week.

Prunella Scales (Actor) .. Mrs MacKenzie

Born: June 22, 1932 in Sutton Abinger, Surrey

Quote: "I remember an American producer coming up to me and saying: 'You're a wonderful actress. Now what are we going to do about your face?'"

Best Known For: Playing Sybil in Fawlty Towers.

Early-life: Born Prunella Margaret Rumney Illingworth on June 22, 1932, in Sutton Arbinger, Surrey. Her mother, Catherine Scales, was an actress, and her father John was a cotton salesman. When the Second World War broke out, her parents rented a farmhouse with no gas or electricity in Suffolk to escape the bombing. As a child, Prunella was shy, but discovered her passion for acting in her teens. She began training at the Old Vic Theatre School at 17, before going on to study at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York.

Career: Following stints in repertory theatre, Scales joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and also appeared in the films Laxdale Hall and Hobson's Choice. In 1963, she starred with Richard Briers in the sitcom Marriage Lines, but didn't become a household name until 1975, when she was cast as the fearsome Sybil in Fawlty Towers. Since then, she has worked regularly in theatre, film and TV. In 1992, she was nominated for a Bafta for her performance as Queen Elizabeth II in the Alan Bennett drama A Question of Attribution, and was awarded the OBE in the same year. Other projects include Howards End (alongside son Samuel), The Shell Seekers, An Ideal Husband and Horrid Henry: The Movie.

Trivia: Scales married actor Timothy West in 1963. They have two sons - Samuel and Joseph. She and West embarked on a narrowboating holiday to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary - their jaunt was filmed and turned into a documentary series for More4. During the making of the programme, it was revealed she has a mild form of Alzheimer's.

Matthew Macfadyen (Actor) .. Insp Neele

Born: October 17, 1974 in Great Yarmouth

Best Known For: Spooks, Pride and Prejudice and Ripper Street.

Early-life: David Matthew Macfadyen was born in Great Yarmouth on October 17, 1974. His mother was an actress and drama teacher, and his father worked in the oil industry. He has a younger brother named Jamie. His dad's job meant the family moved around a lot when he was growing up, and he attended schools in Lincolnshire, Scotland and Indonesia, before studying drama at a boarding school in Rutland. He went on to win a place at Rada, and appeared on stage with the Cheek by Jowl theatre company while still studying.

Career: Following his graduation in 1995, Macfadyen continued to act on stage. His TV breakthrough came three years later when he played Hareton Earnshaw in an adaptation of Wuthering Heights. He went on to appear in the TV drama Warriors and the movies Maybe Baby and Enigma, but really made his name when he took the lead role in spy drama Spooks in 2002. Three years later, he proved he was romantic leading man material when he was cast as Mr Darcy in the movie version of Pride and Prejudice. In 2007, he won plaudits for playing a paeodophile in Secret Life. Other TV work includes Little Dorrit, Enid Blyton, Criminal Justice, The Pillars of the Earth, Any Human Heart, Criminal Justice, Ripper Street and The Enfield Haunting. Other big screen projects include Death at a Funeral, Frost/Nixon, Robin Hood and Anna Karenina.

Quote: "I think it's important not to know too much about actors. Because when you see them in the magazines every day, you don't want to go to see them act."

Trivia: Married his former Spooks co-star Keeley Hawes in 2004. They have two children, and he is stepfather to her son from a previous relationship.

Ralf Little (Actor) .. Sgt Pickford

Wendy Richard (Actor) .. Mrs Crump

Born: July 20, 1943 in Middlesbrough

Best Known For: Playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders.

Early-life: Born Wendy Emerton in Middlesbrough on July 20, 1943, an only child to publicans Henry and Beatrice Emerton. While Wendy was a baby, her family moved to Bournemouth. They later moved to the Isle of Wight and then to London, where they ran the Shepherds Tavern in Shepherd Market. Wendy was 11 when her father committed suicide. After leaving school at 15, she helped pay her way through the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London by working in the fashion department at Fortnum & Mason. It was during this time that she changed her surname to Richard.

Career: Richard's early TV roles included guest appearances in Hugh and I, The Arthur Haynes Show, The Likely Lads, Up Pompeii and On the Buses. She had a recurring role in the BBC's 1960s soap opera The Newcomers. Richard's big break came in 1972 when she began playing shop assistant Miss Brahms in the hugely popular sitcom Are You Being Served? She also featured in film versions of the sitcoms On The Buses (1971), Bless This House (1972) and Are You Being Served? (1977). Already a household name, Richard found further success as matriarch Pauline Fowler in BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from the first episode in 1985 until her character's death in December 2006. Away from TV, Richard appeared regularly on the Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute. Richard died of breast cancer on February 26, 2009, at the age of 65. The last three months of her life were documented in the BBC programme Wendy Richard: To Tell You the Truth.

Quote: "My message to anyone going through the cancer thing is to remain positive and have faith in your oncologist and doctors."

Trivia: In 1962, Richard topped the pop music charts with the single Come Outside. She was awarded an MBE in 2000.

Rupert Graves (Actor) .. Lance Fortescue

Born: June 30, 1963 in Weston-super-Mare

Best Known For: Appearing in period dramas.

Early-life: Rupert Graves was born June 30, 1963, in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. The acting bug bit while performing in Victorian musical nights at the town's Birbeck Pier. Unhappy at school, he left at 15 to become a circus clown. He made his TV debut in 1978 in The Return Of The Saint and had small roles in various other productions. He later entertained children at holiday camps as part of Silly Billy Pickles And The Peanut Street Gang before his big break in Merchant Ivory's 1985 movie A Room With A View.

Career: Rejoined Merchant Ivory in 1987 to play a homosexual in Maurice, alongside James Wilby and Hugh Grant. The controversial role gained him fans of both sexes. He has tackled numerous challenging parts since, including a transvestite villain in Open Fire and the lover of a sex-change male in Different For Girls. He won the Best Actor award at the Montreal Film Festival for his part as a naive young man seduced by an older woman in Intimate Relations. Other notable productions include The Madness of King George, Mrs Dalloway, The Blonde Bombshell, Take A Girl Like You and Fortunes Of War. Graves has appeared on Broadway in Closer, and The Elephant Man. Has become a regular in a raft of top-notch detective shows, including Wallander, Lewis, and Sherlock and is very much in-demand.

Quote: "I'm really pleased with myself. I've not had any training. I knew nothing about acting except that early on I knew I wanted to do it, and I've managed for years to do things without doing them just for the money."

Trivia: He enjoys playing football.

Helen Baxendale (Actor) .. Mary Dove

Born: February 14, 1969 in Lichfield, Staffordshire

Best Known For: Her roles in Friends and Cold Feet.

Early-life: Born February 14, 1969, in Lichfield, Staffordshire. She has a sister called Kate. Parents June and Bill were both teachers. Helen dreamed of becoming a ballet dancer when young and attended The Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey, but realised she would never reach the required standard. As a result, she put her back-up plan - to become an actress - into action, landing a place on the Bristol Old Vic's training scheme.

Career: Baxendale joined Glasgow's Citizens' Theatre and landed parts on TV in The Marshall, Casualty, and short film The Euphoric Scale. In 1994, she won the plum role of Claire Maitland in Cardiac Arrest which made her name. Two years later she was particularly busy, starring in Truth or Dare, In Suspicious Circumstances, Crossing the Floor and Cold Feet. The latter became a major success. She's also appeared in The Investigator, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Ordinary Decent Criminal, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years, and played Ross's girlfriend in Friends.

Quote: "People are really stupid. They think you're serious and intelligent if you're a brunette with a pale complexion and a bit of hooked nose. If you're blonde and pretty, they don't give you that sort of part. It's short-sighted and stupid, but that's how it goes."

Trivia: She has a fear of flying.

Kenneth Cranham (Actor) .. Rex Fortescue

Born: December 12, 1944 in Dunfermline

Best Known For: Being a star of stage, TV and film.

Early-life: Kenneth was born in Dunfermline on December 12, 1944 to Margaret and Ronald. He trained to be an actor at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and Rada. His breakthrough as an actor came in the 1960s when he starred in Joe Orton's Loot in the West End and on Broadway. He made his TV debut in an episode of City 68' in 1967.

Career: Cranham's long career has seen him switch effortlessly between roles on TV, film and in the theatre. On the small screen, he is best known for playing the lead role in popular 1980s comedy drama Shine On, Harvey Moon! but he has numerous TV credits to his name. He has starred in Danger UXB, Brideshead Revisited, Inspector Morse, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, El C.I.D., Minder, Our Mutual Friend, Rome, and Doc Martin among many others. On the big screen, he has starred in Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000), Born Romantic (2000), Layer Cake (2004), A Good Year (2006), Hot Fuzz (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Made in Dagenham (2010), and Maleficent (2014). He continues to be heavily in demand. On the stage, he is best known for playing Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls, a play he performed in the West End and on Broadway.

Quote: On Shine on Harvey Moon: "It was very popular in Scotland. I always thought it was because it was very like The Broons."

Trivia: On the stage, he has a long association with the work of Harold Pinter.

Rose Heiney (Actor) .. Gladys

Laura Haddock (Actor) .. Miss Grosvenor

Born: August 21, 1985 in London

Best Known For: The Inbetweeners Movie and Da Vinci's Demons.

Early-life: Laura Jane Haddock was born in London on August 21, 1985. She trained at the Arts Educational School in Chiswick. She made her TV debut in a Comedy Showcase pilot called Plus One.

Career: Haddock's TV credits include Honest, The Palace, The Colour of Magic, Agatha Christie's Marple, Monday Monday and How Not to Live Your Life. She raised her profile in 2011 when she starred in The Inbetweeners Movie. Since then, she has starred in Upstairs Downstairs, Missing, Dancing on the Edge, Da Vinci's Demons and Luther. Her film credits also include Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

Quote: "I see my daft surname as a positive thing. It first dawned on me that I had a comical name when someone called me 'Fishface' on my first day at school. I've heard all the fish jokes since then, many times over."

Trivia: Haddock was nominated in the Best Female Newcomer category at the 2012 Empire Awards for her role in The Inbetweeners Movie.

Thea Collings (Actor) .. Tilly

Lucy Cohu (Actor) .. Pat Fortescue

Best Known For: Torchwood and The Queen's Sister.

Early-life: Lucy Ann Cohu was born in Wiltshire in either 1968 or 1970. Her first acting job after graduating from the Central School of Speech and Drama was in a production of Pride and Prejudice at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. She made her TV debut in a 1991 episode of Casualty.

Career: Cohu has worked extensively on the small screen and her TV credits include roles in Pie in the Sky, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Peak Practice, Soldier Soldier, Wycliffe, Cape Wrath and Forgiven. Her profile increased in 2005 when she portrayed Princess Margaret in The Queen's Sister. More recently, she has starred in Torchwood: Children of Earth, Marple, Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders, Lewis and Ripper Street.

Quote: "Television normally can fall into one of three categories; you either play mothers, whores or police officers."

Trivia: In 2008, Cohu won an Emmy for her performance in Forgiven.

Edward Tudor Pole (Actor) .. Prof Bernsdorrf

Ken Campbell (Actor) .. Crump

Anna Madeley (Actor) .. Adele Fortescue

Joseph Beattie (Actor) .. Vivian Dubois

Ben Miles (Actor) .. Percival Fortescue

Best Known For: Coupling.

Early-life: Born Benjamin Miles in Wimbledon in 1967, Ben began acting in school productions to get out of maths and English lessons. Later, he went on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Career: During the 1990s, Miles played a steady stream of supporting roles in a number of TV series such as Soldier Soldier, Is It Legal?, Wonderful You, The Bill, Peak Practice, Cold Feed and Holby City. His big break came in 2000 when he landed the role of Patrick in BBC sitcom Coupling. Other TV credits include The Forsyte Saga, Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness, Freezing, Lark Rise to Candleford, The Promise, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder at Road Hill House. More recently, he has been starring in horror drama Dracula.

Quote: "I've sort of enjoyed every job I've done, it's a very jammy thing to say."

Trivia: Away from acting, Miles enjoys playing the guitar and drums.

Liz White (Actor) .. Jennifer Fortescue

Born: November 05, 1979 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Best Known For: Playing Annie Cartwright in Life on Mars.

Early-life: Elizabeth White was born on November 5, 1979 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. She moved to Devon at age nine and then to Liverpool years later, when she went to train at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Her earliest TV roles were in episodes of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Always and Everyone in 2002.

Career: In 2003, White appeared in the TV series Teachers. Her first feature film role came the year after in Vera Drake (2004) and she also appeared in TV series A Thing Called Love. She played Annie Cartwright in two seasons of BBC drama Life on Mars from 2006 until 2007 and then played Jess Mercer in The Fixer in 2008. White then went on to appear in episodes of Agatha Christie's Marple, Doctor Who, Line of Duty and New Tricks as well as the films Franklyn (2008), The Woman in Black (2012), U Want Me 2 Kill Him? (2013) and Pride (2014). She also played Lizzie Mottershead in Our Zoo. More recently, she has had roles in The Halcyon, Call the Midwife and Ackley Bridge.

Quote: On keeping a private personal life: "I like to be invisible anyway but I think it's a wise choice for an actor. The less people know about you as a person, the more they can believe you as someone else."

Trivia: She teaches yoga.

Hattie Morahan (Actor) .. Elaine Fortescue

Best Known For: A number of stage and TV roles.

Early-life: Harriet Jane Morahan was born in London in 1978. Her father is TV director Christopher Morahan and her mother is actress Anna Carteret. Her older sister, Rebecca, is a theatre director. Hattie went on to study English at Cambridge University. While at Cambridge, she directed and appeared in student productions, including A View from the Bridge. She made her professional debut at the age of 17 in two-part BBC drama The Peacock Spring.

Career: Morahan joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2001 and made her RSC debut in Love in a Wood. In an extensive stage career, she has starred in Hamlet, Arsenic and Old Lace, Singer, Twelfth Night, The Family Reunion, A Doll's House and The Real Thing. Her TV credits include Sense and Sensibility, New Tricks, Outnumbered, Lewis, Eternal Law, Midsomer Murders and The Bletchley Circle. She made her big-screen debut in The Golden Compass (2007).

Quote: "I suppose one of the things that interest me about acting is unpicking what makes people tick and why they do what they do, and what it means to be human."

Trivia: Morahan won an Evening Standard award for her role in A Doll's House at The Young Vic.

Paul Brooke (Actor) .. Billingsley

Chris Larkin (Actor) .. Gerald Wright

Rachel Atkins (Actor) .. Sanatorium Sister

Kevin Elyot (Writer)

Agatha Christie (Writer)

Charles Palmer (Director)

Karen Thrussell (Producer)

Michele Buck (Executive producer)

Damien Timmer (Executive producer)

Rebecca Eaton (Executive producer)

Phil Clymer (Executive producer)

Agatha Christie's Marple: A Pocket Full of Rye

6:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Sunday, January 11 on ITV3 (10)

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A Pocket Full of Rye
Season 4, Episode 1

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