Agatha Christie's Marple - Murder Is Easy - 12:05 pm Sunday, June 21 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.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Actor) .. Luke Fitzwilliam

Born: July 19, 1976 in London

Best Known For: Playing the modern-day Sherlock.

Early-life: Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch was born on July 19, 1976, in London. His parents are actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. He was educated at the public schools Brambletye and Harrow (his grandmother paid his fees); he first started acting at the latter. After spending a year teaching English in a Tibetan monastary, Benedict studied drama at Manchester University, and later continued his studies at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career: Cumberbatch has divided his professional time between stage, film and TV. He's performed in various London venues, including the Royal Court and National Theatre, and in 2011 he shared the Olivier Award for Best Actor with his Frankenstein co-star Jonny Lee Miller. His first film was 2003's To Kill a King; projects since include Starter for 10, Amazing Grace, The Other Boleyn Girl, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse. His biggest successes, however, have come on TV in Hawking, The Last Enemy, Parade's End and, of course, Sherlock. He's also worked on The Hobbit movies and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Quote: 'Cumberbatch - it sounds like a fart in a bath, doesn't it? What a fluffy old name. I can never say it on a Monday morning. When I became an actor, Mum wasn't keen on me keeping it.'

Trivia: In 2014, Time magazine included him in their list of the most influential people in the world.

David Haig (Actor) .. Major Hugh Horton

Sylvia Syms (Actor) .. Lavinia Pinkerton

Born: January 06, 1934 in London

Best Known For: At Home with the Braithwaites and her 1950s movie roles.

Early-life: Sylvia Syms was born on January 6, 1934, in London. Not to be confused with the Broadway singer of the same name, this Sylvia Syms was an evacuee and was educated at various convent schools and a grammar school. She honed her acting craft at Rada where she received The Gerald Lawrence Scholarship and an HM Tenants Award.

Career: Syms' first film role came in 1953's It Happens Every Thursday. Three years later, her big break came in My Teenage Daughter. She was a highly popular star for the next 15 years thanks to such movies as Ice-Cold in Alex, Expresso Bongo, Victim, and The Quare Fellow, featuring arguably her best performance. She was also nominated for a Bafta for The Tamarind Seed in 1974. Since then, her most memorable work has largely been on TV, although she did have a small role in 1989's Shirley Valentine. She had a regular role in Peak Practice in the mid-1990s and became a familiar face again thanks to At Home with the Braithwaites.

Quote: 'I quite like my own company. I've never really been worried about getting older or being alone.'

Margo Stilley (Actor) .. Bridget Conway

Hugo Speer (Actor) .. James Abbot

Born: March 17, 1969 in Harrogate

Best Known For: The Full Monty.

Early-life: Hugo was born in Harrogate on March 17, 1969. He studied acting at the Arts Educational School, Tring Park. He had a minor role in the film Bhaji on the Beach (1993) and went on to have small parts in a number of TV shows, including So Haunt Me, The Bill and Woof!

Career: His big break came in 1997 when he had one of the lead roles in the hugely popular The Full Monty. From a £3million budget, the film went on to gross more than £160million worldwide. He has worked solidly on TV ever since in the likes of Hearts and Bones, Clocking Off, The Last Detective, Bleak House, Sorted, Silent Witness, Five Days, Midsomer Murders, Bedlam, Father Brown, and The Musketeers.

Quote: On the success of The Full Monty: 'It was such a huge film that people couldn't help but assume I was a himbo - nice but dim and hung like a baboon!'

Trivia: He made his directorial debut in 2010 with the short film MAM.

Steve Pemberton (Actor) .. Henry Wake

Born: September 01, 1967 in Blackburn

Best Known For: The League of Gentlemen and Benidorm.

Early-life: Steve James Pemberton was born on September 1, 1967, in Blackburn, Lancashire. He first realised he wanted to be an actor while still at school, and his first role was playing Peter in The Diary of Anne Frank at the Chorley Little Theatre - although he admits he was the only boy who auditioned. Following his A levels, he gained a Theatre Arts degree from Bretton Hall College in Yorkshire, where he met Reece Shearsmith and Mark Gatiss who, along with Jeremy Dyson, became The League of Gentlemen.

Career: Pemberton began his professional career on stage, but suffered a setback when he had a heart attack at the age of 25 while working in Germany. He went on to feature in Ken Russell's Alice in RussiaLand in 1995, but it was The League of Gentleman that was his first major success, first on radio, then on TV and film. He also appeared in the remake of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Gormenghast, Shameless, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Blackpool. The latter co-starred David Tennant, and the duo were reunited in 2008 for a two-part Doctor Who adventure. Other projects include the Woody Allen film Match Point, Lassie, Psychoville, and Benidorm.

Quote: On his favourite League of Gentlemen character: 'I miss Pauline from the job centre the most. It was scary when I put on the costume and the wig and the lips. It was like being possessed.'

Shirley Henderson (Actor) .. Honoria Waynflete

Lyndsey Marshal (Actor) .. Amy Gibbs

James Lance (Actor) .. Dr Geoffrey Thomas

Tim Brooke-Taylor (Actor) .. Dr Edward Humbleby

Camilla Arfwedson (Actor) .. Rose Humbleby

Best Known For: Playing Dr Zosia March in Holby City.

Early-life: Camilla was born in London in 1981 to a Swedish father and an English mother. While studying at the University of Edinburgh, she joined their theatre society and landed roles in a number of stage plays. She became a professional actress after graduating and spent the early part of her career working mostly in the theatre.

Career: Arfwedson starred in the films The Duchess (2008) and A Bunch of Amateurs (2008) but she is mostly known for her TV work, including guest roles in Minder, Law and Order: UK, Lewis and Pete Versus Life. In 2013, she joined the cast of Holby City as Dr Zosia March.

Quote: 'I love MasterChef and obsessively record it. It would be amazing to appear on it, although I think I'd quickly get booted off.'

Trivia: Arfwedson has been the face of travel website SecretEscapes.com.

Anna Chancellor (Actor) .. Lydia Horton

Born: April 27, 1965 in Richmond, Surrey

Best Known For: Punching Hugh Grant at the altar in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Early-life: Anna Chancellor was born on April 27, 1965, in Richmond, Surrey, into an aristocratic family. She was the daughter of the Hon Mary Joliffe (daughter of William Jolliffe, 4th Baron Hylton, of the Baron Hyltons) and John Chancellor. Her uncle is journalist Alexander Chancellor and her eight-times great aunt was author Jane Austen. She has spent time living in several countries around the world and has a particular attraction to Zimbabwe. She trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, but left at the age of 21 when she became pregnant with her daughter, Poppy.

Career: Although Chancellor's first love is the stage, she has extensive film and TV credits to her name. She appeared in Inspector Morse, Poirot and Comedy Playhouse before her big break came in 1994 playing 'Duckface', Hugh Grant's largely hated bride-to-be in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Since then she has had small-screen success in Kavanagh QC and Tipping the Velvet, and appeared in such big-budget outings as A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Agent Cody Banks 2, Breaking and Entering and St Trinian's. She also had a regular role in Spooks.

Quote: 'I do try and curb my mouth, but I find it really hard. I wonder how many jobs I've talked myself out of!'

Trivia: Chancellor is one of the Honorary Patrons of the London children's charity Scene & Heard.

Jemma Redgrave (Actor) .. Jessie Humbleby

Born: January 14, 1965 in London

Best Known For: Being a member of the Redgrave acting dynasty.

Early-life: Born Jemima Rebecca Redgrave on January 14, 1965, in London. She is the daughter of actor Corin Redgrave and his first wife, former model Deirdre Hamilton-Hill. Her parents divorced when she was nine. She has a brother, Luke, who's a cameraman, and two half-brothers from her father's second marriage to actress Kika Markham. Redgrave claims her childhood home was always full of her mother's friends, some of whom she didn't like. The open house nature of her upbringing made her long for discipline and structure. At 18, she enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Career: Redgrave followed her father, grandparents Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, aunts Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave, and cousins Natasha and Joely Richardson into acting. She started in the theatre, eventually making her movie debut in Dream Demon, and her first TV appearance in Tales of the Unexpected, in 1988. Other early projects include Howards End, Diana: Her True Story, and The Buddha of Suburbia. She became a star thanks to TV series Bramwell, which ended in 1998. Since then she's appeared in such projects as I'll Be There, The Grid, Amnesia, Tom Brown's Schooldays, Frankie and Doctor Who (including the 50th anniversary episode). Redgrave also continues to work on stage.

Quote: 'I think acting can be very self-absorbed, and I find that slightly embarrassing. Sometimes it seems such an uninquiring profession.'

Trivia: One of Redgrave's hobbies is calligraphy, which she began as a teenager to help improve her poor handwriting.

Russell Tovey (Actor) .. PC Terence Reed

Born: November 14, 1981 in Essex

Best Known For: Being Human and his guest appearances on Doctor Who.

Early-life: Russell George Tovey was born on November 14, 1981, in Essex. While attending Shenfield High School in Essex, Tovey was chosen to appear on CBBC's Mud alongside a young Russell Brand. Ten years later Alan Bennett selected Tovey for the stage version of The History Boys. He was chosen to play Rudge, a Tim-nice-but-dim character who's known for his athletic prowess and academic floundering. The role also gave Tovey his first experience on Broadway, as he honed his acting chops with future Gavin & Stacey star James Corden.

Career: Two years after The History Boys hit theatres, the original cast - including Tovey - were reassembled for a big screen adaptation. It proved to be the springboard that ignited his career, and he appeared opposite Rob Brydon on Annually Retentive shortly after, before bagging guest spots on Gavin & Stacey and Doctor Who. His face was fast becoming recognisable on British screens, and Russell T Davies even put his name forward as a potential replacement for David Tennant as the eleventh Doctor Who. After a stint on the BBC's Little Dorrit period drama, Tovey's long-awaited opportunity in a lead role arrived in 2008's Being Human. He also stars in the HBO comedy drama Looking and ITV's The Job Lot.

Quote: 'People say I have big ears. They're actually small, but they stick out.'

Trivia: For a time during his teens, he worked in the kitchen of a Billericay pub.

Steven Hartley (Actor) .. George Rogers

Julian Lightwing (Actor) .. Leonard Waynflete

Stephen Churchett (Actor) .. Coroner

Hettie Macdonald (Director)

Agatha Christie (Writer)

Karen Thrussell (Producer)

Michele Buck (Executive producer)

Damien Timmer (Executive producer)

Rebecca Eaton (Executive producer)

Phil Clymer (Executive producer)

Agatha Christie's Marple: Murder Is Easy

12:05 pm - 2:05 pm, Sunday, June 21 on ITV3 (10)

About this Broadcast

Murder Is Easy
Season 4, Episode 2

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