Inspector Morse - Twilight of the Gods - 06:00 am Saturday, February 14 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.

Sheila Gish (Actor) .. Gwladys Probert

Elaine English (Actor) .. Tammy

Alan David (Actor) .. Sir Watkin Davies

Celia Montague (Actor) .. Adele Baydon

Rachel Weisz (Actor) .. Arabella Baydon

Born: March 07, 1970 in Westminster, London

Best Known For: The Mummy.

Early-life: Rachel Hannah Weisz was born on March 7, 1970, in London, to parents George, a Hungarian inventor, and Edith, an Austrian psychoanalyst. She became a model at the age of 14, and didn't take up acting until she was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge; Ben Miller, Sacha Baron Cohen and Sue Perkins were among her contemporaries. She formed a university theatre company, Talking Tongues, which won a Guardian Award at the 1991 Edinburgh Festival, but disbanded two years later.

Career: Following a number of low-key movies, Weisz appeared in 1996 big-screen hit Chain Reaction, then in Stealing Beauty, before more commercial success arrived with The Land Girls in 1998. She then starred in blockbuster The Mummy with Brendan Fraser, and its sequel The Mummy Returns, as well as giving critically acclaimed performances in Beautiful Creatures, About a Boy, Enemy at the Gates, Confidence, Runaway Jury, Constantine, and The Constant Gardener. More recently, she has starred in Eragon, Fred Claus, Definitely, Maybe, The Lovely Bones, The Whistleblower, Dream House and The Deep Blue Sea. Weisz occasionally appears on stage, and won an Olivier Award for her performance in a 2010 production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Quote: "People find out I'm an actress and I see that 'whore' look flicker across their eyes."

Trivia: She became a naturalised American citizen in 2011.

Paul Rattigan (Actor) .. Mark Scott

John Bluthal (Actor) .. Victor Ignotas

Julian Curry (Actor) .. Alan Cartwright

Don Fellows (Actor) .. Lyman Stansky

Robert Hardy (Actor) .. Andrew Baydon

Born: October 29, 1925 in Cheltenham

Best Known For: Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small.

Early-life: Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy was born on October 29, 1925 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He studied at Oxford University under CS Lewis and in 1949 he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. He developed an interest in medieval history - in particular, in the use of the longbow. Regarded as one of Britain's leading experts on that weapon, he wrote a book about it, served as a consultant on the longbow for organisations involved in history projects, and handcrafted longbows himself.

Career: Hardy made his TV debut in Twelfth Night in 1957 and went on to appear in a series of films and TV shows before the BBC drama All Creatures Great And Small made him a star in 1978. He appeared in another version of Twelfth Night in 1980. Other highlights include Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years, The Far Pavilions, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Sense and Sensibility, Shackleton, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. He played William Whitelaw in Margaret, a 2009 TV film about the life of politician Margaret Thatcher. He died on August 3, 2017 at the age of 91.

Quote: On one of his more divine roles: "Do I find it easy to play God? After playing Churchill for so long, it seems a logical step. I come on absolutely as myself, except that I'm wearing white robes."

Trivia: Hardy was awarded a CBE in 1981.

Joan Blackham (Actor) .. Helen Buscott

Michaela Noakes (Actor) .. Janet

Allan Corduner (Actor) .. Gentile Bellocchio

Harry Ditson (Actor) .. Simon Vavasseur

Caroline Berry (Actor) .. Mari Probert

Paul Stacey (Actor) .. Stephen Bartlett

Jennifer Piercey (Actor) .. Mrs Thompson

John Gielgud (Actor) .. Lord Hinksey

Jean Anderson (Actor) .. Lady Hinksey

Brian Bovell (Actor) .. Pierre

Julie Legrand (Actor) .. Brigitte de Plessy

Glen Davies (Actor) .. Policeman

Doug Bradley (Actor) .. Clergyman Williams

James Grout (Actor) .. Chief Superintendent Strange

Steven Beard (Actor) .. Florist

Charles Walker Wise (Actor) .. Page boy

David Shimwell (Actor) .. Police constable

Jason Arcari (Actor) .. Police constable

Billy Hartman (Actor) .. Police sergeant

Lynne Verrall (Actor) .. Librarian

Myles Hoyle (Actor) .. Reporter

Janet Jeffries (Actor) .. Reporter

Ian Keith (Actor) .. Police sergeant

Philip Childs (Actor) .. Police detective

Michael Vaughan (Actor) .. Reporter

Born: October 29, 1974 in Eccles, Manchester

Best Known For: Captaining the England cricket team.

Early-life: Michael Paul Vaughan was born on October 29, 1974, in Eccles, Manchester. Two of his ancestors, Johnny and Ernest Tyldesley, played cricket for Lancashire and England. The family moved to Sheffield when Michael was nine, where he became hooked on playing football, and developed a lifelong love of Sheffield Wednesday. He became interested in cricket after being encouraged by his older brother, David, and watching their dad play for an amateur team.

Career: Vaughan caught the eye of Yorkshire coach Doug Padgett while playing for his school team. However, he had to wait for Yorkshire to alter their rules about only signing home-grown players before he could join the county. He went on to captain the England under-19 team, and made his full Test debut against South Africa in 1999. He became captain after Nasser Hussein quit in 2003. The team was hugely successful, winning the Ashes in 2005, but following a series defeat against South Africa in 2008, he resigned during an emotional press conference. Vaughan retired from first class cricket a year later. He is now a respected commentator. In 2012, he partnered professional dancer Natalie Lowe on Strictly Come Dancing.

Quote: "I'd have probably preferred to be a footballer if I could have been good enough. But my knees would never have lasted."

Trivia: Vaughan lives with his wife Nichola and three children, Tallula Grace, Archie Matthew, and Jemima.

Iain Rattray (Actor) .. Fingerprint lab director

Julian Mitchell (Writer)

Herbert Wise (Director)

Chris Burt (Producer)

Inspector Morse: Twilight of the Gods

06:00 am - 08:15 am, Saturday, February 14 on ITV3 (10)

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Twilight of the Gods
Season 7, Episode 3

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