Lewis - The Soul of Genius - 10:05 am Saturday, April 11 on ITV3

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.

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.

Clare Holman (Actor) .. Dr Laura Hobson

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.

Oliver Johnstone (Actor) .. Vincent Vega

Daisy May (Actor) .. Mia Wallace

Nadine Lewington (Actor) .. Liv Nash

Paul Jerricho (Actor) .. Mr Atkins

Alex Jennings (Actor) .. Rev Conor Hawes

Celia Imrie (Actor) .. Michelle Marber

Born: July 15, 1952 in Guildford, Surrey

Best Known For: Her association with Victoria Wood.

Early-life: Born Celia Diana Savile Imrie in Guildford, Surrey, on July 15, 1952. Her father, David, a radiographer from Glasgow, didn't live to see his daughter's success, although she believes he would have been very proud. Her Scottish blood has come in handy in playing numerous Celts on the big and small screen, although her original dream was to be a dancer. Unfortunately, a growth spurt in her teens meant she became too tall for ballet. She worked as a cleaner before landing starring roles.

Career: Imrie's first professional jobs in showbusiness were in the chorus of various pantomimes. Her film and TV debuts came in 1974 in House of Whipcord and Upstairs, Downstairs. She continued to gain small roles in various productions, but her big break occurred when Victoria Wood offered her roles in As Seen on TV in 1985. Since then, she's continued to occasionally work with Wood and won a prestigious Olivier Award in 2006 for her role in Acorn Antiques: The Musical. Her other credits include Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Highlander, Gormenghast, Bridget Jones' Diary, Star Wars: Episode One, Doctor Zhivago, Frankenstein, Calendar Girls, Nanny McPhee and St Trinian's (and its sequel). On TV she has also appeared in Kingdom, After You've Gone, Cranford, and the acclaimed one-off drama The Road to Coronation Street.

Quote: On stripping off for Calendar Girls: 'I am very happy now that at my time of life I have learned to laugh at my bosom. In years gone by I could never have done all this.'

Trivia: In 2013, Imrie received an honorary doctorate by the University of Winchester.

Matilda Ziegler (Actor) .. Helena Wright

James Fleet (Actor) .. Dr Alex Falconer

Born: March 11, 1954 in Bilston, Staffordshire

Best Known For: The Vicar of Dibley and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Early-life: James Edward Fleet was born in Bilston, Staffordshire, on March 11, 1954 to a Scottish mother, Christine, and an English father, Jim. He moved to a town near Aberdeen at the age of 10 with his mother when his dad died. He studied engineering at university before training as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He began his career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in several plays in the early 1980s.

Career: Fleet is best known for playing the bumbling Tom in the 1984 romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. He had a stint in Coronation Street in 2010 and his other TV credits include roles in Midsomer Murders, Being Human, Death Comes to Pemberley and Bad Education. On the big screen, he has appeared in Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and Charlotte Gray (2001).

Quote: 'Casting directors tend to see me as a posh idiot.'

Trivia: Fleet is a keen biker.

Annabel Mullion (Actor) .. Thea Falconer

Lotte Rice (Actor) .. Kirsty

Richard Durden (Actor) .. John Gracey

Barry Aird (Actor) .. Security man

Rachel Bennette (Writer)

Michele Buck (Executive producer)

Damien Timmer (Executive producer)

Chris Burt (Producer)

Brian Kelly (Director)

Lewis: The Soul of Genius

10:05 am - 12:05 pm, Saturday, April 11 on ITV3 (10)

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The Soul of Genius
Season 6, Episode 1

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