Agatha Christie's Marple - The Murder at the Vicarage - 10:05 am Saturday, March 28 on ITV3

Geraldine McEwan (Actor) .. Miss Marple

Jane Asher (Actor) .. Mrs Lester

Born: April 05, 1946 in London

Best Known For: Her cakes.

Early-life: Born in Marylebone, central London, on April 5, 1946. Her father, Dr Richard Asher, was the first psychiatrist to identify Munchausen syndrome. Her mother Margaret taught at the Guildhall School of Drama and Music and counted Beatles producer George Martin among her pupils. Her brother Peter was a member of 1960s band Peter and Gordon, her sister Claire also dabbled in acting before becoming a teacher. She's a descendant of Richard III and is also distantly related to Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Career: Asher made her film debut aged five in the film Mandy. By the age of 15 she had featured in eight movies, nine TV shows and numerous radio plays. She gained more grown-up roles during the 1960s in productions such as The Masque of the Red Death, Alfie and The Mill on the Floss. She also appeared in several episodes of The Saint, required a body double for the nude scenes in Deep End, was frightened to death in cult horror The Stone Tape, and starred in both Brideshead Revisited and the revamped Crossroads. She's also made various stage appearances.

Quote: 'Despite what you might think, my life is not perfect. There are socks in my fruit bowl at home.'

Trivia: Away from acting she has a cake-making business, has written three novels and is President of the National Autistic Society and the Parkinson's Disease Society.

Jason Flemyng (Actor) .. Lawrence Redding

Born: September 25, 1965 in Putney, London

Best Known For: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Early-life: Flemyng was born in Putney, London, the son of Scottish film director Gordon Flemyng. He decided he wanted to become an actor after appearing in theatrical productions at his school. In the 1980s, he was involved with the National Youth Theatre and the political organisation the Young Socialists. In 1990 he was admitted to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), where he was a classmate of Hermione Norris. Following his graduation from LAMDA in the early 1990s he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Career: Flemyng was then a regular in the ITV drama series Doctor Finlay from 1993 to 1996. His first major cinema role was in Angela Pope's 1996 drama Hollow Reed, followed by a main role in Guy Ritchie's popular 1998 London gangster film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He has since appeared in many box office successes, such as From Hell, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Transporter 2, Snatch and X-Men: First Class. In 2009, Flemyng joined the cast of the ITV science fiction cult drama series Primeval during its third series, as maverick ex-policeman Danny Quinn. More recently, he has starred in The Musketeers and The Missing.

Quote: 'I fancied a girl who played Dorothy in the school production of The Wizard of Oz. I auditioned for the role of the scarecrow so that I could have the most stage time with her, but she ended up running off with the tin man!'

Trivia: Flemyng has completed a number of marathons.

Derek Jacobi (Actor) .. Col Protheroe

Born: October 22, 1938 in London

Best Known For: His classical roles.

Early-life: Derek George Jacobi was born on October 22, 1938, in Leytonstone, east London. His mother was a secretary and his father managed a department store. He is an only child. He became hooked on movies and dancing as a boy and played Hamlet at school, with the production later appearing at the Edinburgh Festival. During his time there, he was invited to meet an agent, who told him that, at 18, he was too young to become a star. Jacobi spent the next three years studying history at Cambridge, where he befriended Ian McKellen and Trevor Nunn.

Career: Following acclaimed performances at university, Jacobi joined Birmingham Rep. He was spotted by Laurence Olivier, who invited him to join the National Theatre Company. He made his film debut alongside Olivier in 1965's Othello. Since then, Jacobi has continued to make acclaimed appearances on stage and screen. Among his films are The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, Love Is the Devil, Gladiator, Gosford Park, The King's Speech and Hereafter. He inspired Kenneth Branagh to become an actor and worked alongside him in Henry V, Hamlet and Dead Again. Jacobi won a Bafta for I, Claudius in 1977, starred in the medieval-set series Cadfael, played The Master in Doctor Who, is the narrator of In the Night Garden and scored a surprise hit with Last Tango in Halifax.

Quote: 'As an actor conscious that you are in a theatre, you still have to make it look as spontaneous as if you did not know that you are being watched by 1,000 pairs of eyes.'

Trivia: He received a knighthood in 1994.

Herbert Lom (Actor) .. Augustin Dufosse

Miriam Margolyes (Actor) .. Mrs Price-Ridley

Born: May 18, 1941 in Oxford

Best Known For: Her many film, stage and TV roles.

Early-life: Margolyes was born in Oxford, in 1941, the daughter of Ruth, a real estate investor, and Joseph Margolyes, a physician. She grew up in a Jewish family, a descendant of immigrants from Belarus. She attended the local Oxford High School and later Newnham College, Cambridge. There, she began acting in her 20s, and also appeared in productions of the comedy troup, Cambridge Footlights.

Career: Margolyes first gained recognition for her work as a voice artist. After early work providing vocals on soft-porn films, she performed most of the supporting female characters in the dubbed Japanese action TV series, Monkey. She also worked with the theatre company Gay Sweatshop. Margolyes' first major role in a film was as Elephant Ethel in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977). She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Flora Finching in the 1988 movie Little Dorrit. On American TV, she headlined the short-lived 1992 CBS sitcom Frannie's Turn. In 1993 she won a Best Supporting Actress Bafta for her role as Mrs Mingott, the only comic relief in Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence. Since then she has appeared in the Harry Potter films and played small roles in many hit movies and TV shows.

Quote: 'Life, if you're fat, is a minefield - you have to pick your way, otherwise you blow up.'

Trivia: She became an Australian citizen in January 2013.

Tim McInnerny (Actor) .. Rev Leonard Clement

Born: September 18, 1956 in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport

Best Known For: Paying Captain Darling and Percy in Blackadder

Early-life: McInnerny was born in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in 1956, and educated at Marling School, Stroud, and Wadham College, Oxford. After graduating in 1979 he set about becoming a serious actor and joined several drama companies. His big break came when he was in the original production of Pravda with Anthony Hopkins, and on TV in Edge of Darkness (1985) where he played a revolutionary socialist.

Career: After several well-received theatre roles he was cast as Lord Percy in Blackadder and has been linked to the comedy masterpiece ever since. Subsequent hits include Wetherby (1985), Erik the Viking (1989), a film production of Shakespeare's Richard III (1995), FairyTale: A True Story (1997), Notting Hill (1999), 102 Dalmatians (2000), The Emperor's New Clothes (2001), and Severance (2006). TV hits include Spooks and Trial and Retribution. He also played Dr Frank-N-Furter in the 1990 West End production of The Rocky Horror Show.

Quote: 'Blackadder was such good fun, but it was just six weeks' work once every two years.'

Janet McTeer (Actor) .. Anne Protheroe

Robert Powell (Actor) .. Dr Haydock

Born: June 01, 1944 in Salford

Best Known For: Jesus of Nazareth and The Thirty Nine Steps.

Early-life: Robert Thomas Powell was born on June 1, 1944, in Salford, Manchester, the youngest of three children. After leaving school, Powell studied law at Manchester University, where he became hooked on acting. The director of a student play advised him to ditch his plans to become a solicitor and try treading the boards instead. He left university so he could hone his craft at a theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, before moving to London in 1964.

Career: Powell made his film debut in 1967's Robbery, and had a small part in 1969's The Italian Job. A role in spooky TV show Doomwatch made him a star in the UK, but he quit after a year to tackle different projects. Roles in such productions as Asylum, The Edwardians, Mahler, and Tommy followed. In 1977 he landed the lead in epic miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, which introduced him to an international audience. Powell followed it with remakes of The Four Feathers and The Thirty-Nine Steps. Since then, he's continued to work steadily, appearing in the likes of The Detectives, Hannay, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Colour Me Kubrick. In 2005, he joined the cast of Holby City as surgeon Mark Williams, where he remained for six years.

Quote: 'I did say about 30 years ago that I would not be acting all my life. It's extraordinary how wrong I was.'

Trivia: In December 2014, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in a Radio 4 adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Rachael Stirling (Actor) .. Griselda Clement

Best Known For: Tipping the Velvet.

Early-life: Rachael Atlanta Stirling was born on May 30, 1977, in London. She's the daughter of actress Diana Rigg and her second husband, Archibald Stirling, a theatre producer and Laird of the Keir estate in Stirling, Scotland. She has two older half-brothers from her father's first marriage, and a younger half-brother from his third. Rachael studied art history at Edinburgh University, where she also appeared on stage with its theatre company. She can also speak Russian and is a skilled equestrian.

Career: Stirling's first major stage role was a 1996 National Youth Theatre production of Othello, in which she played Desdemona opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor. Two years later she made her film debut in the British comedy Still Crazy, opposite Bill Nighy and Jimmy Nail. In 2000, she featured as the young Rebeccah in the miniseries In the Beginning; her mother played the character at an older age. But it was the BBC's 2002 adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel Tipping the Velvet that made her a star. Since then Stirling has appeared on stage in Theatre of Blood (playing the same character her mother portrayed in the 1971 film version), Look Back in Anger, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Priory and An Ideal Husband. Films include Maybe Baby, Complicity, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and Snow White and the Huntsman.

Quote: "I was only vaguely aware when I was little that Ma was famous. I can remember people pointing at her in Marks & Spencer. But she kept work and home very separate."

Trivia: In 2012, Stirling appeared alongside Mark Gatiss at the Donmar Warehouse in The Recruiting Officer. He'd already starred with her mother in a stage version of All About My Mother. He then wrote an episode of Doctor Who entitled The Crimson Horror, with parts especially written for them both - it aired in May 2013 and was the first time the two actresses had appeared on screen together.

Stephen Tompkinson (Actor) .. DI Slack

Born: October 15, 1965 in Stockton-On-Tees, Cleveland

Best Known For: Roles in a number of hit shows.

Early-life: Born in Stockton-On-Tees, Cleveland, on October 15, 1965. He was raised a Catholic and considered becoming a priest. He later moved to St Anne's-on-Sea in Lancashire when his bank clerk father was promoted to manager. His mother was a primary school teacher. His grandfather encouraged him to become an actor and, after making his first stage appearance in The Crucible while in the sixth-form, he attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Career: Tompkinson has rarely been out of work since thanks to radio, stage, TV and film roles. Early parts came in The Manageress, Casualty and Treacle, before he got his first big role playing ruthless reporter Damien Day in acclaimed sitcom Drop The Dead Donkey in 1990. All Quiet on the Preston Front, Chancer and Minder followed, before Brassed Off and Ballykissangel made him a star in 1996. Hollywood agents came knocking, but Tompkinson preferred to stay in the UK to star in Grafters, Mr Charity, Ted and Alice, In Deep, Staying Up and Lucky Jim. He's also had roles in New Tricks, Marian, Again, Prime Suspect: The Final Act, Wild at Heart and Truckers. The drama DCI Banks has become a regular fixture in the schedules.

Quote: 'I keep getting these posh people to play when really I'm a nice northern bloke adored by my Grandma.'

Trivia: A huge cricket fan, he has stated that if he weren't an actor, he'd be a commentator.

Mark Gatiss (Actor) .. Ronald Hawes

Born: October 17, 1966 in Sedgefield, County Durham

Best Known For: The League of Gentlemen.

Early-life: Born October 17, 1966, in Sedgefield, County Durham. He grew up opposite a Victorian psychiatric hospital, where both his parents worked. While at college, he had a job there as a gardener. Gatiss claims he always wanted to escape from what he regarded as a grim, northern childhood, although now accepts that Heighington, where he lived, is actually a pleasant village. After school, he took a year out to travel around Europe, then began a drama course at Bretton Hall near Leeds.

Career: Gatiss eventually settled in London, where he hoped to earn a living as an actor but made ends meet writing Doctor Who books. He and friends Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson formed The League of Gentlemen in 1995, which had successful stints on stage, radio, TV and film. Since then he's appeared in Bright Young Things, Marple, The Quatermass Experiment, Nighty Night and Jekyll. Gatiss was also script editor on the first Little Britain series, and has penned episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Doctor Who (in which he's also appeared). He portrayed Malcolm MacLaren in the 2010 drama Worried About the Boy and co-created Sherlock with Steven Moffat.

Quote: 'I've done lots of acting and been very pleased with the response to what I've done. I'd like to do a lot more.'

Trivia: Gatiss has also written several novels and appeared regularly on the stage.

Emily Bruni (Actor) .. Helene Dufosse

Jana Carpenter (Actor) .. May Ainsworth

Christina Cole (Actor) .. Lettice Protheroe

Born: May 08, 1982 in London

Best Known For: A string of TV roles.

Early-life: Christina was born in London on May 8, 1982. She has a sister, Cassandra, and a brother, Dominic. Christina went on to train at the Oxford School of Drama. She won a part in the film What a Girl Wants (2003) while still at drama school. Guest appearances followed in Foyle's War, All About Me and Agatha Christie's Marple. She had a recurring role in the 2004 BBC miniseries He Knew He Was Right.

Career: Cole's first lead role came in the Sky1 drama Hex. She went on to appear in the BBC miniseries Jane Eyre, had a cameo in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006) and starred in the ITV miniseries Lost in Austen. Her TV credits also include guest roles in the popular dramas Midsomer Murders, Lewis, and Silent Witness. More recently, she has starred in two miniseries - The Assets and Rosemary's Baby, the legal drama Suits, and BBC period drama Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime. She has also starred on the big screen in Jupiter Ascending (2015).

Quote: 'The 1950s is such a wonderful era with amazing costumes and styles.'

Trivia: Cole once modelled for designer Andrea Galer's bridal collection.

Paul Hawkyard (Actor) .. Frank Tarrant

Siobhan Hayes (Actor) .. Mary Hill

Jenny Howe (Actor) .. Maid

Julian Morris (Actor) .. Dennis Clement

John Owens (Actor) .. Photographer

Angela Pleasence (Actor) .. Miss Hartnell

Ruth Sheen (Actor) .. Mrs Tarrant

Stephen Churchett (Writer)

Agatha Christie (Writer)

Matthew Read (Producer)

Rebecca Eaton (Executive producer)

Phil Clymer (Executive producer)

Michele Buck (Executive producer)

Damien Timmer (Executive producer)

Charles Palmer (Director)

Agatha Christie's Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage

10:05 am - 12:05 pm, Saturday, March 28 on ITV3 (10)

About this Broadcast

The Murder at the Vicarage
Season 1, Episode 2

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