Inspector Morse - Death Is Now My Neighbour - 08:10 am Sunday, February 15 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.

Richard Briers (Actor) .. Sir Clixby Bream

Born: January 14, 1934 in Merton, Surrey

Best Known For: His role in The Good Life.

Early-life: Richard David Briers was born on January 14, 1934, in Raynes Park, London. The cousin of gap-toothed comic actor Terry-Thomas, Briers grew up in a flat above a cinema and attended RADA between 1954 and 1956. He has a sister and left school with no qualifications. He did, however, win a scholarship to Liverpool Playhouse, and soon became an accomplished stage actor. He moved to the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry before making his West End debut.

Career: Briers' film career began in the 1960s with British features including Bottoms Up, Murder She Said, and The Girl on the Boat. He turned his attention to TV, gaining fame initially in the sitcom Marriage Lines, but it's probably for The Good Life that he will be best remembered. He teamed up again with its creators, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, on the 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. Briers went on to join Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company, taking on more classical and Shakespearean roles including King Lear and Uncle Vanya. He's also appeared in Monarch of the Glen, Peter Pan, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Torchwood. He voiced the cartoon Roobarb twice - in 1974 and 2005.

Quote: On growing old: "I want very little action. I'm one of those awfully boring people who likes David Attenborough and the news."

Trivia: Briers was married to actress Ann Davies from 1958 until his death in 2013. They had two daughters, Lucy and Kate.

Maggie Steed (Actor) .. Angela Storrs

John Shrapnel (Actor) .. Julian Storrs

Julia Dalkin (Actor) .. Rachel James

Judy Loe (Actor) .. Adele Cecil

Roger Allam (Actor) .. Denis Cornford

Clare Holman (Actor) .. Dr Laura Hobson

Susan Engel (Actor) .. Dora Hammersby

Mark McGann (Actor) .. Geoffrey Owens

Holley Chant (Actor) .. Shelly Cornford

Susan Field (Actor) .. Mrs Adams

Candida Gubbins (Actor) .. Sarah Hickman

Jacquelyn Yorke (Actor) .. Amber

Colin MacCormack (Actor) .. Hargreaves

Julian Mitchell (Writer)

Charles Beeson (Director)

Ted Childs (Executive producer)

Rebecca Eaton (Executive producer)

Chris Burt (Producer)

Inspector Morse: Death Is Now My Neighbour

08:10 am - 10:20 am, Sunday, February 15 on ITV3 (10)

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Death Is Now My Neighbour
Season 8, Episode 3

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