Career: Sean worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company before making his TV debut in a 1984 episode of The Bill. Roles in The Fifteen Streets, Stormy Monday and Patriot Games followed before Lady Chatterley and the first Sharpe TV movies made him a household name in 1993. Other work includes A Woman's Guide to Adultery, Bravo Two Zero, GoldenEye, Ronin, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Equilibrium, Troy, National Treasure and HBO TV series Game of Thrones. He is one of Hollywood's most sought-after character actors and always has a number of productions in the pipeline.

Career: Armstrong made his film and TV debuts in 1994 in There's No Business and A Breed of Heroes. He was introduced to Ben Miller in 1996 and their subsequent success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe led to their first sketch series in 1997; they've worked together a number of times since on various projects. Armstrong played the lead in short-lived sitcom Beast. He has also appeared in Birthday Girl (2001), I Saw You, TLC, Saxondale, Life Begins, The Trial of Tony Blair, Mutual Friends, Woody Allen's Match Point (2005) and Scoop (2006). Armstrong was the voice of supercomputer Mr Smith in The Sarah Jane Adventures, appeared in the 2011 Doctor Who Christmas Special and has presented the BBC game show Pointless since 2009. In recent years, he has also voiced Danger Mouse in the revival of the animated series and presented Rome's Invisible City, Land of the Midnight Sun and Don't Ask Me Ask Britain.

Career: He completed his training in repertory theatre before making his West End acting début in A Touch of Spring by Sam Taylor at the Comedy Theatre. He has also played the Criterion, the Gielgud, the Vaudeville and the National Theatre. As an actor, he is probably best known for his portrayal of the incorrigible Lord Kilwillie in the popular series Monarch of the Glen. Other acting credits include Our Friends in The North, and Sharpe, alongside plenty of cinema hits. As a TV writer, he is responsible for creating scripts for Little Lord Fauntleroy, which won an International Emmy, and Bafta-nominated The Prince and the Pauper, which he also produced. Since his Oscar success with Gosford Park, he has written a novel called Snobs, and penned the scripts for West End musical Mary Poppins, the films Vanity Fair and Young Victoria, and the TV sensation Downton Abbey. He took up a seat in the House of Lords in 2011.