Career: Hodge's first acting job was playing a 37-year-old tart and old-age pensioner in alternate scenes of the same play. She is one of the few actresses to win critical regard, despite spending the bulk of her career in commercial theatre and TV. She played a ballet teacher in acclaimed Quentin Crisp biopic The Naked Civil Servant and also appeared in The Elephant Man. Other memorable TV roles include Rumpole of the Bailey, Jemima Short Investigates, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, and Rich Tea and Sympathy. Film roles include the Harold Pinter drama Betrayal, Bruce Willis flop Sunset and Julie Walters drama Before You Go. She played Margaret Thatcher in controversial drama The Falklands Play and stripped to the basics in the hit West End production of Calendar Girls. Her recent work has included playing Miranda Hart's mother in the comedienne's hit sitcom Miranda.

Career: In 1985 Dinsdale landed a key role in Eric Chappell's sitcom Home to Roost, starring alongside John Thaw. It ran for five years and paved the way for Haggard, ITV's answer to Blackadder, also penned by Chappell. In 1995, he starred in ID, a movie about football hooligans, and a year later landed the role of DI Charlie Scott in detective drama Thief Takers. Other notable projects have included Kenneth Branagh's film version of Hamlet, Conviction, Life on Mars, The Chase and Coronation Street; he appeared in 175 episodes of the Weatherfield soap. Recent offerings have included roles in Taggart and Waterloo Road.