Career: Atkinson's first professional success came in 1978 via the radio show The Atkinson People; it was co-written by Curtis and produced by Griff Rhys Jones. He then became part of the Not the Nine O'Clock News team before creating the character of Edmund in The Black Adder 1983. The sitcom ran for four series and a number of specials. He also created the affable idiot Mr Bean, who appeared in a number of one-off TV specials and two hugely successful films. Other projects include Johnny English and its sequel, The Thin Blue Line, The Witches, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Rat Race. Atkinson also appeared at the Olympics opening ceremony and returned to the West End stage to star in Quartermaine's Terms. He was awarded a CBE in 2013.

Career: Reynolds found fame with TV series Gunsmoke and Hawk. In 1972 he became a movie star thanks to the acclaimed thriller Deliverance, while 1977's Smokey and the Bandit gave him wider appeal. He has since worked continuously with differing amounts of success on features such as The Cannonball Run, Sharky's Machine, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Striptease, as well as his own brainchild, the sitcom Evening Shade. However, it was his turn as porn mogul Jack Horner in Boogie Nights that revived his fortunes and bagged him his only Oscar nomination to date. More recently, he's appeared in The Dukes of Hazzard and alongside Adam Sandler in a remake of his own 1974 hit The Longest Yard.

Career: MacNicol was cast in the off-Broadway play Crimes of the Heart in 1980. The production eventually moved to Broadway, and MacNicol won the Theatre World Award. It was also during this production that a casting agent noticed him and called him in to read for his eventual role in Sophie's Choice. In 1981, he appeared in his first film, Dragonslayer, opposite Sir Ralph Richardson. MacNicol is probably best known to TV viewers for his Emmy-winning role in Ally McBeal as eccentric attorney John Cage. After Ally McBeal ended, he went on to star in the drama NUMB3RS as physicist Dr Larry Fleinhardt, and he had a role as Tom Lennox in the sixth season of 24. MacNicol reprised his role as Lennox in the film 24: Redemption. He joined the cast of Grey's Anatomy in 2010.

Career: Mills made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932) and went on to appear in a number of films, including Goodbye, Mr Chips (1939), before he enlisted in the Royal Engineers at the start of the Second World War. His war was cut short in 1942 by a stomach ulcer. He quickly returned to acting and went on to star in a number of acclaimed films in a career that spanned 70 years. Notable works included Great Expectations (1946), Scott of the Antarctic (1948), The Colditz Story (1954), Ice Cold in Alex (1958), Tunes of Glory (1960), Swiss Family Robinson (1960), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Young Winston (1972), Gandhi (1982) and Hamlet (1996). Among his roles on TV, he starred in Quatermass, Young at Heart, A Woman of Substance and Martin Chuzzlewit. He also appeared in a number of productions on Broadway. He was knighted in 1976. He died on April 23, 2005, at the age of 97.

Career: Playing mainly minor roles, Capaldi went on to feature in episodes of Minder, C.A.T.S. Eyes, The Lair of the White Worm, Rab C Nesbitt, Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Agatha Christie's Poirot and the miniseries Selling Hitler. He returned to the big screen when he wrote and starred in 1993's low-budget Soft Top Hard Shoulder. Guest starring roles followed in Prime Suspect 3, The Vicar of Dibley, Judge John Deed, My Family and Midsomer Murders. His profile raised significantly in 2005 when he began playing foul-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker in BBC comedy The Thick of It, a role that won him a Bafta. He also played Tucker in movie spin-off In the Loop. Always in-demand, his other TV credits include Skins, Torchwood: Children of Earth, The Nativity, Getting On and The Hour. He is currently playing the twelfth incarnation of the Time Lord in Doctor Who, a role he had long coveted.

Career: Brown has had a long TV career, and in the 1970s took roles in Coronation Street, Doctor Who, Angels and Survivors. She has been actively involved in the theatre and is recognised as a great Shakespearean actress - but only became a household name when she joined the cast of EastEnders in 1985. She took a break from the soap in 1993, but Dot Cotton returned four years later and has stayed there ever since. Away from the Square, Brown has appeared in the movie Bean, and played Nannie Slagg in the BBC's big-budget production of Gormenghast in 2000.