Career: In 1956, Vaughn was signed by Burt Lancaster's production company, but was drafted into the army shortly afterwards. On his return to Hollywood, he spent the next few years playing small roles in movies and TV series such as The Ten Commandments and Gunsmoke. In 1960 he received an Oscar nomination for The Young Philadelphians and was one of The Magnificent Seven. TV show The Lieutenant followed, and he became a major global star thanks to The Man from UNCLE in 1964. Vaughn has also starred in Bullitt, The Towering Inferno, Battle Beyond the Stars, and SOB, and continues to regularly crop up on the big and small screens. He starred in as con-artist Albert Stroller in the BBC drama Hustle between 2004 and 2012, before shifting his attention to Coronation Street to appear as rich American Milton, the love interest of Sylvia Goodwin.

Career: Bowles spent his early years in theatre before making his TV debut in 1959's Last Chronicle of Barsett. He had roles in such classic series as The Avengers, Danger Man and The Prisoner throughout the 1960s. He continued to work steadily in such shows as I, Claudius and Rumpole of the Bailey, but didn't become a star until appearing concurrently in two sitcoms in 1979: the BBC's To the Manor Born and ITV's Only When I Laugh. Since then he's appeared in The Bounder, Lytton's Diary (a series he created), Executive Stress and Perfect Scoundrels. His movies include Blowup and For the Love of Benji. In 2007 he returned along co-star Penelope Keith in a Christmas special of To the Manor Born. He also starred with Keith in 2010 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in The Rivals. In 2011, he had a supporting role in the big-screen romantic comedy Love's Kitchen.