Romesh Ranganathan's Parents' Evening

Romesh Ranganathan (Host)

Born: January 30, 1978 in Crawley

Best Known For: Being a comedian.

Early-life: Born Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan in Crawley on January 30, 1978. He is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. He started performing stand-up while he was working as a mathematics teacher at schools in Crawley and Banstead. He became a professional comedian in 2012.

Career: Ranganathan's breakthrough came in 2013 when he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Since then, he has appeared on a number of comedy panel shows, including Mock the Week, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Have I Got News for You. He has also performed stand-up on Live at the Apollo and presented the BBC Three series Asian Provocateur and co-presented the ITV series It's Not Rocket Science.

Quote: "I think I'm a mango. Just very sweet and lovely."

Trivia: Ranganathan is a vegan and supports Arsenal FC.

Shanthi Ranganathan (Contributor)

Larry Lamb (Contestant)

Born: October 10, 1947 in London

Best Known For: Playing Archie in EastEnders.

Early-life: Born in London in 1943, Lamb joined the oil industry, which resulted in him working in Libya and Canada, where he attended St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. This developed his amateur interest in acting into a professional level, performing at Canada's Stratford Festival in 1975-1976. He returned to the UK, and became a regular cast member, along with Kate O'Mara, in the BBC's North Sea ferry based soap Triangle (1981-83), in which he played Matt Taylor, the ship's Chief Engineer.

Career: Other credits include The New Avengers, The Professionals, Fox, Minder, Get Back, Lovejoy, Get Back, A Touch of Frost, Our Friends in the North, Taggart, Casualty, Kavanagh QC, Spooks, Midsomer Murders and The Bill. Lamb has also appeared in various films including the 1980s hit Buster also starring Phil Collins and Julie Walters, as Peter Chase in Essex Boys and in 1983, had a small speaking role in the blockbuster Superman III. Most recently, Lamb has been seen in Gavin & Stacey playing Gavin's father, Michael Shipman. In 2008, he began playing the part of twisted, manipulative Archie Mitchell in Eastenders.

Quote: "Archie is two characters rolled into one - he is Mr Nice and Mr Nasty!"

Trivia: He is the father of BBC 6 Music disc jockey, Celebrity Scissorhands and Big Brother's Little Brother presenter George Lamb.

George Lamb (Contestant)

Born: December 20, 1979 in Dundee

Best Known For: Big Brother's Little Brother.

Early-life: The son of actor Larry Lamb, George grew up around showbusiness but his first love was always music. Lamb's first career was, as his critics may be surprised to discover, in music. At college, he was friends with the dance double-act Audio Bullys, and became their first manager. In Ibiza in 2000, while working for Ministry of Sound, he met a young Lily Allen and agreed to manage her, too. By the time the record execs finally saw what he'd seen in Allen, Lamb had changed tack, and become a broadcaster.

Career: After an early presenting job on E4, George found his niche on Radio 6 Music, where his imagination and supreme confidence earned him huge support - not to mention plenty of critics. At one point there were two separate campaigns running among listeners - both to keep, and sack him! Lamb's TV career started in 2007 when he replaced Alex Zane as the host of the second series of BBC reality show Celebrity Scissorhands and returned in 2008 for the third series. He has also presented The Restaurant, Road To V and Young Butcher of the Year. Lamb has been the presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother since the summer of 2008. He took part in a reality TV show on ITV2 called The Parent Trip with his father. In 2012, he began presenting Channel 4 game show The Bank Job.

Quote: "The beautiful thing about radio is that it's on our terms. Why on earth would you want to go out and do anything generic and box-ticking? Our show is chaotic and spontaneous, and a bit of a scramble sometimes, but I like that. I love to experiment."

Trivia: He once managed pop singer Lily Allen.

Motsi Mabuse (Contestant)

Dudu Mabuse (Contestant)

Josh Widdicombe (Contestant)

Born: April 08, 1983 in Dartmoor

Best Known For: Being a comedian and a regular on The Last Leg.

Early-life: Joshua Widdicombe was born in Dartmoor on April 8, 1983. He has a brother, Henry. Josh went on to study linguistics at the University of Manchester. He began performing stand-up in 2008 and made it to the final of So You Think You're Funny at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the same year.

Career: In 2011, Widdicombe performed his debut solo show in Edinburgh and was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award in the best newcomer category. Since 2012, he has been a regular on Channel 4's The Last Leg, alongside Adam Hills and Alex Brooker. He has also appeared on Mock the Week, QI and Have I Got News for You.

Quote: "The thing about stand-up is that you end up meeting your idols."

Trivia: In December 2013, Widdicombe won his edition of Celebrity Mastermind - his specialist subject was Blur.

Tom Widdicombe (Contestant)

Shereen Docherty (Executive producer)

Benjamin Green (Executive producer)

Barbara Wiltshire (Series director)

Tom Corrigan (Series producer)

10:15 pm - 11:10 pm, Thursday, December 25 on ITV1 London HD (103)

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Season 2, Episode 6

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