Career: Patel shot to prominence after being cast as sex-obsessed Muslim teenager Anwar in Channel 4 comedy drama Skins. The show became an overnight hit with viewers and won the Rose d'Or for drama in 2008 and scooped the Philips Audience Award at the Baftas a year later. The entire Skins cast was re-cast at the end of series two, and Dev beat hundreds of actors to be cast in the lead role of Danny Boyle's heartwarming drama Slumdog Millionaire. The film went on to win a staggering eight Academy Awards in 2009. He went on to appear in M Night Shyamalan's 2010 blockbuster The Last Airbender and 2012 comedy drama The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, alongside Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith. Since 2012, he has starred in HBO drama The Newsroom.

Career: Smith rose to prominence on stage during the 1950s thanks to regular West End roles. Her first film, 1956's Child in the House, didn't set the box office alight, but she eventually gained international acclaim thanks to her role in Othello nine years later. She won an Oscar for 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and has since appeared in such acclaimed productions as California Suite (for which she picked up another Academy Award), A Room with a View, and Gosford Park. She became a Dame of the British Empire in 1990. More recently, Smith gained a new fan base thanks to her role as Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter movies, appeared in the films Ladies in Lavender and Keeping Mum, and TV series Downton Abbey. She has also battled breast cancer.

Career: Dench made her professional debut with the Old Vic Company before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961, and has frequently worked on stage ever since. She became a household name in the 1980s thanks to sitcom A Fine Romance, for which she won a Bafta. She's also won the award for Four in the Morning, Talking to a Stranger, Iris, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, Shakespeare In Love (for which she picked up an Oscar too), A Handful of Dust, Mrs Brown and A Room With a View. Other notable productions include Chocolat, Notes on a Scandal, J Edgar, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, and several Bond movies, including Skyfall, in which she bowed out as M.

Career: Gere gained a place with the prestigious Provincetown Players at Cape Cod. He then had a spell in New York and played the lead in a 1973 West End production of Grease. Back in the US, he was sacked from his first film, The Lords of Flatbush, which forced him to become more focused. He became a major star thanks to roles in such movies as Looking for Mr Goodbar, Days of Heaven, Yanks, American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride and a big-screen version of the hit musical Chicago. Since 1978 he has been interested in Buddhism and being an active humanitarian.

Career: Nighy honed his craft at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre in the 1970s. He made his TV debut in 1980 in sitcom Agony. His first film, Eye of the Needle, came a year later. He has juggled acclaimed stage appearances with TV and film work. His role as a randy lecturer in 1991's The Men's Room made him a heart-throb, but he didn't become familiar to audiences until a string of hits beginning with 1998's Still Crazy, followed by Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, State of Play, and Love Actually. He also starred in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, Stormbreaker and Underworld: Evolution. Other projects include Valkyrie, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, The Boat That Rocked, G-Force, Wild Target. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and playwright David Hare's Worricker trilogy.

Career: Greig achieved a cult following playing Debbie Aldridge in The Archers on Radio 4 and had early TV roles in Blue Heaven, Neverwhere, Faith in the Future and Wycliffe. In 2000, the sitcom Black Books helped boost her profile. She had a cameo in 2004 movie Shaun of the Dead, and in the same year appeared in the first series of cult medical sitcom Green Wing, for which she received a Royal Television Society award and a Bafta nomination. She's also featured in Doctor Who and took a key role in romantic comedy- drama Love Soup. Stage credits include the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival. Greig won a Laurence Olivier Award for her role in Much Ado About Nothing. Recent TV work includes the sitcoms Friday Night Dinner and Episodes, and black comedy series Inside No 9.

Career: Imrie's first professional jobs in showbusiness were in the chorus of various pantomimes. Her film and TV debuts came in 1974 in House of Whipcord and Upstairs, Downstairs. She continued to gain small roles in various productions, but her big break occurred when Victoria Wood offered her roles in As Seen on TV in 1985. Since then, she's continued to occasionally work with Wood and won a prestigious Olivier Award in 2006 for her role in Acorn Antiques: The Musical. Her other credits include Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Highlander, Gormenghast, Bridget Jones' Diary, Star Wars: Episode One, Doctor Zhivago, Frankenstein, Calendar Girls, Nanny McPhee and St Trinian's (and its sequel). On TV she has also appeared in Kingdom, After You've Gone, Cranford, and the acclaimed one-off drama The Road to Coronation Street.

Career: During his long and prolific career, Pickup has made guest appearances in the likes of Crown Court, Matlock, Bergerac, Boon, Lovejoy, Silent Witness, Casualty, The Bill, Hustle, and New Tricks. He had recurring roles in Wagner, Moving, Fortunes of War, The Rector's Wife, Ivanhoe, and Holby City. His film credits include The Day of the Jackal (1973), The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978), Nijinsky (1980), Never Say Never Again (1983), The Mission (1986), The Fourth Protocol (1987), Lolita (1997), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and its 2015 sequel. Pickup is also an established stage actor with roles in a number of productions, including Three Sisters, Amy's View, and Waiting for Godot.