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: 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: 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: Wilkinson made his TV debut in the mid-1970s, and went on to appear in programmes including First Among Equals and A Pocket Full of Rye. However, it was his role as Mr Pecksniff in the BBC's 1994 adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit that really put the actor on the map. Three years later Tom won a Bafta for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in The Full Monty, and the 1990s also saw him appear in such notable films as Shakespeare in Love, In the Name of the Father and Wilde. More recently, he played the gangster Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins, gained great critical acclaim for In the Bedroom, starred alongside George Clooney in Michael Clayton and played German army officer Friedrich Fromm in Valkyrie. He won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Benjamin Franklin in the miniseries John Adams. His recent work on the big screen includes roles in The Ghost, Burke and Hare, The Green Hornet and The Conspirator.

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: Wilton worked on the stage until 1972, eventually making her TV debut in An Affair of Honour. Her first film was 1977's Joseph Andrews. BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles made her a household name in 1984; it ran for four series. She's also appeared on TV in The Monocled Mutineer, The Borrowers, Talking Heads 2, The Whistle-Blower, Lucky Jim and Falling. Movie work includes The French Lieutenant's Woman, Cry Freedom, Clockwise, Iris, Shaun of the Dead and Calendar Girls. Sci-fi fans will know her best from her role as British Prime Minister Harriet Jones in Doctor Who; the role was written specifically for her by Russell T Davies, with whom she'd previously worked on Bob and Rose. Her recent work includes The History Boys, Five Days, South Riding and Downton Abbey.

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.

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.