Career: Collins made her West End debut in 1967. She starred in the first series of sitcom The Liver Birds, but didn't become a household name until getting a regular role in Upstairs Downstairs in 1971. She also starred in its spin-off, Thomas and Sarah. Collins continued to work steadily through the 1980s until landing the role of Shirley Valentine in the original stage production. She won numerous awards for her performance both in London and New York, then reprised the role in the 1989 movie version, for which she was Oscar-nominated. Since then she's starred in such projects as The Ambassador, Forever Green, City of Joy, Paradise Road, Bleak House, Doctor Who, Agatha Christie's Marple, and Merlin.

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: During a long and distinguished acting career, Reid has balanced roles on the stage with guest appearances in a wide variety of TV shows, including The Sweeney, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, All Creatures Great and Small, Taggart, Midsomer Murders, The Bill, Casualty and Doctor Who. She has also starred on the big screen in Brazil (1985), Felicia's Journey (1999) and The Winter Guest (1997). Fame came to her late in life thanks to her role as mobility scooter-driving chain-smoker Madge Harvey in the hugely popular ITV sitcom Benidorm.