Calendar Girls

Helen Mirren (Actor) .. Chris

Born: July 26, 1945 in London

Best Known For: Playing the Queen.

Early-life: Born Ilyena Lydia Mironoff on July 26, 1945, in Chiswick, London. She has an older sister and a younger brother. Her father was a member of an aristocratic Russian military family forced to move to the UK by the 1917 Revolution. At six, Mirren decided she wanted to be an actress, but on leaving school went to teacher training college to keep her parents happy. She eventually ditched her studies in favour of the stage, and made an immediate impact playing Cleopatra in a 1965 production for the National Youth Theatre.

Career: Mirren was snapped-up by the Royal Shakespeare Company and tackled numerous classical parts. She's continued to appear on stage throughout her career, alongside TV and film roles. Her most famous TV role is Jane Tennison in police drama Prime Suspect. Her first movie was Herostratus in 1967. More famous parts came in Caligula, The Long Good Friday, Excalibur, The Mosquito Coast, Calendar Girls and Elizabeth I. In 2003 she was made a Dame and three years later won an Oscar for The Queen. She's also been nominated for The Madness of King George, Gosford Park and Hitchcock. Other big-screen outings include State of Play, The Last Station, The Tempest, Brighton Rock, Red and the remake of Arthur.

Quote: 'Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be. I can't stand it when they behave like solicitors from Penge.'

Trivia: Mirren claims to love camping, and even went on a trip with her ex-boyfriend, Liam Neeson, while they were still an item.

Julie Walters (Actor) .. Annie

Born: February 22, 1950 in Smethwick, Birmingham

Best Known For: Her work with Victoria Wood.

Early-life: Born February 22, 1950, in Smethwick, Birmingham, the daughter of an Irish postal worker mother and a decorator father. She has two older brothers. As a child she often performed impromptu shows impersonating Eartha Kitt or Shirley Bassey. She was expelled from school and dreamed of becoming an actress, but her mother persuaded her to take up a 'sensible' career, so she worked as a nurse and in a cigarette factory. She then studied English and Drama at Manchester Polytechnic, where she met Victoria Wood.

Career: Walters' first acting job was at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, where she caught the eye of playwright Alan Bleasdale - the beginning of many collaborations. She appeared in his first stage success, Scully, in 1974, and in Boys from the Blackstuff in 1980, a year after making her TV debut in Victoria Wood's Talent. She reunited with Wood in the series Wood and Walters, and reprised her stage role in Educating Rita on the big screen, earning an Oscar nomination. Walters has worked steadily ever since. Her most notable projects include Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, Pat and Margaret, Mamma Mia! and the Harry Potter films. She was awarded an OBE in 1999, gained a second Oscar nomination for Billy Elliot in 2000, and won a Bafta (her seventh) in 2010 for her performance in TV drama Mo.

Quote: 'I've never had Botox or surgery and I wouldn't because I'd feel I was letting myself down. I've embraced not being young.'

Trivia: She was awarded the Bafta Fellowship in 2014.

Annette Crosbie (Actor) .. Jessie

Born: February 12, 1934 in Gorebridge, near Edinburgh

Best Known For: Playing Victor Meldrew's wife in One Foot in the Grave.

Early-life: Born on February 12, 1934, in Gorebridge, outside Edinburgh. Her parents were strict Calvinists and did not believe in lavishing affection on their only child. She had little self-confidence and as a youngster her only friend was a Staffordshire bull terrier called Dougal. Her mother was a talented musician and wanted Crosbie to be a music teacher, but she became an actress against both her parents' wishes. 'You'd have thought I'd announced I wanted to go on the streets,' she remarks about their reaction to her career choice.

Career: After gaining experience with various repertory companies, Crosbie left Scotland at the age of 17 for a scholarship at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school. On graduating, she worked in London's West End. Her film debut came in 1959's The Bridal Path. She later had acclaimed TV roles in The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Edward the King. More recently she has starred in One Foot in the Grave, Doctor Finlay, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, Calendar Girls, Quite Ugly One Morning, New Tricks, Doctor Who and Little Dorrit.

Quote: 'You don't really want to know about me. My dogs are far more interesting.'

Trivia: Crosbie was awarded an OBE in 1998 and works tirelessly for animal rights.

Celia Imrie (Actor) .. Celia

Born: July 15, 1952 in Guildford, Surrey

Best Known For: Her association with Victoria Wood.

Early-life: Born Celia Diana Savile Imrie in Guildford, Surrey, on July 15, 1952. Her father, David, a radiographer from Glasgow, didn't live to see his daughter's success, although she believes he would have been very proud. Her Scottish blood has come in handy in playing numerous Celts on the big and small screen, although her original dream was to be a dancer. Unfortunately, a growth spurt in her teens meant she became too tall for ballet. She worked as a cleaner before landing starring roles.

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.

Quote: On stripping off for Calendar Girls: 'I am very happy now that at my time of life I have learned to laugh at my bosom. In years gone by I could never have done all this.'

Trivia: In 2013, Imrie received an honorary doctorate by the University of Winchester.

Penelope Wilton (Actor) .. Ruth

Born: June 03, 1946 in Scarborough

Best Known For: Downton Abbey.

Early-life: Penelope Alice Wilton was born on June 3, 1946, in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. She was raised in London after her father, a barrister, went to work there. She has two sisters. Acting is in the family's blood - her aunt and uncle are Linden and Bill Travers, while her cousin, Richard Morant, also treads the boards. After completing her drama school training, Wilton began her professional career at the Nottingham Playhouse before joining the Royal Court Theatre.

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.

Quote: 'I always wanted to act. I remember being taken to the theatre as a girl and thinking, 'I don't want to be sitting here, I want to be up there'.'

Trivia: She won the Critics Circle Theatre Award in 1981 for Much Ado About Nothing and again in 1993 for The Deep Blue Sea.

Linda Bassett (Actor) .. Cora

Georgie Glen (Actor) .. Kathy

Angela Curran (Actor) .. May

Rosalind March (Actor) .. Trudy

John Alderton (Actor) .. John Clarke

Philip Glenister (Actor) .. Lawrence Sertain

Born: February 10, 1963 in London

Best Known For: Playing gruff copper Gene Hunt in Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes.

Early-life: Philip Haywood Glenister was born on February 10, 1963, in London. Showbusiness was in his blood from an early age, especially as his father, John, is a TV director and his elder brother Robert is an actor. He went to Hatch End Comprehensive School, worked as a film publicist, and later studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama for three years, before appearing in 1990 stage play Mad Forest.

Career: Glenister's first professional role was as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at the Lyceum, Edinburgh. He went on to star in Jonathan Harvey's acclaimed play Beautiful Thing at the Bush Theatre in London. On TV, Glenister honed his craft in Minder, Love Hurts, True Love, The Perfect Blue and Sharpe. However, it was roles in Clocking Off, The Hunt, State of Play and Island at War that boosted his profile. On the big screen he has appeared in ID, Calendar Girls, Kingdom of Heaven and Bel Ami. Award-winning BBC drama Life on Mars and its follow-up Ashes to Ashes turned him into a cult hero. He has also starred in the film Tuesday, and on TV in Cranford, Demons, Big School and Mad Dogs. He hosts the series For the Love of Cars.

Quote: 'The celebrity stuff really isn't me. I'm interested in the work: good writing, getting the part and the character right, pleasing the audience.'

Trivia: In 2008, he published a book on 1970s and 80s culture called Things Ain't What They Used to Be.

(Actor) .. Rod Harper

Geraldine Crowden (Actor) .. Richard

Nigel Cole (Director)

Nick Barton (Producer)

Suzanne Mackie (Producer)

Tim Firth (Writer)

Juliette Towhidi (Writer)

10:00 pm - 11:40 pm, Sunday, February 22 on BBC Two HD (102)

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