Kingdom

Stephen Fry (Actor) .. Peter Kingdom

Born: August 24, 1957 in Hampstead, London

Best Known For: His sharp wit.

Early-life: Stephen John Fry was born on August 24, 1957, in Hampstead, London. He grew up in Norfolk alongside an older brother and younger sister. His father, Alan, is a physicist. Fry attended public schools Stout's Hill and Uppingham (from which he was expelled), and spent time in a Young Offender's Institution after going on a spending spree with a stolen credit card. His writing and performing skills were honed at Cambridge University, where his contemporaries included Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and Hugh Laurie.

Career: After graduating, Fry and Laurie enjoyed a successful comedy partnership. Fry was a millionaire by 30, thanks to a successful rewrite of the Noel Gay musical Me and My Girl. He has appeared in numerous films and TV projects, including Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, Wilde, Thunderpants, Kingdom and The Hobbit. He's also written several books, and is well-known as a charming raconteur. He made his movie debut as writer and director with Bright Young Things, based on Evelyn Waugh's book, Vile Bodies. Fry is the presenter of comedy quiz QI, he has also made several acclaimed documentaries, including ones about manic depression and Aids, and he is the reader for the British versions of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books.

Quote: "I don't need you to remind me of my age. I have a bladder to do that for me."

Trivia: His distinctive voice has also been featured in a number of video games, including Fable II and Fable III, and as the narrator in the LittleBigPlanet games.

Celia Imrie (Actor) .. Gloria Millington

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.

Karl Davies (Actor) .. Lyle Anderson

Tony Slattery (Actor) .. Sidney Snell

Born: November 09, 1959 in London

Best Known For: Appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Early-life: Born Anthony Declan James Slattery on November 9, 1959, in Stonebridge, London, to Irish parents who also had a daughter and triplet sons. He attended Gunnersbury Boy's Grammar School in West London before winning a scholarship to Cambridge University, where he studied medieval and modern languages. It was here he met other future stars, including Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, and became a member of the Cambridge Footlights. In 1981, Tony and his fellow Footlights won the first Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival. Later, appearances in clubs won him acclaim.

Career: Slattery got his first break on TV in Chris Tarrant's late-night comedy show Saturday Stayback in 1983. Other work followed in the children's series Behind the Bike Shed, and guest roles in well-known programmes such as The Lenny Henry Show, Boon, and The Bill. He also appeared in the films How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Peter's Friends and The Crying Game. However, very early in his career he became known as an all-rounder thanks to stand-up comedy and ad-libbed performances on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and S&M with American comedian Mike McShane, as well as for writing scripts and screenplays. He was a target for satirists in the early 1990s due to his prolific appearances in so many TV shows. After a period away from TV screens, he returned in 2003 with a guest role in Casualty. He followed this up with appearances in Life Begins, The Last Detective, Bad Girls, Coronation Street, and Kingdom. In March 2011, he appeared in a reunion special of Whose Line Is It Anyway? alongside Josie Lawrence, Clive Anderson and Neil Mullarkey for Comic Relief.

Quote: On his breakdown: "I rented a huge warehouse by the river Thames and stayed in there on my own for months. I was in a pool of despair and mania."

Dominic Mafham (Actor) .. Simon Kingdom

Phyllida Law (Actor) .. Aunt Auriel

Gerard Horan (Actor) .. DC Yelland

Thomas Fisher (Actor) .. Ted

Angus Imrie (Actor) .. Scott

Miriam Margolyes (Actor) .. Henny Leach

Born: May 18, 1941 in Oxford

Best Known For: Her many film, stage and TV roles.

Early-life: Margolyes was born in Oxford, in 1941, the daughter of Ruth, a real estate investor, and Joseph Margolyes, a physician. She grew up in a Jewish family, a descendant of immigrants from Belarus. She attended the local Oxford High School and later Newnham College, Cambridge. There, she began acting in her 20s, and also appeared in productions of the comedy troup, Cambridge Footlights.

Career: Margolyes first gained recognition for her work as a voice artist. After early work providing vocals on soft-porn films, she performed most of the supporting female characters in the dubbed Japanese action TV series, Monkey. She also worked with the theatre company Gay Sweatshop. Margolyes' first major role in a film was as Elephant Ethel in Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977). She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Flora Finching in the 1988 movie Little Dorrit. On American TV, she headlined the short-lived 1992 CBS sitcom Frannie's Turn. In 1993 she won a Best Supporting Actress Bafta for her role as Mrs Mingott, the only comic relief in Martin Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence. Since then she has appeared in the Harry Potter films and played small roles in many hit movies and TV shows.

Quote: "Life, if you're fat, is a minefield - you have to pick your way, otherwise you blow up."

Trivia: She became an Australian citizen in January 2013.

John Thomson (Actor) .. Nigel Pearson

Born: April 02, 1969 in Salford

Best Known For: Cold Feet and The Fast Show.

Early-life: Thomson was born Patrick Francis McAleer in Salford on April 2, 1969 to Mary McAleer, who gave him up for adoption six weeks later. He was adopted from the Catholic Children's Rescue Society by Andrew and Marita Thomson, a businessman and a bookseller from Didsbury. He attended Runshaw College between 1985 and 1987, studying for four A-levels, including theatre studies. He was described as "clearly a talent for comedy". Following this, he turned down a scholarship in America to study drama at Manchester Polytechnic.

Career: While at university, Thomson met Steve Coogan, who secured him a job on Spitting Image. They would continue to collaborate on such programmes as Coogan's Run , the Paul and Pauline Calf video diaries (where he played Fat Bob) and Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge, which he also contributed to writing. In 1994, Thomson appeared in the BBC sketch series The Fast Show. He made guest appearances on various series such as Soldier Soldier, Playing the Field and Men Behaving Badly in the 1990s before being cast as Pete Gifford in the ITV hit comedy drama Cold Feet. He participated in the BBC series Comic Relief does Fame Academy and chalked up several TV shows before starring in another TV series, New Street Law, about a Manchester chambers. He has since appeared in Kingdom and Coronation Street.

Quote: "People who know me know me, but the public believe what they read in the papers. They stare at me. I wonder what they're thinking."

Trivia: Thomson was a contestant in the 2013 series of Celebrity MasterChef.

Rachel Fielding (Actor) .. Rosie Pearson

Issy Van Randwyck (Actor) .. Olivia Godfrey

Best Known For: Her versatility as a cabaret performer.

Early-life: Issy was born in Hong Kong in 1963 as Baroness Isabelle van Randwyck. She grew up in Kent and discovered a passion for singing and acting at school. She thought she was destined to be an estate agent, but she still had a hankering for performing. She appeared in cabaret at Madame Jojo's and sang with a band. She also sang with harmonica player Larry Adler at the Edinburgh Festival. She then went on to perform in various musicals, including Moll Flanders, Love Life, Music in the Air, and By Jupiter.

Career: In 1994, she joined forces with Dillie Keane and Adele Anderson to reform satirical cabaret act Fascinating Aida. She later starred in Stephen Sondheim's musical A Little Night Music. On TV, she has made guest appearances in Waiting for God, Trial & Retribution, Kingdom, Spooks, Downton Abbey, and Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime.

Quote: "If I get offered something, I'm so thrilled. The casting process is so bizarre. You won't get something you think you're right for."

Trivia: She has received Olivier Award nominations for her roles in Fascinating Aida and Kiss Me Kate.

Ann Firbank (Actor) .. Grace

Richard Clothier (Actor) .. Bailiff

Peter Ireland (Actor) .. Fish and chip man

Simon Wheeler (Executive producer)

Georgina Lowe (Producer)

Edward Hall (Director)

Alan Whiting (Writer)

02:00 am - 03:00 am, Monday, December 29 on U&Drama (20)

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Season 2, Episode 4

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