Luther

Idris Elba (Actor) .. DCI John Luther

Born: September 06, 1972

Best Known For: The Wire and Luther.

Early-life: Born Idrissa Akuna Elba on September 6, 1972, in Hackney, London. His father, Winston, is from Sierra Leone and worked in a car factory; his mother, Eve, is Ghanian and held a clerical position. Idris became interested in music at an early age, helping his uncle run his mobile DJ business in the 1980s; shortly afterwards, he and his friends began their own company. He acted with the National Youth Music Theatre before turning professional.

Career: Elba's earliest roles came in Crimewatch UK reconstructions, 2point4 Children, Absolutely Fabulous and Bramwell. He spent a couple of years in Channel 5 soap Family Affairs and featured in Ultraviolet and Dangerfield before playing a suave, but doomed, urban gangster in the critically acclaimed The Wire on US TV from 2002 to 2004. The role turned him into a star on both sides of the Atlantic. Projects since include 28 Weeks Later, American Gangster, RocknRolla, The Office (US version), Thor, The Big C, Prometheus and the hugely successful Luther. More recently, he has starred in Pacific Rim, Thor: The Dark World, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and No Good Deed.

Quote: 'I get criticized for taking roles in films like Ghost Rider 2, but if you look at my résumé, dude, I've mixed it up as much as I can. I love to play different roles. That's just the kind of actor I am.'

Trivia: Away from acting, he continues to DJ.

Ruth Wilson (Actor) .. Alice Morgan

Born: January 13, 1982 in Ashford, Kent

Dermot Crowley (Actor) .. Det Supt Martin Schenk

Born: March 19, 1947 in Cork

Best Known For: A string of roles.

Early-life: Dermot Joseph Crowley was born in Cork on March 19, 1947. In 1976, he made his TV debut in Victorian Scandals. During the 1980s, he had roles in Return of the Jedi (1983) and Octopussy (1983), and appeared on the small screen in Juliet Bravo, C.A.T.S. Eyes, Call Me Mister, Bulman, Echoes and Hannay.

Career: A prolific character actor, Crowley's other TV credits include guest appearances in Boon, Casualty, El C.I.D., Minder, Stay Lucky, Pie in the Sky, Soldier Soldier, Father Ted, Dangerfield, Jonathan Creek, A Touch of Frost and Holby City. More recently, he has starred in New Tricks, Raw, Father Figure, Borgia and Luther. On the stage, he has starred in A Christmas Carol, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Great Britain and Everyman.

Quote: 'I had seen neither Star Wars nor The Empire Strikes Back before working on Return of the Jedi. I think I would have been completely overawed if I had.'

Trivia: Crowley auditioned for the role of Doctor Who that eventually went to Sylvester McCoy.

Michael Smiley (Actor) .. DS Benny Silver

Best Known For: A string of roles.

Early-life: Michael was born in Belfast in 1963 to Alice and Frank and grew up in Holywood in Co Down, Northern Ireland. He has a brother, John, and a sister, Collette. Michael worked on various building sites before landing a job as a cycle courier. He began doing stand-up in 1993 after accepting a bet at an open-mic night. He was performing one-man shows in Edinburgh when he got the chance to make his acting debut in the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced.

Career: Acting roles for Smiley followed in the likes of Time Gentlemen Please, 15 Storeys High, Hustle, Rose and Maloney, Nearly Famous, Law & Order: UK and Doctor Who. On the big screen, he has starred in Shaun of the Dead (2004), Outpost (2007), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Burke and Hare (2010), Kill List (2011), The World's End (2013), The Lobster (2015) and Orthodox (2016). He has had recurring roles in Bleak House, Wire in the Blood, Father Figure and Luther. He indulges his passion for bikes in the travel series Something to Ride Home About.

Quote: 'I spent a long time not knowing what I wanted to do and being fearful of life and worrying about not being able to support my wife and family.'

Trivia: Smiley shared a flat with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in the 1990s.

Wunmi Mosaku (Actor) .. DS Catherine Halliday

Born: July 31, 1986 in Zaria, Nigeria

Best Known For: Playing Gloria Taylor in Damilola, Our Loved Boy.

Early-life: Oluwunmi Olapeju Mosaku was born on July 31, 1986 in Zaria, Nigeria. She moved with her family to Manchester, England, where she was educated at Trinity Church of England High School and Xaverian Sixth Form College and sang in the Manchester Girls Choir for 11 years. Wunmi graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 2007.

Career: Mosaku's professional acting career began with various roles on the stage. Some of her early TV roles include appearances in Doctors and The Bill. She was cast as Joy in the BBC Two mini-series Moses Jones and then went on to appear in such TV series as Silent Witness, The Body Farm and Vera. Mosaku also appeared in the films Philomena (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). She played Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). Her other recent TV credits include Guerilla and Fearless.

Quote: 'I don't pick roles because of a strong woman - most of the time, with the good characters, there's a certain vulnerability there. I pick roles because they're good stories that are being told.'

Trivia: She won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Damilola, Our Loved Boy.

Enzo Cilenti (Actor) .. Jeremy Lake

Hermione Norris (Actor) .. Vivien Lake

Best Known For: Playing Karen in Cold Feet.

Early-life: Born in London in February 1967. Her businessman father Michael named her Hermione after Helen of Troy's daughter - her mother, a health visitor, is called Helen. Her parents split when she was four, after which she had what she describes as a 'formal' relationship with her dad, who died suddenly just as she was beginning her acting career. She was brought up by her mum and grandmother in Derbyshire and London along with her three sisters and two half-sisters, and initially trained as a dancer before turning to acting.

Career: Norris enjoyed a great deal of success on the stage, starring in Stephen Poliakoff's Blinded by the Sun at the National Theatre and the world premiere of Reader by Arile Dorfman. She also appeared in a production of the Chekov play The Seagull at the Moscow Art Theatre. Norris took small parts in TV series such as Casualty, Peak Practice and Drop the Dead Donkey, but didn't become a household name until she won the role of Karen in Cold Feet. In the years since she's appeared in the one-off drama Falling Apart, opposite Robson Green in the crime series Wire in the Blood, spy drama Spooks and as Stephen Fry's half-sister in Kingdom, which was written by her husband. She's also returned to the stage on several occasions.

Quote: 'It makes a statement my name. Immediately country homes, fishing and shooting spring to mind and that's not the reality of where I come from.'

Trivia: She often gets cast as well-spoken women.

Patrick Malahide (Actor) .. George Cornelius

Born: March 24, 1945 in Reading

Best Known For: Playing Detective Sergeant Chisholm in Minder and a string of other roles.

Early-life: Born Patrick Gerald Duggan in Reading on March 24, 1945. In 1976, he made his TV acting debut in The Flight of the Heron. Since then, the prolific character actor has appeared in a number of TV shows.

Career: Perhaps best known for playing Detective Sergeant Chisholm in the hugely popular ITV comedy drama Minder, Malahide's credits also include The Singing Detective, Middlemarch, Alleyn Mysteries, Five Days, Law & Order: UK, The Paradise and Hunted. More recently, he has starred in Game of Thrones, Indian Summers and Luther. His film credits include The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), The World is Not Enough (1999) and Billy Elliot (2000). Writing as PG Duggan, he created the BBC TV movie Reasonable Force and the miniseries The Writing on the Wall. Malahide's numerous stage credits include roles in The Crucible, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Beauty and the Beast, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya and Mutabilitie.

Quote: 'If I'm walking past a building site, I get 'Oi, Chisholm' from Minder fans. But if I go to a library, a female librarian will flutter her eyelashes at me because she remembers Middlemarch.'

Trivia: Malahide was nominated for a Bafta TV Award for his role in The Singing Detective.

Andrew Mullan (Actor) .. Alastair Cornelius

Lex Daniel (Actor) .. Ronald Massey

Gary Hailes (Actor) .. Donnie McKinnie

Katie Brayben (Actor) .. Penny Leyton

Delroy Atkinson (Actor) .. Derek Hayes

Julie Teal (Actor) .. Miriam

Paul McGann (Actor) .. Mark North

Born: November 14, 1959 in Liverpool

Best Known For: Withnail and I.

Early-life: Born in Liverpool on November 14, 1959, into a staunchly Catholic family. He was the second of his parents' five surviving children - he had older twin brothers but one died at birth. His mother was a teacher, and his dad was a metallurgist - both parents encouraged all their children to develop their interests as much as possible. His first ambition was to become an astronaut, and didn't decide to be an actor until he was 20. He was persuaded by a teacher to try performing, and went on to study at Rada.

Career: McGann started out on stage, eventually making his TV debut in the 1983 series Give Us a Break, but it only lasted for one series. He became a household name in 1987, thanks to acclaimed TV drama The Monocled Mutineer and has achieved long-lasting fame thanks to a starring role in cult 1986 film Withnail and I. He went on to appear in Alien 3, Our Mutual Friend, Nature Boy and Queen of the Damned. McGann also became the eighth Time Lord when he appeared in the 1996 Doctor Who film. Another notable appearance came in The Hanging Gale, a drama about the Irish potato famine which co-starred his three brothers. He's cropped up in several Hornblower dramas, plus Poirot, Marple, acclaimed drama True Dare Kiss and the last-ever episode of Waking the Dead.

Quote: 'I don't want to be remembered as the George Lazenby of Doctor Who.'

Trivia: He reprised his role as Doctor Who in 2013 mini-episode The Night of the Doctor.

Roberta Taylor (Actor) .. Celia Lavender

Born: February 26, 1948 in London

Best Known For: Playing Irene Raymond in EastEnders and Inspector Gina Gold in The Bill.

Early-life: Born the illegitimate child of a bus conductor on 26 February, 1948, in London, Roberta was brought up by her mother, aunts and grandmother. She was always very close to her mum, and they lived in the same street in London before she died suddenly of bronchial pneumonia. Roberta documented her early years in the 2005 memoir Too Many Mothers. After attending drama school in London, she joined the highly acclaimed Glasgow Citizens' Company and worked for years in theatre.

Career: Appeared in the projects Ladykillers, Inspector Morse, The Witches, Tom & Viv, Dangerfield and Silent Witness before being cast as Irene Raymond in EastEnders. She stayed with the hit soap for three years until 2000, then went on to appear in Doctors and Holby City. After four previous appearances in The Bill, she was finally cast as Gina Gold in 2002, and played the same character in spin-off series MIT: Murder Investigation Team. She also appeared in the BBC's 2005 critically acclaimed adaptation of Bleak House.

Quote: 'It's fantastic to play somebody like Gina (in The Bill). She is just so sarcastic with everybody. It takes people's breath away and she is not shocked by anything.'

Trivia: Away from acting, she is an active supporter of the Labour Party.

Michael Obiora (Actor) .. Errol Minty

Anthony Howell (Actor) .. Palmer

Neil Cross (Writer)

Derek Ritchie (Producer)

Jamie Payne (Director)

Marcus Wilson (Executive producer)

11:20 pm - 12:40 am, Thursday, August 27 on U&Drama (20)

About this Broadcast

Season 5, Episode 3

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