The Last Detective - Three Steps to Hendon - 11:10 pm Saturday, July 25 on U&Drama

Peter Davison (Actor) .. DC `Dangerous" Davies

Born: April 13, 1951 in Streatham, London

Best Known For: Being the fifth Doctor Who.

Early-life: Born Peter Moffett on April 13, 1951, in Streatham, south London. He moved with his three sisters to Surrey when his parents, Sheila and Claude, bought a village store. He had an undistinguished time at Winston Churchill School, but he did enjoy music and drama. After leaving with three O-levels, he considered teaching, but entered the Central School of Speech and Drama after catching the acting bug through amateur performances. To avoid confusion with director Peter Moffatt, he changed his surname to Davison.

Career: Davison's first professional role was in Love's Labour's Lost at Nottingham Playhouse in 1972 and his TV debut came in a 1975 episode of The Tomorrow People. A lean spell followed (during which he spent 18 months working in a tax office in Twickenham), but his big break came in 1978 when he landed the role of Tristan Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. In 1981, he took over from Tom Baker as the fifth Doctor Who, but quit three years later for fear of being typecast. Other career highlights include A Very Peculiar Practice, Campion, At Home with the Braithwaites, The Last Detective, The Complete Guide to Parenting, Distant Shores and Law & Order: UK. Throughout 2010, he starred in the West End production of Legally Blonde, and directed and wrote a spoof documentary called The Five(ish) Doctors to tie in with Doctor Who's 50th anniversary in 2013.

Quote: 'You don't ever decide you're old - at least I haven't yet. I'm still quite surprised if I get dragged for a night out somewhere why I'm yawning by half-past-11.'

Trivia: He composed the theme tunes for Button Moon and Mixed Blessings. His actress daughter, Georgia Moffett, is married to David Tennant.

Sean Hughes (Actor) .. Mod Lewis

Born: November 19, 1965 in London

Best Known For: His award-winning stand-up comedy and earlier role as a team captain on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Early-life: Born John Hughes in London on November 19, 1965, to a working-class Catholic family. He moved with his parents and two brothers to Dublin, where he grew up. He changed schools several times and found it difficult to form solid friendships and became a victim of bullying - a situation he has written about and discussed on numerous occasions. Returning to London as a teenager, he set his sights on a job at the Comedy Store and began working as a stand-up comedian. In 1990 he became the youngest ever recipient of the prestigious Perrier Award for Comedy.

Career: The show A One Night Stand with Sean Hughes toured the UK and Australia, as well as performances in Los Angeles, Montreal and Toronto. In 1991 he made a brief but memorable appearance in Alan Parker's acclaimed movie The Commitments as a record label executive, before writing and appearing in the aptly titled Sean's Show for Channel 4 a year later. Other TV programmes followed, including Sean's Shorts, but it was his six-year stint as a team captain on the irreverent music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks that made him a household name. His dramatic acting has included roles in Murder Most Horrid, Gormenghast, Girl on a Cycle, The Last Detective, Coronation Street, Agatha Christie's Marple, and Round Ireland with a Fridge.

Quote: When a 2004 performance was poorly attended, he said: 'Never mind the show, let's go to the pub,' before taking the audience for a pint.

Trivia: He has also written successful novels, prose and poetry.

Rob Spendlove (Actor) .. DI Ray Aspinall

Charlie De'Ath (Actor) .. DS Steve Pimlott

Billy Geraghty (Actor) .. DC Darren Barrett

Emma Amos (Actor) .. Julie Davies

Vineeta Rishi (Actor) .. WPC Kapoor

Ian McNeice (Actor) .. Billy Wunder

Born: October 02, 1950 in Basingstoke

Best Known For: Doc Martin.

Early-life: McNeice was born in Basingstoke in Hampshire in 1950. His acting training started at the Taunton School in Somerset, followed by two years at the Salisbury Playhouse. His childhood was hard, as the shy youngster struggled with a stammer, and he lost his older brother in a car accident. Determined to overcome his shyness, he stuck at acting and spent years in theatre, including a four-year career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a production of Nicholas Nickleby on Broadway.

Career: McNeice's TV breakthrough was in the drama series Edge of Darkness. He has also appeared in a number of films, including 84 Charing Cross Road, Day of the Dead, No Escape, From Hell and The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain. His breakthrough into American films occurred when he played opposite Jim Carrey as Fulton Greenwall in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). Other notable credits include Conspiracy (2001), Valkyrie (2009) and the HBO hit series Rome. Since 2004, he has played Bert Large in Doc Martin.

Quote: "In a funny kind of way, the problems that my weight and stammer created were also the foundations of my career as an entertainer."

Trivia: McNeice has played Winston Churchill in a number of projects, including Doctor Who and the stage version of The King's Speech.

Tim Healy (Actor) .. Harvey Troupe

Born: January 29, 1952 in Newcastle upon Tyne

Best Known For: Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

Early-life: Timothy Malcolm Healy was born on January 29, 1952, in Newcastle upon Tyne. Before becoming an actor, he served an apprenticeship as a welder at the Caterpillar Tractor Co and spent three years as a paratrooper in the British Army. He started his showbusiness career in 1972 as a stand-up comedian.

Career: After a number of minor roles on TV, his big break came in 1983 when he landed the part of Dennis Patterson in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. The hugely popular comedy drama returned for a second series in 1986 and further new episodes were broadcast in 2002 and 2004. Healy has been an ever-present face on British TV since the success of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and he has appeared in a number of shows, including Boys from the Bush, Common As Muck, The Grand, Catterick and Coronation Street. Healy has also had an accomplished stage career. He was a founder member of Live Theatre in Newcastle in the 1970s and he has played everything from Dame Trott in Jack and the Beanstalk to Sir Toby Belch in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. He was nominated for an Olivier Award for his role as the dad in the West End version of Billy Elliot. He played transvestite Les/Lesley in the third series of ITV sitcom Benidorm and became a regular in series four.

Quote: 'I love the freedom that a bike gives you, the open road. Plus, when I´ve got my helmet on, nobody knows who I am.'

Tony Slattery (Actor) .. Teddy O'Connor

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.'

Nigel Planer (Actor) .. Gerry Jameson

Born: February 22, 1953 in London

Best Known For: Playing Neil in The Young Ones.

Early-life: Planer was born in Westminster, London, in 1953. He was educated at King's House preparatory school in Richmond-upon-Thames and from the age of 13 at Westminster School. He subsequently studied at the University of Sussex at Brighton, and LAMDA. He was a founder member of The Comedy Store in London, and was one of the original cast of The Comic Strip team, pioneers of the alternative comedy movement in the UK.

Career: Planer is best known for his role as Neil, the hippie housemate of Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson), Rick (Rik Mayall) and Mike (Christopher Ryan) in the cult BBC comedy The Young Ones, which ran from 1982-84. Other leading roles on TV include Shine on Harvey Moon, Filthy, Rich and Catflap, The Grimleys, King & Castle, Bonjour La Classe and Roll Over Beethoven. He's also had notable successes on the stage. His first break in the theatre was understudying David Essex as Che Guevara in the original West End run of Evita. He was also in the original London cast of Chicago as Amos Hart, the original West End cast of Ben Elton's Queen musical We Will Rock You as Pop, and the original production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical as Grandpa Joe.

Quote: 'I flunked out of my university education after one year, for reasons probably best forgotten. I have been trying to compensate for this gaffe ever since.'

Trivia: In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Edinburgh University.

Lia Williams (Actor) .. Dawn Luscombe

William Key (Actor) .. Trevor Dooley

Philip Middlemiss (Actor) .. Frank Luscombe

John Forgeham (Actor) .. Bernie Wilson

Harry Miller (Actor) .. Quizmaster

Isobel Middleton (Actor) .. Stephanie Wakelam

Sam Bloom (Actor) .. Young Teddy O'Connor

Matt Hickey (Actor) .. Young Harvey Troupe

Richard Neville (Actor) .. Young Gerry Jameson

Harry Williams (Actor) .. Young Trevor Dooley

Linzie Cooper (Actor) .. Young Dawn Luscombe

Sky Glover (Actor) .. Young Hazel

Paul Hawkyard (Actor) .. Clive Dodds

Shereen Martineau (Actor) .. Saleswoman

Helen Bourne (Actor) .. Pathologist

Dave Legeno (Actor) .. Justin

Jody Halse (Actor) .. Minder

Meritxell Lavanchy (Actor) .. Felicity

Tim Vaughan (Writer)

Nick Hurran (Producer)

Moira Armstrong (Director)

Michele Buck (Executive producer)

The Last Detective: Three Steps to Hendon

11:10 pm - 12:45 am, Saturday, July 25 on U&Drama (20)

About this Broadcast

Three Steps to Hendon
Season 3, Episode 3

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