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.

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.

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.

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.

Career: Pemberton began his professional career on stage, but suffered a setback when he had a heart attack at the age of 25 while working in Germany. He went on to feature in Ken Russell's Alice in RussiaLand in 1995, but it was The League of Gentleman that was his first major success, first on radio, then on TV and film. He also appeared in the remake of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased), Gormenghast, Shameless, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Blackpool. The latter co-starred David Tennant, and the duo were reunited in 2008 for a two-part Doctor Who adventure. Other projects include the Woody Allen film Match Point, Lassie, Psychoville, and Benidorm.