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.

Hermione Norris (Actor) .. Beatrice Kingdom

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.

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."

Phyllida Law (Actor) .. Aunt Auriel

Thomas Fisher (Actor) .. Ted

Gerard Horan (Actor) .. DC Yelland

Maryann Turner (Actor) .. Mrs Thing

Claire Skinner (Actor) .. Brenda Collins

Robert Bathurst (Actor) .. Philip Collins

Born: March 22, 1957 in Africa's Gold Coast (now Ghana)

Best Known For: Playing David in Cold Feet.

Early-life: Robert Guy Bathurst was born on February 22, 1957, on Africa's Gold Coast (now Ghana), where his father worked as a management consultant. The family later moved to Ireland, where Robert was enrolled in boarding school, which he has since said he disliked. Despite this, he went on to study law at Cambridge, and joined the university's prestigious Footlights theatre society, appearing in sketches alongside the likes of Emma Thompson and Hugh Laurie. However, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to make it as an actor and initially decided to stick with law, until his love of performing finally won out.

Career: Robert made his professional debut in a Radio 4 series called Injury Time, going on to take a small role in the first episode of Red Dwarf, and also appearing on stage in Noises Off. He made more of a splash with sitcom Joking Apart, which he has described as his favourite role, but it was winning the part of David in comedy drama Cold Feet in 1996 that really made him a star. Since then, he's continued to be in demand on stage and TV, appearing in My Dad's the Prime Minister, Downton Abbey and The Pillars of the Earth, and playing John Le Mesurier in Hattie. He was also reunited with his Cold Feet co-star Hermione Norris for a production of Blithe Spirit. Recently, he has been playing Lord Thomas Davenport in TV horror drama Dracula.

Quote: "It's astonishing how every day someone will mention to me how they enjoyed Cold Feet."

Trivia: He auditioned for the part of Rimmer in Red Dwarf.

Angus Imrie (Actor) .. Scott Millington

Sam Graham (Actor) .. Herb Griffiths

Alan Stocks (Actor) .. Leo

Stephen Marcus (Actor) .. Hill

Jeff Povey (Writer)

Simon Wheeler (Executive producer)

Georgina Lowe (Producer)

Sandy Johnson (Director)

8:00 pm - 9:00 pm, Thursday, February 5 on U&Drama (20)

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Season 1, Episode 5

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