Extras - Sir Ian McKellen - 11:00 pm Saturday, January 10 on BBC Three HD

Ricky Gervais (Actor) .. Andy Millman

Born: June 25, 1961 in Reading, Berkshire

Best Known For: Hit BBC sitcom The Office.

Early-life: Born Ricky Dene Gervais in Reading, Berkshire, on June 25, 1961. He's the youngest of four children. Early dreams of being a scientist led him to University College London to read biology, but he switched to philosophy instead. While studying, Gervais created his own band, Seona Dancing. They released two unsuccessful singles, although one of them was a hit in the Philippines. After graduating, Ricky became the entertainments manager at London University's student union.

Career: Gervais started out in radio on Xfm, where he met Stephen Merchant, who would become his writing partner. His first taste of stardom came via Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show. Tongue-in-cheek chat show, Meet Ricky Gervais, paved the way for BBC sitcom The Office. Extras, Life is Short and An Idiot Abroad (featuring his sidekick Karl Pilkington) have also been TV hits. He's also continued to work on radio, done stand-up, wrote the children's books Flanimals, worked on The Simpsons, appeared in various Hollywood movies and wrote and directed (with Merchant) as well as appeared in the film Cemetery Junction. Gervais has won many awards, including several Baftas, Emmys and Golden Globes. His most recent project is the Channel 4 comedy Derek, in which he stars as well as directing and writing each episode.

Quote: "Money gives me the creeps and mildly embarrasses me. I get paid too much anyway."

Trivia: He hosted the Golden Globe Awards in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Ashley Jensen (Actor) .. Maggie

Born: August 10, 1969 in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

Best Known For: Playing Maggie in Extras.

Early-life: Ashley Jensen was born in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on August 10, 1969, and raised by her mother Margaret. She claims to have known from an early age that she wanted to be an actress, and enjoyed dressing up as a child. Jensen later joined London's National Youth Theatre before taking a diploma in speech and drama at Edinburgh's Queen Margaret College. After graduating, she worked with the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and the Tron and the Traverse theatres in Edinburgh.

Career: Jensen's first TV role was in a Screen One film called Dreaming, which starred Billy Connolly. In the early 1990s, she appeared in shows such as Tickets for the Zoo, Down Among the Big Boys, May to December, Rab C Nesbitt and Roughnecks. A more prominent role came when she was cast as Angie Raeburn in Two Thousand Acres of Sky, but she reached a huge audience as Maggie Jacobs in BBC sitcom Extras. The actress has scooped a number of awards for playing the unlucky-in-love singleton, including a coveted Rose d'Or. She also starred with Patrick Stewart in ITV drama Eleventh Hour, and became well known in America thanks to her role as Christina in Ugly Betty. More recent projects include short-lived American sitcom Accidentally on Purpose, BBC comedy Nativity, ITV drama The Reckoning and providing voiceovers for animated films Gnomeo and Juliet, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

Quote: "I know what I look like. I'm not a babe who's automatically going to be the leading-lady type. I think I would always be cast as the friend."

Trivia: Jensen married actor Terence Beesley in 2007.

Stephen Merchant (Actor) .. Darren Lamb

Born: November 24, 1974 in Bristol

Best Known For: Being Ricky Gervais' best friend, and sending Karl Pilkington around the world.

Early-life: Merchant was born in Bristol and attended Hanham High School. He graduated from University of Warwick with a first-class degree in Film and Literature.

Career: Before Merchant met Gervais, he was performing stand-up comedy. The pair worked together at London radio station XFM. Later, Merchant worked on a production course at the BBC, in which he enlisted Gervais' help for a short film called 'Seedy Boss' - which is when the idea of The Office arose, with both writing and directing the series. While The Office then enjoyed success Stateside, Gervais and Merchant also concentrated on BBC sitcom Extras. Then came Merchant's radio show for BBC 6 Music, The Steve Show. The comic is in the midst of nationwide tour of the UK, with a stop in New York, and continues to show up in movies and TV shows, including vehicles like An Idiot Abroad and Life's Too Short.

Quote: "Ricky's quite happy to provoke opinion, to blur the line between his acting and his stand-up persona. He likes to be a little bit provocative. He takes pleasure from that and he's good at it, and to him it feels challenging. It feels important. That doesn't concern me."

Shaun Williamson (Actor) .. Himself

Born: November 04, 1965 in Maidstone, Kent

Best Known For: Playing Barry in EastEnders.

Early-life: Born November 4, 1965 in Maidstone, Kent. To pay the rent he worked for the Post Office; the Navy; a supermarket and as a holiday rep. Williamson created his own amateur theatre group and staged a production of A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg. The production won him Best Actor in the Kent Drama Festival. He completed a three-year acting diploma at The Webber Douglas Academy. In 1994 he landed the memorable part of lovable loser Barry Evans in EastEnders.

Career: Williamson stayed with the soap for 10 years and after leaving Albert Square featured in the pantomimes Snow White and Cinderella, and starred in the stage productions Saturday Night Fever, The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver and Guys and Dolls. He enjoyed a new wave of popularity when Ricky Gervais cast him as a comic version of himself in Extras. Also appeared in BBC drama Funland; the movie Daylight Robbery; Comic Relief does Fame Academy 2007; Holby City and BBC One's Fairy Tales.

Quote: "I don't mind portraying myself as someone who's a bit of a loser and who hasn't worked at all because I know it isn't the truth."

Trivia: In 2009, he played Norman Stanley Fletcher in a stage version of TV comedy Porridge.

Ian McKellen (Actor) .. Himself

Born: May 25, 1939 in Burnley

Best Known For: The Lord of the Rings.

Early-life: Ian Murray McKellen was born in Burnley, Lancashire, on May 25, 1939. His father was a civil engineer, and the family moved to Wigan shortly before the outbreak of World War Two. His parents encouraged his interest in drama and took him to see Peter Pan at Manchester's Opera House when he was three. He appeared in several school plays and acted in 21 undergraduate productions while studying English at St Catherine's College, Cambridge.

Career: McKellen started out on stage, gaining acclaim in Britain and America, and winning a prestigious Tony award for his performance in the original Broadway production of Amadeus. He didn't become a household name until his film career took off with hits such as Scandal, Richard III, and X-Men and its sequels. He received Oscar nominations for Gods and Monsters and the first part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. More recently, he reprised the role of Gandalf in The Hobbit movies. He continues to appear on stage.

Quote: "Acting is no longer about lying. It's now about revealing the truth. People are at ease with me now. Honesty is the best policy."

Trivia: Away from acting, McKellen is a campaigner for gay rights and was knighted in 1990.

Martin Savage (Actor) .. Damon Beesley

Guy Henry (Actor) .. Iain Morris

Born: October 17, 1960 in London

Best Known For: Playing Henrik Hanssen in Holby City.

Early-life: Born on October 17, 1960 in London. Guy attended Homefield School and later Brockenhurst College, where he studied for his A-Levels. Between 1979 and 1981, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career: Henry landed the role of Sherlock Holmes in ITV's Young Sherlock Holmes series in 1982. Since then, he has appeared in such TV series as Peak Practice, Doctors, Rome and Extras. His most notable TV role is as Henrik Hanssen in Holby City. Henry has also made a number of appearances in films, such as V for Vendetta (2005), Starter for 10 (2006) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) and Part 2 (2011). He provided the physical and vocal performance for Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), while CGI special effects were used to recreate the likeness of the late Peter Cushing. Besides TV and film, Henry has done a lot of theatre work, including with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Quote: On playing Grand Moff Tarkin: "It's very daunting, actually, to try and be a famous character in the original film. And also to emulate an actor that I myself admire."

Trivia: He enjoys driving coaches, which he learned to drive during a two-year break from Holby City.

Liza Tarbuck (Actor) .. Rita

Born: November 21, 1964 in Liverpool

Best Known For: The Big Breakfast and Linda Green.

Early-life: Born November 21, 1964, the middle child of Liverpool comedian Jimmy Tarbuck and his wife Pauline. She doesn't like talking about her family's famous mates, but was good friends with Michael Parkinson's sons while growing up. At convent school, she considered becoming an artist, a PE teacher or a nun, but decided to follow her dad into showbusiness. She had a spell with the National Youth Theatre before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career: Tarbuck started out on stage before playing Pamela in the hugely popular ITV sitcom Watching. When the series ended in 1993, she featured in gritty drama Tumbledown, but after struggling to find more roles reinvented herself as a TV presenter, fronting The Weekend Show in 1995 and She's Gotta Have It, before going on to co-host The Big Breakfast with old pal Johnny Vaughan. Tarbuck stayed with the show for a year but left to take on new projects, including Blockbusters and comedy drama Linda Green. She's also appeared in Bleak House, Saxondale, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Extras and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and presented the Channel 4 series Without Prejudice and Britain's Top Dog.

Quote: "I'm like most women, I have good bits and bad bits, but I'm pretty happy with the package. Life's too short to worry about having fat upper arms."

Trivia: She began presenting a Saturday night show on BBC Radio 2 in 2012.

Sarah Moyle (Actor) .. Kimberley

Jamie Chapman (Actor) .. Brains

Andrew Buckley (Actor) .. Gobbler

Shaun Pye (Actor) .. Greg

Gerard Kelly (Actor) .. Bunny

Sarah Preston (Actor) .. Make-up woman

Nadia Williams (Actor) .. Third AD

Jonathan Cake (Actor) .. Steve Sherwood

Anna Crilly (Actor) .. Woman at tea table

Priyanga Burford (Actor) .. George

Rufus Wright (Actor) .. Fran

Germaine Greer (Actor) .. Herself

Born: January 29, 1939 in Melbourne, Australia

Best Known For: Penning the hugely influential book The Female Eunuch.

Early-life: Germaine was born in Melbourne, Australia, on January 29, 1939. She was educated at the Star of the Sea Convent in Gardenvale. She later gained a degree in English and French language and literature at Melbourne University and became a lecturer at the University of Sydney. In 1964, she moved to England to study for her doctorate at Cambridge University. She became a contributor to the London-based Oz magazine, and in 1970 published her first book, The Female Eunuch. It made her a household name thanks to its views on women's liberation and radical feminism.

Career: Greer is now a renowned writer, academic and broadcaster, and has made numerous appearances on TV and radio. Her other books include The Obstacle Race, The Change, The Whole Woman, White Beech: The Rainforest Years and The Boy. She has also spent time as a lecturer at Warwick University and as a special lecturer and fellow at her alma mater, Newnham College, Cambridge. In 2000, she was held hostage in her own home by a student who later pleaded guilty to charges of harassment. In 2006, she featured in an episode of Extras, playing herself. She continues to generate controversy with her outspoken views.

Quote: "In three weeks of marriage, it's true to say I was unfaithful seven times."

Trivia: Greer had previously criticised reality TV programmes, so it was a surprise when she took part in Celebrity Big Brother at the beginning of 2005. She quit after five days.

Mark Kermode (Actor) .. Himself

Mark Lawson (Actor) .. Himself

Charlie Hanson (Producer)

Extras: Sir Ian McKellen

11:00 pm - 11:30 pm, Saturday, January 10 on BBC Three HD (107)

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Sir Ian McKellen
Season 2, Episode 5

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