Career: While working in a department store in LA, Lansbury met a casting director through her mother. He offered her a role in the 1944 film Gaslight; she was just 18, but it landed her an Oscar nomination. Roles in National Velvet, Blue Hawaii and Bedknobs and Broomsticks followed. She gained further Academy Award nominations for The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Manchurian Candidate. She's also worked extensively on stage, winning a record five Tony Awards. But it was playing Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series Murder, She Wrote, that turned her into a household name. More recently, Lansbury has appeared in Nanny McPhee and Mr Popper's Penguins.

Career: McCallum became an assistant stage manager, but National Service interrupted his career. He made his film debut in 1957's These Dangerous Years, and appeared in numerous British movies before moving to Hollywood in the early 1960s. He landed roles in Billy Budd and The Great Escape but it was his performance as Illya Kuryakin in The Man from UNCLE that made him a household name in 1964. The series ran until 1968, and a spin-off TV movie was made in 1983. He also released four albums in the 1960s. Other major projects include Colditz, The Invisible Man, Sapphire and Steel, Mother Love, Hear My Song, and Cluedo. Since 2003, he has starred in popular American drama NCIS, playing forensics expert Dr Donald 'Ducky' Mallard.

Career: Parfitt earned critical acclaim for her Gertrude in a 1969 stage production of Hamlet and she reprised the part in an equally successful film version in the same year. While continuing to grace the stage in a number of productions, Parfitt has been a familiar face on TV. Her numerous credits include A Tale of Two Cities, The Jewel in the Crown, Crown Court, The Charmer and Murder in Mind. In America, she starred in short-lived sitcom The Charmings in the late 1980s and had a recurring role in ER in the early 2000s. She made her Hollywood debut in Dolores Claiborne (1995). Other film credits include Wilde (1997) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003). More recently, Judy has starred in Heartbeat, Midsomer Murders, Little Dorrit, Jonathan Creek, Vera, Marple and Call the Midwife.