Inspector Morse - The Ghost in the Machine - 04:00 am Sunday, December 21 on ITV3 +1 (Freeview)

John Thaw (Actor) .. Chief Inspector Morse

Born: January 03, 1942 in Manchester

Best Known For: Inspector Morse.

Early-life: John Edward Thaw was born on January 3, 1942, in Manchester. He had a younger brother, Ray, but theirs wasn't an easy childhood. The boys' mother, Dorothy, left home when John was seven, while their father, Jack, was often away working as a long-distance lorry driver. Despite being painfully shy, John began appearing in amateur dramatics productions and eventually won a place at RADA, where he studied alongside his friend, Tom Courteney.

Career: Thaw's first professional job came at the Liverpool Playhouse. His film debut came in 1962's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which starred Courteney. Thaw worked extensively on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, and early TV roles came in Z Cars and Redcap. But it was The Sweeney, alongside Dennis Waterman, that made him a household name thanks to its uncompromising style. He switched to comedy with Home to Roost, but it was playing Inspector Morse that made him a national treasure. Almost everything he touched then turned to gold; he starred in top-rated dramas such as Kavanagh QC, Goodnight Mister Tom and Buried Treasure. He died in 2002 following a battle with cancer of the oesophagus.

Quote: "I was born looking fifty."

Trivia: Divorced first wife Sally Alexander after four years and one daughter in 1968. Married Sheila Hancock in 1974. They had a daughter together, and Thaw adopted Hancock's daughter from her first marriage.

Kevin Whately (Actor) .. Det Sgt Lewis

Born: February 06, 1951 in Newcastle upon Tyne

Best Known For: Playing John Thaw's right-hand man Lewis in Inspector Morse.

Early-life: Kevin George Edward Whately was born on February 6, 1951, in Hexham, and grew up in the remote Northumberland countryside. His father was in the Navy, and Whately only saw him two or three times a year. He began acting at the age of four and it remained a passion throughout school, alongside a short-lived desire to be a doctor. When his careers teacher advised against acting, he went into accountancy for three years. He later trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His brother, Frank, is a drama lecturer.

Career: Whately's TV debut came in a 1979 episode of Shoestring. Two years later he had a six-week stint on Coronation Street. His big break came in 1983, when he landed the role of Neville in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. In 1987, he made his first appearance as Sgt Lewis in Morse, and has since appeared in Peak Practice, the TV dramas Trip Trap, Gobble, and The Broker's Man, as well as Oscar-winning drama The English Patient. Other projects include Paranoid, Silent Cry, Murder in Mind, Purely Belter, Promoted to Glory and The Children. He's now the star of hit Morse spin-off Lewis.

Quote: On John Thaw: "John had a wonderful sense of humour which is belied sometimes by journalists' impression of him as irascible. He was a wonderful mimic, particularly of people on the set rather than famous people."

Trivia: Married to actress Madeleine Newton, who appeared alongside him in both Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Inspector Morse. They have two children, Kieran and Kitty. His daughter is an acclaimed opera singer.

Amanda Hillwood (Actor) .. Dr Grayling Russell

Patricia Hodge (Actor) .. Lady Hanbury

Born: September 29, 1946 in Cleethorpes

Best Known For: Playing a string of stand-offish, English upper-crust characters.

Early-life: Patricia Ann Hodge was born in Cleethorpes on September 29, 1946. She was brought up in a hotel in nearby Grimsby, where her father was the manager. She got fed up with eating posh food, when all she wanted was bangers and mash. She spent rainy Sundays roller skating in the hotel's empty ballroom. Acting was not her first love. She trained to be a teacher and taught for a while before treading the boards.

Career: Hodge's first acting job was playing a 37-year-old tart and old-age pensioner in alternate scenes of the same play. She is one of the few actresses to win critical regard, despite spending the bulk of her career in commercial theatre and TV. She played a ballet teacher in acclaimed Quentin Crisp biopic The Naked Civil Servant and also appeared in The Elephant Man. Other memorable TV roles include Rumpole of the Bailey, Jemima Short Investigates, The Life and Loves of a She Devil, and Rich Tea and Sympathy. Film roles include the Harold Pinter drama Betrayal, Bruce Willis flop Sunset and Julie Walters drama Before You Go. She played Margaret Thatcher in controversial drama The Falklands Play and stripped to the basics in the hit West End production of Calendar Girls. Her recent work has included playing Miranda Hart's mother in the comedienne's hit sitcom Miranda.

Quote: "I didn't choose late motherhood: it chose me. The best time to have children is in your thirties. The only good thing about doing it in your forties is that by then you know yourself, have nothing to prove, and you've come to terms with your shortcomings."

Trivia: Hodge is joint president of Grimsby's Caxton Theatre.

Clifford Rose (Actor) .. Dr Charles Hudson

Bernard Lloyd (Actor) .. Professor Edward Ullman

Michael Godley (Actor) .. Sir Jules Hanbury

Michael Thomas (Actor) .. John McKendrick

Patsy Byrne (Actor) .. Mrs Maltby

Irina Brook (Actor) .. Michelle Reage

Lill Roughley (Actor) .. Betty Parker

Robert Oates (Actor) .. Ted Parker

John Elmes (Actor) .. Roger Medows

Rainbow Dench (Actor) .. Georgina Hanbury

Herbert Wise (Director)

Chris Burt (Producer)

Julian Mitchell (Writer)

Inspector Morse: The Ghost in the Machine

04:00 am - 05:45 am, Sunday, December 21 on ITV3 +1 (Freeview) (58)

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The Ghost in the Machine
Season 3, Episode 1

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