Career: Dance spent five years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and made his TV debut in miniseries Edward the King in 1975, following it up with appearances in Tales of the Unexpected and Fatal Spring. His first film was 1981 Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, but his big break came in 1984 when he was cast in The Jewel in the Crown. He went on to star in White Mischief, Alien3, The Last Action Hero, Gosford Park, Ali G InDaHouse and First Born. Dance also produced, directed, and wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed film Ladies in Lavender. He was awarded an OBE in 2006. More recent projects include Your Highness, Strike Back, Secret State, Game of Thrones, and Dracula Untold.

Career: In 1959, Rigg signed a five-year contract with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her move to TV came in 1965 when she was offered the role of Emma Peel in The Avengers, but the demand for interviews and photographs proved too much, forcing her to quit in 1967. She went on to star in various movies, including On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Julius Caesar and The Great Muppet Caper, but by the 1980s her screen success was fading. However, she returned to form in 1989 in the award-winning miniseries Mother Love, and has appeared continually on stage, film and TV ever since. In 2013, she made a memorable Doctor Who villain alongside Matt Smith and her real-life daughter Rachael Stirling, and has a regular role in the acclaimed Game of Thrones.

Career: Dunaway landed her first starring role, in a stage production of A Man for All Seasons, just days after graduating from university. Her TV debut was in a 1965 episode of Seaway, and her first film, Hurry Sundown, was released two years later. She became a household name thanks to Bonnie and Clyde, and followed it with such hits as The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown, The Towering Inferno, Network (for which she won an Oscar) and The Champ. Her films in the 1980s and 1990s weren't as successful, although she had a cameo role in the Thomas Crown remake.

Career: Since leaving full-time education, Fox has worked consistently on TV, but still found time to tread the boards and appear in movies. Period dramas Rebecca, The Round Tower and the aforementioned Pride and Prejudice brought her fame, but it was the remake of Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased) in 2000 that made her a household name. In 2002 she starred in Roman Polanski's Oscar-winning The Pianist and has more recently worked with Britain's acting elite in Gunpowder, Treason & Plot, The Virgin Queen, Marple: The Moving Finger, Born Equal, Upstairs Downstairs and Fallen Angel. In 2004 she took over from Amanda Burton as the lead actress in Silent Witness, and has been playing forensic pathologist Nikki Alexander ever since.

Career: Cohu has worked extensively on the small screen and her TV credits include roles in Pie in the Sky, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Peak Practice, Soldier Soldier, Wycliffe, Cape Wrath and Forgiven. Her profile increased in 2005 when she portrayed Princess Margaret in The Queen's Sister. More recently, she has starred in Torchwood: Children of Earth, Marple, Silent Witness, Midsomer Murders, Lewis and Ripper Street.