The Railway Children

Jenny Agutter (Actor) .. Mother

Born: December 20, 1952 in Taunton, Somerset

Best Known For: The Railway Children.

Early-life: Jennifer Ann Agutter was born on December 20, 1952, in Taunton, Somerset. She has an older brother, Jonathan. Her father was an Army officer and, as a result, the family travelled the world, living in such places as Germany, Singapore and Cyprus. At 11, she returned to the UK to attend the Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey. While there, she became hooked on acting, and made her movie debut in 1964's East of Sudan.

Career: In 1966, Agutter landed her first starring role in Ballerina. She made several forgettable films before her big break - 1970's The Railway Children (she had appeared in the TV adaptation two years earlier and would star in a 2000 remake). A year later, she made the acclaimed Walkabout, and relocated to America. Subsequent roles include Logan's Run, The Eagle Has Landed, Equus, and An American Werewolf in London. She returned to Britain in the early 1990s, where she dabbles in photography and works for various good causes. She has also featured in The Parole Officer, The Alan Clark Diaries, Spooks, New Tricks, The Invisibles and surprise hit Call the Midwife.

Quote: 'Los Angeles is like a desert. The only thing that exists is the work you do. You have that sense of living a precarious existence.'

Trivia: In 2014, she was one of 200 public figures who signed a letter opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to the referendum.

Gregor Fisher (Actor) .. Perks

Born: December 22, 1953 in Glasgow

Best Known For: Rab C Nesbitt, Love Actually Oliver Twist.

Early-life: Born on 22 December 1953, in Glasgow. Fisher grew up in Neilston and attended Barrhead High School, before he embarked on a career in the entertainment industry.

Career: Fisher's first big break came in 1978 on sketch show Scotch and Wry, before he moved on to The Naked Video in 1986, which saw him first don the string vest of Rab C Nesbitt. Two years later the layabout character had his own spin-off and Fisher became a household name. Following the rip-roaring success of Rab's antics another Naked Video spin-off was ordered called The Baldy Man. Once again Fisher would embody the title role, but this failed to strike a chord with viewers in the same way and the series was short-lived. In the early noughties Fisher breathed new life into his career by appearing in Richard Curtis' Love Actually (2003) as a manager to a fading rock star. His heartfelt portrayal proved that the actor could marry comedy with a more dramatic approach, as opposed to the brash uncompromising antics of Rab. The extremely successful ensemble comedy paved the way for more serious parts, such as playing Solanio in Shakespeare adaptation The Merchant of Venice (2004), and portraying Mr Bumble in Oliver Twist (2007). Fisher worked steadily throughout the rest of the decade, but he came to the fore again when he reprised his role as Rab C Nesbitt for another series in 2010.

Quote: [On his similarities to Rab] 'I look very like him, but that's where it ends.'

Trivia: In 2006, he played Grandpa Potts in a three-month run of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in Edinburgh.

Richard Attenborough (Actor) .. Old Gentleman

Born: August 29, 1923 in Cambridge

Best Known For: Directing Gandhi.

Early-life: Richard Samuel Attenborough was born in Cambridge on August 29, 1923. He was the eldest son of an academic. His mother was a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council. His younger brothers were John, who worked in the motor trade, and TV presenter and naturalist David. His parents also adopted two German-Jewish refugee girls who had lived with the family during the Second World War. Richard began acting at 12 and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career: Attenborough's film debut was 1942's In Which We Serve, playing a cowardly sailor; in real life, he served with the RAF's Film Unit, sustaining permanent ear damage in the process. He became a post-war star thanks to hits such as Brighton Rock (1947),The Great Escape (1963), and I'm All Right Jack (1959). He and Bryan Forbes formed a production company in the early 1960s, which made films including The Angry Silence (1960) and Whistle Down the Wind (1961). Attenborough directed his first film, Oh! What a Lovely War, in 1969, won an Oscar for Gandhi in 1982, and also directed the acclaimed movies A Bridge Too Far (1977), Chaplin (1992) and Shadowlands (1993). He returned to acting in the 1990s to appear in Jurassic Park (1993), Miracle on 34th Street (1994), and Elizabeth (1998). He was knighted in 1976 and made a life peer in 1993. He died on August 24, 2014, at the age of 90.

Quote: On capital punishment: 'I think it is obscene that we should believe that we are entitled to end somebody's life, no matter what that person has supposedly done or not done.'

Trivia: Married fellow thespian Sheila Sim in 1945.

Michael Kitchen (Actor) .. Father

Born: October 31, 1948 in Leicester

Best Known For: Foyle's War.

Early-life: Born October 31, 1948, in Leicester. As a boy, he was the head chorister in the Church of the Martyrs choir. The acting bug bit early, and he started treading the boards with the National Youth Theatre and later the Belgrade Theatre. He then went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he won the Emile Littler Award, which is given to students with outstanding talent and aptitude for the professional theatre. He graduated in 1969.

Career: Kitchen immediately began gaining roles on stage, quickly building a reputation for himself. He was also keen to shun small parts in glossy productions, preferring to play larger roles in less well-attended plays. He made his movie debut in 1971's little-seen Unman, Wittering and Zigo, following it up with Dracula AD 1972. Since then, he's worked steadily on TV and in films. Among his most famous projects are Brimstone and Treacle, Breaking Glass, Out of Africa, The Russia House, Dandelion Dead, A&E and the hugely acclaimed TV series Foyle's War. He also appeared in two of Pierce Brosnan's Bond movies and starred in ITV's 2007 drama Mobile.

Quote: On playing criminals: 'I've done quite a few very unpleasant, extremely nasty people and they keep coming - but there seems to be a lot more money in evil, so I'm happy to take them.'

Trivia: Kitchen has two sons with Rowena Miller, whom he met while she was a dresser at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the late 1980s.

David Bamber (Actor) .. Dr Forrest

Clive Russell (Actor) .. Station Master

Sophie Thompson (Actor) .. Mrs Perks

Born: January 20, 1962 in Hampstead, London

Best Known For: Playing Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1.

Early-life: Born on January 20, 1962 in Hampstead, London to actress Phyllida Law and actor Eric Thompson. She is the younger sister of actress Emma Thompson. She first appeared on TV at age 15, starring in the BBC adaptation of A Traveller in Time. She then went on to study at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Career: Thompson appeared in a number of films during the 1990s, including Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Emma (1996) and Dancing at Lughnasa (1998). She also made a number of TV appearances in the 1990s and 2000s, including in Jonathan Creek, Persuasion, Midsomer Murders and Doc Martin. From 2006 to 2007 she played Stella Crawford in EastEnders. More recently, she has appeared in such films as Eat Pray Love (2010), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (2010) and That Day We Sang (2014), as well as such TV series as Lightfields, Detectorists and Jericho. Aside from TV and film, Thompson has had a successful stage career that has seen her nominated for Olivier Awards on several occasions, and even winning one when she portrayed The Baker's Wife in Into the Woods from 1998 to 1999. In 2014, Thompson won Celebrity Masterchef and released a recipe book, My Family Kitchen, the year after.

Quote: 'I wonder what it was like to be an actor years ago. We're so respected now and I don't think it does us any good. We used to be vagabonds. I want to be a vagabond!'

Trivia: She released her first children's book, Zoo Boy, in 2016.

Jemima Rooper (Actor) .. Bobbie

Born: October 24, 1981 in London

Best Known For: A string of TV roles.

Early-life: Jemima was born in London on October 24, 1981. She wanted to be an actress from an early age and her first professional roles were in the films The Higher Mortals (1993) and Willie's War (1994). In 1996, she played George in a TV adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. Roles followed in the miniseries Wives and Daughters and the TV movie The Railway Children before she landed the part of Nicki in Channel 4 comedy drama As If. It ran for 76 editions over four series until 2004.

Career: Rooper made her Hollywood debut in The Black Dahlia (2006) and she played the lead role in the 2008 TV series Lost in Austin. She has also had recurring roles in Sinchronicity, Hex, The Time of Your Life, Bouquet of Barbed Wire and Atlantis. Her film credits also include Kinky Boots (2005) and What If (2013). On the stage, Rooper has starred in Me and My Girl, and One Man, Two Guvnors.

Quote: 'I'm an only child and I spent a lot of time alone. I played a lot of imaginary games. I just wanted to dress up and be weird, I suppose.'

Trivia: With the money she earned as a child actor, Rooper was able to buy her first home at the age of 19.

Jack Blumenau (Actor) .. Peter

Clare Thomas (Actor) .. Phylis

Valerie Minifie (Actor) .. Cook

Melanie Clark Pullen (Actor) .. Ruth

Georgie Glen (Actor) .. Aunt Emma

Amanda Walker (Actor) .. Mrs Ransome

Jane Wood (Actor) .. Mrs Vincy

Ian Gain (Actor) .. Bargee

Velibor Topic (Actor) .. Mr Szczepansky

Geoffrey Beevers (Actor) .. District Superintendent

Michael Gunn (Actor) .. Engine Driver

Paul Trussell (Actor) .. Fireman

JJ Feild (Actor) .. Jim

Lee Turnbull (Actor) .. Draper's Boy

Richard Lloyd (Actor) .. Draper

Max Southworth (Actor) .. Son of Perks

Bobby Windebank (Actor) .. Bargee's boy

Simon Nye (Writer)

Jonathan Powell (Executive producer)

Charles Elton (Producer)

Catherine Morshead (Director)

12:40 pm - 2:45 pm, Sunday, May 24 on Talking Pictures TV (82)

About this Broadcast

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After