Career: French taught briefly at a London school before taking up comedy performance professionally with Saunders, and gaining valuable TV experience in The Comic Strip Presents. She co-wrote and starred in ITV sitcom Girls On Top in 1985 and appeared in early Ben Elton offering Happy Families. She went on to become a household name with the first series of French and Saunders in 1987. While Saunders focused on Absolutely Fabulous, French also went solo, starring in Murder Most Horrid and The Vicar of Dibley. Other projects include Sex and Chocolate, Let Them Eat Cake, Lark Rise to Candleford, Psychoville and Roger & Val Have Just Got In.

Career: Roles followed for Waldhorn in the 1980s in the likes of Brideshead Revisited, Minder, Harry's Game, Robin Hood and The Chief. He is best known for the roles he played in two sitcoms, Lionel Bainbridge in Brush Strokes and David Horton in The Vicar of Dibley. His theatre credits include work with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Career: Fleet is best known for playing the bumbling Tom in the 1984 romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. He had a stint in Coronation Street in 2010 and his other TV credits include roles in Midsomer Murders, Being Human, Death Comes to Pemberley and Bad Education. On the big screen, he has appeared in Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and Charlotte Gray (2001).

Career: Peacock has had roles in a number of stage productions, including Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Sherlock Holmes, Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, What the Butler Saw, Hobson's Choice, and The Crucible. He is best known for playing Jim Trott on TV in the hugely popular BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, a role he has played since 1994. His other TV credits include The Old Curiosity Shop, Born and Bred, Wish Me Luck, Last of the Summer Wine, Merlin of the Crystal Cave, and Magic Grandad. On the big screen, he has appeared in Hamlet (1990, Sunshine (1999), Fred Claus (2007) and Quartet (2012).

Career: Roger's first film was 1968's The Magus, opposite Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn. He then featured in movies including Hamlet, The Go-Between and Fiddler on the Roof. Appearances in cult shows The Protectors and Jason King followed. He went on to feature in acclaimed programmes The Naked Civil Servant and Play for Today before accepting the role which made him a household name - Trigger in Only Fools and Horses. He went on to star in a wide variety of projects, including The Vicar of Dibley, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Vanity Fair, Doctor Who, Poirot, The Borgias and The Old Guys. He died of pancreatic cancer on January 15, 2014. He was 69.

Career: Chambers appeared in all 24 editions of The Vicar of Dibley and her last appearance was a Comic Relief Special in 2007. Her other TV credits include How Do You Want Me? and Take a Girl Like You. In 1999, she starred in the film Notting Hill.

Career: Hart did a stint at the Edinburgh Festival and unsuccessfully tried to pitch a show to BBC executives in 2004. It was attended by Jennifer Saunders who loved her performance so much, she cast her in both French & Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous. Hart also had roles as various characters in sketch show Smack the Pony, and starred in BBC Three's Hyperdrive alongside Nick Frost, which was met with an indifferent response from critics. She was then cast as clumsy cleaner Barbara in Lee Mack's Not Going Out and as 'Tall Karen' in 2007's Monday Monday. After gaining further success with radio shows, she was given her own eponymous series by the BBC. It was to prove a hit with viewers who liked its retro and family-friendly style. She's also enjoyed dramatic acting success with Call the Midwife.

Career: In the early 1980s, Richard became a regular writer on Not the Nine O'Clock News, which starred Atkinson, and they went on to work together on Blackadder and Mr Bean. In 1989, Richard gained plaudits for writing the film The Tall Guy, but his real movie breakthrough came five years later when he penned Four Weddings and a Funeral, which went on to become the most successful British movie of all time. In 1999 he scored another huge hit with Notting Hill, and went on to work on the adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary before making his directorial debut with Love Actually in 2003. His new film, The Boat That Rocked, hits cinemas this week. Curtis is also behind the sitcom the Vicar of Dibley, acclaimed TV film The Girl in the Cafe, and is one of the founders of Comic Relief.