Career: Grant gained good reviews for a performance in short film Honest, Decent and True in 1985, alongside Gary Oldman and Arabella Weir. His big break came when Daniel Day-Lewis dropped out of Withnail and I, and Grant took his place. The film was a cult smash. Since then, he's appeared in various films and TV shows, including Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Age of Innocence, LA Story, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Gosford Park, and The Hound of the Baskervilles. His film diary, With Nails, was a best-seller, but a novel, By Design, was disappointing. In 2005, he made his directing debut with the critically acclaimed, semi-autobiographical Wah-Wah. His recent work includes roles in Colour Me Kubrick, Penelope, Cuckoo and The Iron Lady, in which he played Tory politician Michael Heseltine.

Career: Helena's professional debut came at 16 in a TV commercial, swiftly followed by small-screen movie Pattern of Roses. The film Lady Jane followed, but it was 1985's A Room with a View which made her a star. Roles in Hamlet, Howards End and Frankenstein followed, and she was Oscar-nominated for 1997's The Wings of the Dove. The actress went on to prove she could do more than just period drama in projects such as Fight Club, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and lent her voice to animated movies Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. She made her musical debut in the big-screen version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She's since appeared in Dark Shadows, Les Miserables and Burton & Taylor, and played Bellatrix Lestrange in several of the Harry Potter movies.

Career: In 1977, Carter joined the National Theatre Company and a year later became a member of the Young Vic Company. In the same year, he went to America to learn juggling, unicycling and tightrope walking. Over the years, Carter has starred in a number of National Theatre productions, including The Mayor of Zalamea, Guys and Dolls and The President of an Empty Room. One of the busiest character actors around, his TV credits are numerous and include A Monocled Mutineer, The Singing Detective, A Very British Coup, Lipstick on Your Collar, Minder, Cracker, Midsomer Murders and Cranford. Equally prolific on the big screen, he has starred in A Private Function (1984), Brassed Off (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), 102 Dalmations (2000), Ella Enchanted (2004), The Golden Compass (2007) and My Week with Marilyn (2011). In 2010, he began playing butler Mr Carson in the hugely popular Downton Abbey, a role that has brought him international recognition.

Career: Although Smith had an uncredited role in 1970's Leo the Last, she didn't act professionally until the age of 50 when she was cast in Mike Leigh's Bleak Moments. She's rarely been out of work since, is equally at home in comedy and drama, and is now regarded as a national treasure. Among her projects are I Didn't Know You Cared, Russ Abbot's Madhouse, The French Lieutenant's Woman, A Private Function, The Vicar of Dibley, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Royle Family. More recently she appeared in the film City of Ember, and in 2006 published her autobiography, Our Betty.