New Tricks - Old Fossils - 02:00 am Sunday, March 29 on U&Drama +1

Amanda Redman (Actor) .. Sandra Pullman

Born: August 12, 1957 in Brighton

Best Known For: At Home with the Braithwaites and New Tricks.

Early-life: Amanda Jacqueline Redman was born in Brighton on August 12, 1957, the eldest of two children. She poured a saucepan of boiling soup over her torso and left arm when she was 18 months old and needed regular skin grafts until she was five. She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She was shattered after her father died suddenly when she was 20.

Career: Redman first attracted attention in 1981 with her steamy film debut in Richard's Things. Roles proved sporadic in that decade, but her career took off in 1991 when she played Roberta in Spender, and Sally in The Men's Room. Bigger roles followed, such as Dr Joanna Stevens in Dangerfield in 1995. She hit the headlines in 1998, first with Close Relations which featured a ménage à trois, then as Diana Dors for glossy drama The Blonde Bombshell. Her small-screen success was consolidated with roles as a teacher in Hope and Glory and as lottery winner Alison in At Home with the Braithwaites - but she has also appeared in the films Sexy Beast (2000) and Mike Bassett: England Manager (2005). She starred in popular BBC drama New Tricks between 2003 and 2013. More recently, she starred in TV movie Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This.

Quote: 'If you're seen as a strong woman, men think you don't need protecting. Yet, underneath it all, I'm quite vulnerable.'

Trivia: Redman received an MBE in 2012.

James Bolam (Actor) .. Jack Halford

Born: June 16, 1935 in Sunderland

Best Known For: Being a Likely Lad.

Early-life: Born James Christopher Bolam on June 16, 1935, in Sunderland. His father died when he was young. The family left the North East when James was 12, and he attended school in Derby. There was no showbiz influence in his family, but Bolam went to the cinema every Saturday and that inspired him to try acting. He briefly worked as a trainee chartered accountant, before winning a place at the Central Drama School in London. He made his professional stage debut at the Royal Court in 1959.

Career: Bolam appeared on stage alongside Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud, then followed it up with films The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and A Kind of Loving, before being cast as cynical Terry Collier in The Likely Lads in 1964. He agreed to reprise the role in Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? nine years later. James went on to star in When the Boat Comes In, Only When I Laugh and Alan Plater's Beiderbecke trilogy. He has also appeared in Clockwork Mice, The End of the Affair, Born and Bred, Grandpa in My Pocket, To Kill a King and controversial feature-length drama Shipman, about serial killer doctor Harold Shipman. He starred in New Tricks between 2003 and 2012 and continues to appear on stage.

Quote: 'I'm suddenly popular again. I don't know why.'

Trivia: He was awarded an MBE in 2009.

Dennis Waterman (Actor) .. Gerry Standing

Born: February 24, 1948 in Clapham

Best Known For: The Sweeney, Minder, and New Tricks.

Early-life: Born February 24, 1948, in Clapham, south London, the youngest of nine children, the son of a British Rail ticket collector. As a child he attended the Corona Theatre School and began his professional career with a role in Snowball, a 1960 Children's Film Foundation production. The same year he made Night Train to Inverness, and was asked to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. Playing William in a TV series based on the Just William books made him a star. He then tried to break into Hollywood.

Career: At 16, Waterman returned to Britain and concentrated on stage work until an acclaimed performance in 1968's Up the Junction led to more film roles. Low-budget movies (such as Scars of Dracula) and TV shows (including Colditz) followed until, in 1974, he co-starred with John Thaw in Regan, the pilot episode of iconic series The Sweeney, which became a major TV hit. A 10-year stint in comedy drama Minder followed. Other projects include TV shows On the Up, Stay Lucky, and Circles of Deceit. He's also worked on the stage, most notably in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, and My Fair Lady. As Gerry Standing, in BBC drama New Tricks, he has introduced himself to a new generation of fans.

Quote: 'If I am not such a hell-raiser any more, it isn't because I've given up. It's just that my energy levels have fallen. I haven't stopped looking at women. I'm not blind.'

Trivia: He has made several records, including, famously, the theme tunes of several of his TV shows.

Alun Armstrong (Actor) .. Brian Lane

Born: July 17, 1946 in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, Co Durham

Best Known For: New Tricks.

Early-life: Alun Armstrong was born in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, Co Durham, on July 17, 1946. His father was from Cumberland and his mother was from Co Durham. He attended Consett Grammar School before going to Newcastle University. Unhappy in academia, he took a job as a gravedigger, where a colleague managed to get him an interview for a behind-the-scenes job with a theatre company. That in turn led to acting work.

Career: Armstrong's screen debut came in the classic Michael Caine gangster movie Get Carter in 1971. Other early roles included parts in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Softly, Softly and The Sweeney. His many other TV roles include Austin Donaghue in Our Friends in the North, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Jefferson in In the Red, and George Mole in Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years, alongside Alison Steadman. Film credits include The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Krull (1983), American Friends (1991), Patriot Games (1992) and Braveheart (1995). He has won countless accolades for his classic stage roles. He is currently best known for playing the role of Brian Lane in popular BBC series New Tricks, a part he played for 10 series.

Quote: 'I'm more concerned about losing my marbles than losing parts - especially when it comes to learning lines!'

Trivia: Armstrong originated the role of Thénardier in the London production of Les Misérables and won an Olivier Award for playing the title role in Sweeney Todd.

Trevor Bannister (Actor) .. Bob Ruxton

Born: August 14, 1934 in Durrington, Wiltshire

Best Known For: Playing menswear assistant Mr Lucas in the sitcom Are You Being Served?

Early-life: Trevor Gordon Bannister was born in Durrington, Wiltshire, on August 14, 1934. After leaving school at the age of 15, he joined a repertory theatre company in Folkstone and went on to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. After two years' national service in the army, he gained further repertory experience in Torquay, Bath, Bedford, Worthing, Wolverhampton, York and Birmingham. In 1960, he made his West End debut as Arthur Crabtree in Billy Liar.

Career: Bannister's breakthrough on TV came in the 1968 drama The War of Darkie Pilbeam, a trilogy about a 1940s spiv, written by Coronation Street creator Tony Warren. Playing menswear assistant Mr Lucas in popular BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? made Bannister a household name. In his later career, he played a recurring character in Last of the Summer Wine. Bannister died on April 14, 2011, at the age of 76, after suffering a heart attack at his allotment in Thames Ditton, Surrey.

Quote: On Are You Being Served? 'The joy of that particular show was the fact that most of us had known each other before we came to do it.'

Trivia: Bannister was a regular pantomime dame on stage, taking 34 roles in 35 years.

Vicki Pepperdine (Actor) .. Madeleine Simmonds

Natasha Little (Actor) .. Sarah Winslow

Born: October 02, 1969 in Liverpool

Best Known For: This Life and Vanity Fair.

Early-life: Natasha was born in Liverpool on October 2, 1969. Until she was 10, she lived in the Middle East where her father set up immunisation clinics for the World Health Organisation. When her family moved back to the UK, they settled in Lougton in Essex. While attending Loughton County High School for Girls, Natasha joined a Saturday drama group. She went on to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Career: Little's first professional role was in the play The Tenth Man at the New End Theatre in Hampstead. She made her TV debut in an edition of Between the Lines in 1994. Roles followed in London's Burning and Supply and Demand before her breakthrough role as Rachel in popular BBC drama This Life. Since then, Little has been a regular fixture on TV in the likes of Vanity Fair, Cadfael, Murder in Mind, MI-5, Foyle's War, Young James Herriot, Kidnap and Ransom, Case Histories and Breathless. Film credits include The Clandestine Marriage (1999), Kevin and Perry Go Large (2000) and Vanity Fair (2004).

Quote: 'Having my own family has made me realise there's more to life than chasing the next job.'

Trivia: She received a Bafta nomination for her role in TV mini-series Vanity Fair. She is a trained singer with a mezzo soprano voice.

Lucy Brown (Actor) .. Marie Braden

Abigail Davies (Actor) .. Andrea Naylor

Jessica Turner (Actor) .. Diane Fletcher

Jamie Sives (Actor) .. Mark Slater

Adrian McLoughlin (Actor) .. Barry Drake

Nicholas Farrell (Actor) .. James Winslow

William Armstrong (Actor) .. Michael Ratcliffe

Eleanor Matsuura (Actor) .. Tiffany Hayes

Best Known For: Spooks: The Greater Good, Utopia and Cuffs.

Early-life: Eleanor was born in Tokyo in 1983 and raised in England. She graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2004.

Career: Matsuura has worked on the stage in Enron, Danton's Death, The Changeling, Bull and Here We Go. On TV, her credits include Hustle, Holby City, After You've Gone, My Family, Doctor Who, The Royal Bodyguard and Casualty. More recently, she has starred in Utopia, The Smoke, Silk, Da Vinci's Demons, Cuffs and Comic Strip Presents: Red Top. Her film credits include Spooks: The Greater Good (2015), The Lady in the Van (2015) and Burn Burn Burn (2015).

Quote: 'Don't save things for best. Wear things you love whenever you want - they're supposed to be worn.'

Trivia: Matsuura supports Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Graham Bohea (Actor) .. Slater's neighbour

Dan Mersh (Actor) .. Uniform PC

JC Wilsher (Writer)

Keith Thompson (Producer)

Philip John (Director)

New Tricks: Old Fossils

02:00 am - 03:00 am, Sunday, March 29 on U&Drama +1 (60)

About this Broadcast

Old Fossils
Season 8, Episode 1

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