Career: McShane's first film was 1962's The Wild and the Willing. After that, he built a reputation as a fine stage actor thanks to various West End productions. His first starring role came in 1966's Skywest and Crooked, which co-starred Hayley Mills and was directed by her actor father John. He played Heathcliff in an acclaimed TV adaptation of Wuthering Heights and gained plaudits for such productions as Roots, Jesus of Nazareth and Disraeli. McShane became a household name thanks to Lovejoy in 1986, and even appeared in Dallas. Other projects include Deadwood (for which he won a Golden Globe award), Sexy Beast, Kings, 44 Inch Chest, The Pillars of the Earth, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Jack the Giant Slayer.

Career: Gray's first screen appearance came in Palm Springs Weekend in 1963, but she had an 11-year break from film and TV before landing a role in a Marcus Welby, MD episode. One-off parts in various drama series followed before she had regular stints in All That Glitters, Murder in Peyton Place and Emergency! She was an original member of the Dallas cast, and played JR's long-suffering wife Sue Ellen from 1978 until the series' end in 1991; she returned to the glossy soap when it was revamped in 2012. Other projects include Lovejoy, Melrose Place, Models Inc and The Bold and the Beautiful. She's also tackled theatre roles, even appearing nude in a West End version of The Graduate in 2001.

Career: Blessed started out on the stage, but gained fame playing Fancy Smith in Z Cars from 1962 to 1965. He's rarely been out of work since and has tackled a wide variety of roles on TV, stage and in films. Among his most memorable projects are Henry VIII and his Six Wives, I, Claudius, Flash Gordon, The Black Adder, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet. More recently, he featured in Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace and Oliver Stone's Alexander. In 2014, he was the subject of an edition of Who Do You Think You Are? He is in constant demand for voiceover work.