Holby City - Awakenings - 10:30 am Thursday, May 14 on U&Drama +1

Robert Powell (Actor) .. Mark Williams

Born: June 01, 1944 in Salford

Best Known For: Jesus of Nazareth and The Thirty Nine Steps.

Early-life: Robert Thomas Powell was born on June 1, 1944, in Salford, Manchester, the youngest of three children. After leaving school, Powell studied law at Manchester University, where he became hooked on acting. The director of a student play advised him to ditch his plans to become a solicitor and try treading the boards instead. He left university so he could hone his craft at a theatre in Stoke-on-Trent, before moving to London in 1964.

Career: Powell made his film debut in 1967's Robbery, and had a small part in 1969's The Italian Job. A role in spooky TV show Doomwatch made him a star in the UK, but he quit after a year to tackle different projects. Roles in such productions as Asylum, The Edwardians, Mahler, and Tommy followed. In 1977 he landed the lead in epic miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, which introduced him to an international audience. Powell followed it with remakes of The Four Feathers and The Thirty-Nine Steps. Since then, he's continued to work steadily, appearing in the likes of The Detectives, Hannay, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Colour Me Kubrick. In 2005, he joined the cast of Holby City as surgeon Mark Williams, where he remained for six years.

Quote: 'I did say about 30 years ago that I would not be acting all my life. It's extraordinary how wrong I was.'

Trivia: In December 2014, he played Ebenezer Scrooge in a Radio 4 adaptation of A Christmas Carol.

Sharon Maughan (Actor) .. Tricia Williams

Tina Hobley (Actor) .. Chrissie Williams

Born: May 20, 1972 in London

Best Known For: Holby City and her Corrie days.

Early-life: Very shy as a child, London-born Tina was sent to speech and drama classes in an attempt to counter her introversion. Hobley enrolled with a very strict speech and drama teacher, whom she adored and stayed with for many years, before moving from there to the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (WDADA).

Career: Hobley is best known for playing feisty ward sister Chrissie Williams in BBC medical drama Holby City. After graduating from WDADA, where she trained from 1990 to 1993, Hobley starred in a number of TV dramas, including Coronation Street, Harbour Lights and The Bill. In 2014, she took part in Celebrity MasterChef. She has also appeared in All Star Mr & Mrs, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy and Big Star's Little Star with her daughter Olivia. In early 2016, she was a contestant on Channel 4's sporting reality show The Jump.

Quote: 'I haven't lived the normal actor's life, where I don't know where my next job is coming from - but that in itself feels exciting.'

Trivia: Hobley supports the Starlight Foundation.

Jaye Jacobs (Actor) .. Donna Jackson

Kelly Adams (Actor) .. Mickie Hendrie

Ian Aspinall (Actor) .. Mubbs Hussein

Mark Moraghan (Actor) .. Owen Davies

Chinna Wodu (Actor) .. Sean Thompson

Verona Joseph (Actor) .. Jess Griffin

Hugh Quarshie (Actor) .. Ric Griffin

Born: December 25, 1954 in Accra, Ghana

Best Known For: Playing Ric Griffin in Holby City.

Early-life: Hugh Antony Kobna Quarshie was born on December 22, 1954, in Accra, Ghana, where he spent the first few years of his life. He moved to England and grew up in Golders Green, north London. Hugh went to school in Cheltenham and later studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford, where he was president of the African Society, and co-director of the Oxford and Cambridge Shakespeare Company. After graduating, he worked as a journalist, becoming a sub-editor at West Africa Magazine.

Career: Made his small-screen debut in 1979 TV movie The Knowledge, and later featured in TV series Angels, Surgical Spirit and Medics. Appeared as Julius Caesar and Macbeth for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starred in a string of movies including Highlander and Nightbreed. While filming Star Wars: Episode One _ The Phantom Menace in Italy, he drew more autograph hunters than co-star Liam Neeson because of his role as a priest in Italian horror film La Chiesa. He was asked to reprise his role of Captain Panaka in Attack of the Clones but turned it down. Over the past few years he has appeared in Conspiracy of Silence, The Afternoon Play, Doctor Who and Holby City.

Quote: 'My attitude to acting is if you take it too seriously then you're not taking your life seriously enough.'

Trivia: In 2010, he traced his Ghanaian and Dutch origins in an episode of Who Do You Think You Are?

Patricia Potter (Actor) .. Diane Lloyd

Art Malik (Actor) .. Zubin Khan

Born: November 13, 1952 in Bahawalpur, Pakistan

Best Known For: The Jewel In The Crown and A Passage To India.

Early-life: Born Athar Ul-Haque on November 13, 1952, in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. One of six children, he moved to London when he was two. At the age of 10 he was sent to boarding school in Pakistan to 'rediscover his roots', returning to England a year later. He had his first theatrical experience at school and decided he wanted to act, a choice that didn't please his parents. He tried business studies before winning a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1974.

Career: Malik took on minor roles until his big break came in The Jewel In The Crown. During the filming, director David Lean headhunted him for A Passage To India. Both were released in 1984, bringing Malik instant fame. In demand ever since, he has appeared in a host of TV and movie productions, including Bond movie The Living Daylights. He established himself as a movie villain in 1994 action blockbuster True Lies, and played a special needs teacher in acclaimed thriller Clockwork Mice. In recent years, Malik has appeared on the small screen in Life Support, Hotel!, Messiah, Holby City, The Nativity, Upstairs Downstairs, and Borgia.

Quote: 'Am I a star? I hope not, because star is just rats spelled backwards.'

Trivia: Malik was on the verge of being declared bankrupt before he landed a lucrative role in True Lies.

Amanda Mealing (Actor) .. Connie Beauchamp

Born: April 22, 1968 in London

Best Known For: Playing Connie Beauchamp in Holby City and Casualty.

Early-life: Amanda Jane Mealing was born in London on April 22, 1968 and grew up in Dulwich, South London. The youngest of four children, she is the only adopted member of her family. Her older brother, who was 14 years her senior, died after using heroin when she was 15. At the age of six, Amanda made her professional debut in a Julie Andrews TV special. She started taking Saturday classes at the Italia Conti Academy, before enrolling full-time when she was nine. As a child star, she went on to land roles in Just William, The Morecambe & Wise Show, and Grange Hill.

Career: Mealing went on to appear G.B.H., Anglo Saxon Attitudes, The House of Eliott, The Darling Buds of May and The Detectives. She had recurring roles in Jake's Progress, The Grand, and The Lakes. She joined the cast of Holby City in 2004, playing cardiothoracic consultant Connie Beauchamp. During a break from the series, she appeared in Strike Back: Project Dawn, Death in Paradise, and Law and Order: UK. In 2014, she reprised her role as Connie Beauchamp in Holby City sister show Casualty.

Quote: On her Connie Beauchamp character: 'She's on a mission to take over, and she doesn't care whose toes she has to step on to do it.'

Trivia: Mealing discovered that her birth mother modelled for Biba in London during the 1960s and her biological father was a half-Sierra Leonean poet and activist. The day after giving birth to her second son, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She made a full recovery.

Noah Huntley (Actor) .. Will Curtis

Luisa Bradshaw-White (Actor) .. Lisa Fox

Born: December 09, 1974 in London

Best Known For: This Life, Holby City and EastEnders.

Early-life: Luisa was born in London on December 9, 1974. She has an older sister, Sasha. She got into acting at a young age and portrayed Maria Watts in Grange Hill between 1991 and 1994.

Career: Bradshaw-White's first break came in 1996, when she played Kira in popular BBC drama This Life. She went on to make guest appearances in A Touch of Frost, The Bill, Birds of a Feather and London's Burning. She had recurring roles in Bad Girls and Holby City. In 2013, she joined the cast of EastEnders as Tina Carter.

Quote: 'I was only 19 when I was in This Life and all the attention was mental. There were all these parties. It was full on and it was very difficult to keep grounded.'

Trivia: She is a vegetarian.

Catherine Walker (Actor) .. Jodie Maxwell

Niky Wardley (Actor) .. Julia Mallinson

Dorian MacDonald (Actor) .. Vince Proctor

Gareth Corke (Actor) .. Paul Mallinson

Vanessa Massi (Actor) .. Louise Blackdale

Akbar Kurtha (Actor) .. Mak Dab

Nichola McAuliffe (Actor) .. Patty Blackdale

Charles Mnene (Actor) .. Robert `Red" Hopkins

Jacki Howe (Actor) .. Shirley Jameson

Chris Ballantyne (Producer)

Shani Grewal (Director)

Ben Cooper (Writer)

Holby City: Awakenings

10:30 am - 11:55 am, Thursday, May 14 on U&Drama +1 (60)

About this Broadcast

Awakenings
Episode 21

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After