Holby City - Lead Us Not Into Temptation - 10:25 am Thursday, August 6 on U&Drama +1

Jesse Birdsall (Actor) .. Dillon Ellis

Born: February 13, 1963 in London

Best Known For: Eldorado and Bugs.

Early-life: Jesse was born in 1963, the son of renowned Penguin Books designer Derek Birdsall. He showed a passion for acting and first came to public attention in the serial Annika in 1984, his first notable TV role. He subsequently appeared in the movie Wish You Were Here (1987), directed by David Leland and co-starring Emily Lloyd. He was cast in notorious BBC soap Eldorado in 1992.

Career: Eldorado was mauled by viewers and critics and cancelled after one year. Nonetheless, the amount of coverage the programme received for its perceived low quality and lack of success would gain Birdsall much exposure, and from 1995 to 1999 he played one of the lead characters in another BBC1 programme, the successful futuristic action/adventure series Bugs. Since then, he has appeared in episodes of The Bill, Footballer's Wives, and EastEnders.

Quote: Following the critical response to Eldorado. 'We're working on the scripts. It'll get better'.

Trivia: He has twice been convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

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

Michael French (Actor) .. Nick Jordan

Born: September 17, 1962 in Bow, London

Best Known For: Playing EastEnder David Wicks and Casualty's Dr Jordan.

Early-life: Born Michael Clark on September 17, 1962, to parents David and Sheila. He's the son of a greengrocer and has two sisters - Helen and Jane. He was interested in the stage from an early age and was a keen member of a local drama club. He later trained at the Mountview Theatre School, and was a 'blue coat' entertainer at the Holiday Club International in Majorca.

Career: Michael spent 10 years appearing on stage and working as an air steward before his big break came in 1993 when he landed the part of David Wicks in EastEnders. He stayed in Walford for three years before leaving to appear in Crime Traveller (he returned briefly in 2012 to mark the death of his on-screen mother, Pat Evans). More TV roles followed in The Gentleman Thief, Born and Bred, and The Fabulous Bagel Boys. He also featured in radio plays and did video game voiceover work. Between 1998 and 2013 he had various stints playing Dr Nick Jordan in Casualty and sister programme Holby City. He returned briefly to EastEnders in 2012 to mark the death of his on-screen mother, Pat Evans. He rejoined EastEnders as a regular character in September 2013.

Quote: On playing Nick Jordan: 'I want it to show in my eyes that I know what this guy is going through. I've got to be as real as I possibly can.'

Trivia: On the West End stage, French has appeared in West Side Story, Chicago, Joseph, and Les Miserables.

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.

Kelly Adams (Actor) .. Mickie Hendrie

Rakie Ayola (Actor) .. Kyla Tyson

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.

Paul Bradley (Actor) .. Elliot Hope

Born: May 28, 1955 in Nuneaton

Best Known For: EastEnders and Holby City.

Early-life: Bradley was born on May 28, 1955, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. He attended the University of Manchester before joining the Royal Exchange, Manchester repertory company.

Career: Bradley landed his first major role in 1982 in The Young Ones. He's since cropped up in The Bill, Red Dwarf and Bottom but is most noted for his role in EastEnders, where he spent six years as Nigel Bates, and in Holby City, where he has played Elliot Hope since 2005.

Quote: Speaking about getting the role of Elliot in Holby: 'I was delighted and celebrated by going to New Zealand to watch rugby!'

Trivia: He has worked as a guitarist for John Otway.

Tom Chambers (Actor) .. Sam Strachan

Born: May 22, 1977 in Darley Dale, Derbyshire

Best Known For: Winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2008.

Early-life: Tom Stuart Chambers was born in Darley Dale, Derbyshire, on 22 May 1977. He demonstrated a keen interest in performing arts while studying at Repton School, before attending the Guilford School of Acting and the National Youth Music Theatre, where Jude Law and Jonny Lee Miller were also learning their trade. Tom starred in Brit flick Fakers (2004), before a re-enactment of Fred Astaire's tap dance routine with a drum kit in A Damsel in Distress on a video for casting directors landed him a role in Holby City.

Career: Chambers began playing dishy doctor Sam Strachan in the medical drama in 2006, but became a household name by appearing in, and winning, the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing after beating Rachel Stevens in the final to take the crown. After three years in Holby City, he quit to briefly join the cast of Waterloo Road as no-nonsense headteacher Max Tyler. From August 2011 until February 2013, Chambers played Jerry Travers in the stage production of Top Hat. After initially touring the UK, it found a home at the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End. His recent TV credits include The Great Train Robbery and Father Brown.

Quote: On Top Hat: 'Doing eight shows a week is very demanding, physically and mentally. I constantly felt exhausted.'

Trivia: In 2008, Chambers took part in the Great Walk to Beijing, which was organised by singer Olivia Newton-John in aid of breast cancer awareness.

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.

Sharon D Clarke (Actor) .. Lola Griffin

Jaye Jacobs (Actor) .. Donna Jackson

Adam Best (Actor) .. Matt Parker

Ben Richards (Actor) .. Justin Fuller

Andrew Lewis (Actor) .. Paul Rose

Regina Freedman (Actor) .. Helena Bosman

Ciaran Joyce (Actor) .. Alex Ellis

Richard Hawley (Actor) .. Don Bosman

Adhir Kalyan (Actor) .. Arjmand Younis

Kriss Dosanjh (Actor) .. Fareed Younis

Debbie O'Malley (Writer)

Steve Finn (Director)

Oliver Kent (Producer)

Holby City: Lead Us Not Into Temptation

10:25 am - 11:45 am, Thursday, August 6 on U&Drama +1 (60)

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Lead Us Not Into Temptation
Episode 30

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