Career: After graduating, Fry and Laurie enjoyed a successful comedy partnership. Fry was a millionaire by 30, thanks to a successful rewrite of the Noel Gay musical Me and My Girl. He has appeared in numerous films and TV projects, including Blackadder, Jeeves and Wooster, Wilde, Thunderpants, Kingdom and The Hobbit. He's also written several books, and is well-known as a charming raconteur. He made his movie debut as writer and director with Bright Young Things, based on Evelyn Waugh's book, Vile Bodies. Fry is the presenter of comedy quiz QI, he has also made several acclaimed documentaries, including ones about manic depression and Aids, and he is the reader for the British versions of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series of audio books.

Career: Norris enjoyed a great deal of success on the stage, starring in Stephen Poliakoff's Blinded by the Sun at the National Theatre and the world premiere of Reader by Arile Dorfman. She also appeared in a production of the Chekov play The Seagull at the Moscow Art Theatre. Norris took small parts in TV series such as Casualty, Peak Practice and Drop the Dead Donkey, but didn't become a household name until she won the role of Karen in Cold Feet. In the years since she's appeared in the one-off drama Falling Apart, opposite Robson Green in the crime series Wire in the Blood, spy drama Spooks and as Stephen Fry's half-sister in Kingdom, which was written by her husband. She's also returned to the stage on several occasions.

Career: Imrie's first professional jobs in showbusiness were in the chorus of various pantomimes. Her film and TV debuts came in 1974 in House of Whipcord and Upstairs, Downstairs. She continued to gain small roles in various productions, but her big break occurred when Victoria Wood offered her roles in As Seen on TV in 1985. Since then, she's continued to occasionally work with Wood and won a prestigious Olivier Award in 2006 for her role in Acorn Antiques: The Musical. Her other credits include Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Highlander, Gormenghast, Bridget Jones' Diary, Star Wars: Episode One, Doctor Zhivago, Frankenstein, Calendar Girls, Nanny McPhee and St Trinian's (and its sequel). On TV she has also appeared in Kingdom, After You've Gone, Cranford, and the acclaimed one-off drama The Road to Coronation Street.

Career: Slattery got his first break on TV in Chris Tarrant's late-night comedy show Saturday Stayback in 1983. Other work followed in the children's series Behind the Bike Shed, and guest roles in well-known programmes such as The Lenny Henry Show, Boon, and The Bill. He also appeared in the films How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Peter's Friends and The Crying Game. However, very early in his career he became known as an all-rounder thanks to stand-up comedy and ad-libbed performances on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and S&M with American comedian Mike McShane, as well as for writing scripts and screenplays. He was a target for satirists in the early 1990s due to his prolific appearances in so many TV shows. After a period away from TV screens, he returned in 2003 with a guest role in Casualty. He followed this up with appearances in Life Begins, The Last Detective, Bad Girls, Coronation Street, and Kingdom. In March 2011, he appeared in a reunion special of Whose Line Is It Anyway? alongside Josie Lawrence, Clive Anderson and Neil Mullarkey for Comic Relief.

Career: Peacock has had roles in a number of stage productions, including Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Sherlock Holmes, Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, What the Butler Saw, Hobson's Choice, and The Crucible. He is best known for playing Jim Trott on TV in the hugely popular BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley, a role he has played since 1994. His other TV credits include The Old Curiosity Shop, Born and Bred, Wish Me Luck, Last of the Summer Wine, Merlin of the Crystal Cave, and Magic Grandad. On the big screen, he has appeared in Hamlet (1990, Sunshine (1999), Fred Claus (2007) and Quartet (2012).

Career: Wilson has film credits, sitcoms and top dramas to his name. Only When I Laugh, Tutti Frutti and A Passage to India are among them, but it is probably for the character of Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave that he will be best remembered. The series was written with him in mind by David Renwick, though Wilson turned it down at first, believing he was too young to play a retired man. Luckily, he changed his mind and a TV legend was born. Since then he's appeared in such projects as Born and Bred, Doctor Who, and he had a regular role in BBC hit Merlin. Away from the small screen, he continues to direct plays and was awarded an OBE in 1994.

Career: Kaye got his TV break working on BBC Two's Sunday Show when he was 24, playing Dennis Pennis, a character he invented during evenings out with his friends, never expecting anything to come of it. Despite being a cult hit, Kaye decided to quit playing him when he found it difficult to get interviews with stars. Away from Pennis, he's appeared in comedy series Perfect World and Citizen Kaye, and hosted game show Liar. He has also starred in It's All Gone Pete Tong, Two Thousand Acres of Sky, Kingdom, Skins, Mongrels, Shameless and Being Human.