Kingdom

Stephen Fry (Actor) .. Peter Kingdom

Born: August 24, 1957 in Hampstead, London

Best Known For: His sharp wit.

Early-life: Stephen John Fry was born on August 24, 1957, in Hampstead, London. He grew up in Norfolk alongside an older brother and younger sister. His father, Alan, is a physicist. Fry attended public schools Stout's Hill and Uppingham (from which he was expelled), and spent time in a Young Offender's Institution after going on a spending spree with a stolen credit card. His writing and performing skills were honed at Cambridge University, where his contemporaries included Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery and Hugh Laurie.

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.

Quote: "I don't need you to remind me of my age. I have a bladder to do that for me."

Trivia: His distinctive voice has also been featured in a number of video games, including Fable II and Fable III, and as the narrator in the LittleBigPlanet games.

Hermione Norris (Actor) .. Beatrice Kingdom

Best Known For: Playing Karen in Cold Feet.

Early-life: Born in London in February 1967. Her businessman father Michael named her Hermione after Helen of Troy's daughter - her mother, a health visitor, is called Helen. Her parents split when she was four, after which she had what she describes as a "formal" relationship with her dad, who died suddenly just as she was beginning her acting career. She was brought up by her mum and grandmother in Derbyshire and London along with her three sisters and two half-sisters, and initially trained as a dancer before turning to acting.

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.

Quote: "It makes a statement my name. Immediately country homes, fishing and shooting spring to mind and that's not the reality of where I come from."

Trivia: She often gets cast as well-spoken women.

Celia Imrie (Actor) .. Gloria Millington

Born: July 15, 1952 in Guildford, Surrey

Best Known For: Her association with Victoria Wood.

Early-life: Born Celia Diana Savile Imrie in Guildford, Surrey, on July 15, 1952. Her father, David, a radiographer from Glasgow, didn't live to see his daughter's success, although she believes he would have been very proud. Her Scottish blood has come in handy in playing numerous Celts on the big and small screen, although her original dream was to be a dancer. Unfortunately, a growth spurt in her teens meant she became too tall for ballet. She worked as a cleaner before landing starring roles.

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.

Quote: On stripping off for Calendar Girls: "I am very happy now that at my time of life I have learned to laugh at my bosom. In years gone by I could never have done all this."

Trivia: In 2013, Imrie received an honorary doctorate by the University of Winchester.

Karl Davies (Actor) .. Lyle Anderson

Tony Slattery (Actor) .. Sidney Snell

Born: November 09, 1959 in London

Best Known For: Appearances on Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Early-life: Born Anthony Declan James Slattery on November 9, 1959, in Stonebridge, London, to Irish parents who also had a daughter and triplet sons. He attended Gunnersbury Boy's Grammar School in West London before winning a scholarship to Cambridge University, where he studied medieval and modern languages. It was here he met other future stars, including Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, and became a member of the Cambridge Footlights. In 1981, Tony and his fellow Footlights won the first Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival. Later, appearances in clubs won him acclaim.

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.

Quote: On his breakdown: "I rented a huge warehouse by the river Thames and stayed in there on my own for months. I was in a pool of despair and mania."

Phyllida Law (Actor) .. Aunt Auriel

Thomas Fisher (Actor) .. Ted

Maryann Turner (Actor) .. Mrs Thing

Joss Ackland (Actor) .. Mr John Narbutowicz

Born: February 29, 1928 in London

Best Known For: His instantly recognisable voice

Early-life: Sidney Edmond Jocelyn Ackland was born in 1929 in Kensington, London. He has a brother, Paddy, and a sister, Barbara. Joss studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama, before making his stage debut at the tender age of 17 in a 1945 production of The Hasty Heart. He met his wife, Rosemary during a production in Pitlochry, Scotland, and the pair moved to South Africa after Joss decided to quit acting in 1955. They returned two years later, when he joined The Old Vic and began establishing himself as a major player on the stage.

Career: While beavering away in theatre, where he was associate director of The Mermaid and had become an established star in the West End, Joss was also appearing in TV series such as The Avengers, Z Cars and The Persuaders. His most high-profile role came in the 1987 movie White Mischief, which brought him to the attention of Hollywood. Since then, he has amassed an eclectic body of work, including the films Lethal Weapon 2, The Hunt for Red October and These Foolish Things. His small-screen CV is equally impressive, and includes starring in Sky One's lavish adaptation of Terry Pratchett's Hogfather.

Quote: On the parts being offered to him in 2000: "I'm so tired of not being able to make a movie without a car chase, or the villain dying twice. It's all exactly the same."

Trivia: He was awarded a CBE in 2001 for services to acting.

Rory Bremner (Actor) .. Vicar

Born: April 06, 1961 in Edinburgh

Best Known For: Impersonating countless political figures.

Early-life: Born Roderick Keith Ogilvy Bremner in Edinburgh on April 6, 1961, Rory realised from an early age he wanted to go into comedy, encouraged by the huge amount of performers travelling to his home city on a yearly basis for the Fringe festival. While attending King's College in London where he studied French and German, he decided to go it alone as a stand-up act, and soon caught the attention of the Fringe's organisers, who asked him to perform at the event he had grown up loving.

Career: As his reputation gathered momentum, Rory was approached to present BBC Radio 4's The Fringe Show, which led to appearances on the station's topical comedy series Week Ending. It was while working on the project he met John Langdon, who went on to be Bremner's permanent co-writer. After a spell on ITV's And There's More, as well as his own BBC Two show, Rory was given his own programme on Channel 4 at the tender age of 24. The impressionist also scored a chart hit with the single Nineteen Not Out. He has gone on to host Rory Bremner, Who Else?, Bremner, Bird and Fortune and provided a plethora of voices for Spitting Image.

Quote: "I think if there is a God it's very important he has a sense of humour - otherwise you're in for a very miserable afterlife."

Trivia: He speaks French and German.

Scott Joseph (Actor) .. Policeman

Colin Farrell (Actor) .. Mr Waller

Born: May 31, 1976 in Dublin

Best Known For: His partying lifestyle.

Early-life: Born Colin James Farrell on May 31, 1976, in Castleknock, Dublin. He's the youngest of four children, and one of his sisters, Claudine, is now his personal assistant. His father, Eamon, was a professional footballer, and Farrell thought of following in his footsteps until he realised his love of drinking and girls got in the way of training. Instead, he concentrated on acting after being taken to a drama club by his brother.

Career: Farrell dropped out of Gaeity Drama School in Dublin, but landed a part in Ballykissangel a few months later. Roles in The War Zone, and Ordinary Decent Criminal followed before Hollywood beckoned. An acclaimed performance in Tigerland in 2000 led to him being cast in Hart's War, and Minority Report. Phone Booth, his first lead role, was a hit and made him a force to be reckoned with. Since then, Farrell has starred in such films as The Recruit, Daredevil, Intermission, Alexander, Miami Vice, In Bruges (for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Crazy Heart and Ondien. He always has a number of films in the pipeline.

Quote: "I'm in no hurry to get anywhere. I don't have any plans. If you did in this business, you'd destroy yourself."

Trivia: He failed an audition to become a member of Boyzone.

Ann Penfold (Actor) .. Mrs Waller

Stephen Marcus (Actor) .. Hill

Kelly Campbell (Actor) .. Honor O'Sullivan

Alan Whiting (Writer)

Simon Wheeler (Executive producer)

Georgina Lowe (Producer)

Sandy Johnson (Director)

9:00 pm - 10:00 pm, Thursday, February 12 on U&Drama +1 (60)

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Season 1, Episode 6

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