Career: Roles in films such as Doctor in Love, The Mouse on the Moon, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and Charlie Bubbles followed. BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine made him a household name. He featured in all 295 episodes as Norman Clegg between 1973 and 2010. He also played his character's father in short-lived prequel First of the Summer Wine. He was also the voice of Wallace of Wallace & Gromit fame in the acclaimed A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and A Matter of Loaf and Death. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's 2007 Birthday Honours list for services to drama. He died on June 2, 2017 at the age of 96.

Career: Fiennes' film debut was in Wuthering Heights opposite Juliette Binoche in 1992. It was his performances in that and the acclaimed 1990 TV drama A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia that impressed Steven Spielberg so much he cast him in Schindler's List. That movie launched his Hollywood career and he was soon snapped up for Quiz Show, Strange Days, The English Patient, The End of the Affair and Red Dragon. In 1995, he won a Tony Award for his role as Hamlet on Broadway. More recently, Fiennes has worked in such diverse projects as Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, The Constant Gardener, The White Countess, In Bruges, The Reader, Clash of the Titans, Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang and four Harry Potter movies. He made his directorial debut with Coriolanus in 2011, and is the Bond franchise's latest M.

Career: Helena's professional debut came at 16 in a TV commercial, swiftly followed by small-screen movie Pattern of Roses. The film Lady Jane followed, but it was 1985's A Room with a View which made her a star. Roles in Hamlet, Howards End and Frankenstein followed, and she was Oscar-nominated for 1997's The Wings of the Dove. The actress went on to prove she could do more than just period drama in projects such as Fight Club, Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and lent her voice to animated movies Corpse Bride and Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. She made her musical debut in the big-screen version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. She's since appeared in Dark Shadows, Les Miserables and Burton & Taylor, and played Bellatrix Lestrange in several of the Harry Potter movies.

Career: Kay won the City Life Northwest Comedian of the Year title and Channel 4's So You Think You're Funny contest in 1997. His first programme, The Services, was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award and led to his debut series, That Peter Kay Thing. His other acting work includes roles in 24 Hour Party People, Phoenix Nights, Linda Green, Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere, Doctor Who, Coronation Street, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, and Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice. He has also fronted commercials, lent his voice to various animated projects, released a number of charity singles, appeared on stage in The Producers in Manchester and Cardiff in 2007 and published three volumes of autobiography. He returned to TV screens in 2015 with new sitcom Peter Kay's Car Share.

Career: Although Smith had an uncredited role in 1970's Leo the Last, she didn't act professionally until the age of 50 when she was cast in Mike Leigh's Bleak Moments. She's rarely been out of work since, is equally at home in comedy and drama, and is now regarded as a national treasure. Among her projects are I Didn't Know You Cared, Russ Abbot's Madhouse, The French Lieutenant's Woman, A Private Function, The Vicar of Dibley, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Royle Family. More recently she appeared in the film City of Ember, and in 2006 published her autobiography, Our Betty.

Career: While at university, Thomson met Steve Coogan, who secured him a job on Spitting Image. They would continue to collaborate on such programmes as Coogan's Run , the Paul and Pauline Calf video diaries (where he played Fat Bob) and Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge, which he also contributed to writing. In 1994, Thomson appeared in the BBC sketch series The Fast Show. He made guest appearances on various series such as Soldier Soldier, Playing the Field and Men Behaving Badly in the 1990s before being cast as Pete Gifford in the ITV hit comedy drama Cold Feet. He participated in the BBC series Comic Relief does Fame Academy and chalked up several TV shows before starring in another TV series, New Street Law, about a Manchester chambers. He has since appeared in Kingdom and Coronation Street.

Career: Gatiss eventually settled in London, where he hoped to earn a living as an actor but made ends meet writing Doctor Who books. He and friends Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith and Jeremy Dyson formed The League of Gentlemen in 1995, which had successful stints on stage, radio, TV and film. Since then he's appeared in Bright Young Things, Marple, The Quatermass Experiment, Nighty Night and Jekyll. Gatiss was also script editor on the first Little Britain series, and has penned episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Doctor Who (in which he's also appeared). He portrayed Malcolm MacLaren in the 2010 drama Worried About the Boy and co-created Sherlock with Steven Moffat.