Benidorm

Nathan Bryon (Actor) .. Joey

Jake Canuso (Actor) .. Mateo

Born: January 13, 1970 in Near Zurich

Best Known For: Playing barman Mateo in Benidorm.

Early-life: Born Carmine Canuso near Zurich on January 13, 1970 to Italian parents. By the age of 16, he was the youngest member of Zurich's leading contemporary dance company. He performed on the stage and in TV shows in Paris before spending a year in London training at the London Studio Centre. After finishing the course, he trained and performed in New York. He returned to Paris and got to work with Roman Polanski in a piece at the Opera de Bastille.

Career: After settling in London, Canuso danced on tour with a number of artists, including Take That, East 17, Elton John, the Spice Girls and Annie Lennox. He also performed on various TV shows such as the Les Dawson Show, the Royal Variety Performance and Top of the Pops. Canuso eventually made the move into acting and his TV credits include guest appearances in Hustle, Heartbeat, Casualty, Doctors, Shameless, The Hour and Bad Education. He is best known for playing barman Mateo in ITV sitcom Benidorm. On the big screen, he has appeared in Kinky Boots (2005), Journal of a Contract Killer (2008), City Rats (2009) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Quote: On his Benidorm character: "I don't think there are many similarities between me and Mateo actually. We are quite far apart as people."

Trivia: He speaks six languages.

John Challis (Actor) .. Monty

Janine Duvitski (Actor) .. Jacqueline

Best Known For: Waiting for God, One Foot in the Grave and Benidorm.

Early-life: Born Christine Janine Drzewicki in Morecambe in June 1952 to an English mother and a Polish father. She moved to London to train as an actor at the East 15 Acting School. Her first TV credit was an episode of Z Cars in 1972. After finishing her training and despite being in her early 20s, she landed the role of a 13-year-old girl in the 1975 BBC play Diane. Her big break came in 1977 when Mike Leigh cast her in his stage play Abigail's Party. She went on to play the same role in an abridged TV version for the BBC.

Career: Duvitski has worked steadily on TV in a number of shows, popping up in the likes of Citizen Smith, Minder, Cowboys, The New Statesman, Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War and Little Dorrit. Her face is better known to audiences as prudish assistant Jane in Waiting for God, Victor and Margaret's neighbour Pippa in One Foot in the Grave and swinger Jacqueline in Benidorm. She has also appeared on the big screen in Dracula (1979), Breaking Glass (1980) and The Madness of King George (1994).

Quote: "People really do seem to believe I'm a swinger!"

Trivia: Duvitski enjoys reading when she's not filming.

Steve Edge (Actor) .. Billy

Kate Fitzgerald (Actor) .. Loretta

Adam Gillen (Actor) .. Liam

Julie Graham (Actor) .. Sheron

Born: July 24, 1965 in Irvine, North Ayrshire

Best Known For: At Home with the Braithwaites.

Early-life: Born July 24, 1965 in Irvine, North Ayrshire. Her father, John, a singer, left when she was a child. At the age of eight, writer/broadcaster David Webster became her stepfather. Her mother, Betty Gillin, who was also an actress, died of lung cancer, aged 50, when her daughter was 18. Julie made her TV debut in a 1986 episode of Taggart. It was the role of Alison McGrellis in Casualty in 1988 that helped boost her profile.

Career: Graham also starred in the TV series Harry and Life Support. However, she became a household name in comedy drama At Home with the Braithwaites. In 2003 she starred in Kay Mellor's steamy series Between the Sheets, and the same year appeared with Martin Clunes in the drama William and Mary (they were reunited years later when she made a guest appearance in Doc Martin). Her film credits include Silent Scream, Nuns on the Run, The Near Room, Preaching to the Perverted, Bedrooms and Hallways and Some Voices. She's also appeared in a revamp of cult 1970s series Survivors, The Bill, and was the best thing about short-lived BBC archaeological drama Bonekickers. More recently, Graham has enjoyed success with a starring role in ITV's period crime drama The Bletchley Circle and the BBC's Shetland.

Quote: "Yes I've taken my clothes off and, yes, I've played saucy roles. But for god's sake it's not what I've built my career on. I try to find roles that are a little bit outside the box."

Trivia: She is a patron of children's hospice Chestnut Tree House.

Sherrie Hewson (Actor) .. Joyce

Born: September 17, 1950 in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire

Best Known For: Coronation Street and Loose Women.

Early-life: Sherrie Lynn Hutchinson was born in Burton Joyce, Nottinghamshire, on September 17, 1950. Her father was a singer and her mother was a model. From the age of six, Sherrie began touring theatres in revues. She went on to graduate from Rada. Early TV appearances included roles in The Moonstone, Love for Lydia, Z Cars, Minder, Juliet Bravo and The Gentle Touch.

Career: Hewson's talent for comedy led to her working in various Russ Abbot TV shows for more than 10 years. Other comedy credits include All at Number 20, In Loving Memory, Never the Twain, Home to Roost and Barbara. In 1993, she was cast in Coronation Street as accident-prone supermarket assistant Maureen Naylor. She stayed with the show until 1997 and made a brief return in 2006. Another soap beckoned in 2001 when she began playing receptionist Virginia Raven in the short-lived revival of Crossroads. In 2004, she joined the cast of her third soap opera, Emmerdale. She remained on the Yorkshire-based show for two years. Since 2003, Hewson has been a regular panellist on Loose Women. More recently, she has been playing hotel manager Joyce Temple-Savage in ITV sitcom Benidorm. In August 2015, she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house.

Quote: "Benidorm isn't really the place to find romance," she says. "It's either couples or stag dos, or blokes getting drunk and going to the girlie bars."

Trivia: In 2011, Hewson published her autobiography, Behind the Laughter.

Bobby Knutt (Actor) .. Eddie

Shelley Longworth (Actor) .. Sam

Tony Maudsley (Actor) .. Kenneth

Born: January 30, 1968 in Kirkby, Merseyside

Best Known For: Playing hairdresser Kenneth in Benidorm.

Early-life: Tony was born in Kirkby, Merseyside, on January 30, 1968. He trained to be an actor at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. His first acting role was in the 1998 TV movie A Life for a Life.

Career: Maudsley made his film debut in Plunkett & Macleane (1999). His other film credits include Sleepy Hollow (1999), Honest (2000) and Born Romantic (2000). He is largely known for small parts on TV. These have included roles in the likes of Coronation Street, Queer as Folk, Where the Heart Is, Peak Practice, Rose and Maloney, and Doc Martin. He has had recurring roles on In a Land of Plenty, Eyes Down, The Royal and The Job Lot. He is perhaps best known for playing hairdresser Kenneth in Benidorm and Grawp in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).

Quote: On filming Benidorm: "It was like being on holiday. It's friendly, there's so much to do."

Trivia: He won a Royal Television Society Best Newcomer award for his role in A Life for a Life.

Julian Moore-Cook (Actor) .. Callum

Bobby Ball (Actor) .. Ron Pickford

Born: January 28, 1944 in Oldham, Lancashire

Best Known For: Being half of the comedy double act Cannon and Ball.

Early-life: Born Robert Harper in Oldham, Lancashire, on January 28, 1944. He developed a passion for showbusiness at an early age, but decided to get a "proper" job so he worked in a factory as a welder. There he met future comedy partner Thomas Derbyshire. The pair clicked and formed the double act Cannon and Ball. Honing their craft in the pubs and clubs of Britain, they enjoyed TV fame thanks to BBC's Seaside Special and ITV's The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club.

Career: Eventually, Cannon and Ball impressed ITV bosses enough to land their own series. Throughout the 1980s they were one of the hottest comedy acts in showbusiness, with their show Cannon & Ball running from 1979 to 1988. By the 1990s their popularity was on the wane. In 2005, Bobby appeared with Tommy Cannon in the fifth series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! In recent years Bobby has starred in a number of sitcoms and dramas, including The Fattest Man in Britain, Last of the Summer Wine, Mount Pleasant, Not Going Out and The Security Men. In 2012, he was a contestant on the Christmas edition of Strictly Come Dancing.

Quote: Regarding his comedy partnership with Tommy Cannon: "People say that we're icons but I just see myself as someone who goes on and makes people laugh."

Trivia: A devout Christian, Ball divides his time between touring, appearing on TV and performing in gospel shows.

Michael Fenton Stevens (Actor) .. Sir Henry

James Lance (Actor) .. Angelo

Derren Litten (Actor) .. Elvis

Claire Sweeney (Actor) .. Maxine

Born: April 17, 1971 in Liverpool

Best Known For: Playing Lindsey Corkhill on Brookside.

Early-life: Born in Walton, Liverpool in 1971, Claire developed a love of music and drama at a young age. When she was 11, her mum sent to the Elliott-Clarke Stage School in Liverpool, mainly because she had bad memories of attending the local comprehensive, which strengthened Claire's ambition to be a performer. At 18, she won a place at the prestigious Italia Conti School in London, and in 1991 made a brief appearance as Lindsey on Brookside, before leaving to concentrate on her singing career.

Career: Claire spent four years singing on cruise ships, and when she got back to dry land in 1995, decided to get in touch with the Brookside producers to see if they would be interested in bringing her character back. As luck would have it, they were working on a storyline involving Lindsey, and she got the role. Claire stayed with the soap until 2003, but her profile received a further boost when she came second in the first series of Celebrity Big Brother in 2001. Since then, she has acted in the series Clocking Off and Merseybeat, released an album and performed extensively on stage in musicals including Chicago, Guys and Dolls, and Fosse. She's also competed in Strictly Come Dancing, and worked as a presenter on shows including Here Comes the Sun, Challenge of a Lifetime and 60 Minute Makeover.

Quote: "It's funny how it's all worked out. I just see myself as a working actress - I do shows, I do bits for the telly and I really don't analyse it."

Trivia: She co-wrote the comedy musical Sex and the Suburbs. It was staged in 2014.

Layton Williams (Actor) .. Larry

John-Paul Jones (Actor) .. Neptunes Singer

Ashley Rebanks (Actor) .. Neptunes Singer

Holly Johnson (Actor) .. Himself

Simon Bird (Producer)

Born: August 19, 1984 in Guildford, Surrey

Best Known For: The Inbetweeners.

Early-life: Simon Antony Bird was born in Guildford, Surrey, in 1984. He attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, where he became an accomplished violinist and took part in a variety of orchestras. He then moved on to study English at Queens' College, Cambridge. Alongside his studies, he got involved with the illustrious Footlights drama group, eventually being elected as its chairman in 2005.

Career: After leaving Cambridge, Bird set up the sketch comedy group The House of Windsor with Inbetweeners co-star Joe Thomas. They performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and 2008, receiving favourable coverage in the national press. His breakthrough came in 2008 when he was cast as Will McKenzie in the delightfully crude high-school sitcom The Inbetweeners. He was named Best Actor at the 2009 British Comedy Awards. Three series of The Inbetweeners was followed by a hugely successful movie version. The movie sequel was released in August 2014. He has also hosted comedy panel show The King is Dead and starred in Friday Night Dinner and Chickens.

Quote: "I'm pretty geeky I think. I don't really have to act that much! Hopefully I'm not quite as officious as Will, but yeah I've definitely got some geeky tendencies."

Paul Jackson (Executive producer)

12:05 am - 01:05 am, Friday, February 6 on That's TV (56)

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Season 10, Episode 9

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