Career: Atkinson's first professional success came in 1978 via the radio show The Atkinson People; it was co-written by Curtis and produced by Griff Rhys Jones. He then became part of the Not the Nine O'Clock News team before creating the character of Edmund in The Black Adder 1983. The sitcom ran for four series and a number of specials. He also created the affable idiot Mr Bean, who appeared in a number of one-off TV specials and two hugely successful films. Other projects include Johnny English and its sequel, The Thin Blue Line, The Witches, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Rat Race. Atkinson also appeared at the Olympics opening ceremony and returned to the West End stage to star in Quartermaine's Terms. He was awarded a CBE in 2013.

Career: Briers' film career began in the 1960s with British features including Bottoms Up, Murder She Said, and The Girl on the Boat. He turned his attention to TV, gaining fame initially in the sitcom Marriage Lines, but it's probably for The Good Life that he will be best remembered. He teamed up again with its creators, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, on the 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. Briers went on to join Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company, taking on more classical and Shakespearean roles including King Lear and Uncle Vanya. He's also appeared in Monarch of the Glen, Peter Pan, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Torchwood. He voiced the cartoon Roobarb twice - in 1974 and 2005.

Career: Working steadily throughout his career, he is best known today as Patrick Trueman in EastEnders, a role he has played since 2001. Although most of his work has been on TV, he has appeared in several movies, including 10 Rillington Place, King Ralph, and Let Him Have It. He has also played the titular character in stage productions of Shakespeare's Othello, directed by David Thacker and Charles Marowitz, and also as Caliban in a production of The Tempest directed by Jonathan Miller.

Career: Goodall got his big break into TV composing music for Not the Nine O'Clock News. He has since become well known for composing the main themes and incidental music for a number of other comedy programmes, including Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Mr Bean, The Thin Blue Line, The Vicar of Dibley, The Catherine Tate Show, 2point4 Children and QI. Goodall has also presented a variety of music-related programmes, including BBC's Choir of the Year, Young Musician of the Year, Howard Goodall's How Music Works, The Truth About Christmas Carols and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years. Aside from his TV work, he is behind a number of musical theatre adaptations, including the Ivor Novello-winning The Hired Man, Love Story and Bend It Like Beckham The Musical. He has also created a number of choral works.