Cracker - The Big Crunch - Part One - 11:20 pm Sunday, January 11 on That's TV 3

Robbie Coltrane (Actor) .. Dr Eddie `Fitz" Fitzgerald

Born: March 30, 1950 in Rutherglen, near Glasgow

Best Known For: Playing psychologist Fitz in Cracker, and Hagrid in the Harry Potter films.

Early-life: Born Anthony Robert McMillan on March 30, 1950, in Rutherglen, near Glasgow, Coltrane's father Ian was a GP and a police surgeon who was keen to educate his son and encourage him to read as much as possible. Mother Jean was a teacher and musician who often played the piano for her son. At 17, his father died of lung cancer. His younger sister Jane later committed suicide while attending York University.

Career: Coltrane first captured the public's attention as a member of the Comic Strip team in 1982, co-writing and co-directing the series as well as starring. He'd done the rounds as a stand-up comedian, but realised he wanted to pursue a career in acting. He has proven himself to be capable of doing straight roles and comedy, winning three Best Actor Bafta Awards for crime drama series Cracker. He has also won roles in big-budget movies, including two outings as a Bond villain in Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough, and more recently as Hagrid in the Harry Potter films as well as voicing roles in several children's animations. Robbie received an OBE for services to drama in 2006.

Quote: "My size? I am six foot one inch in just about every direction."

Trivia: Away from acting, Coltrane is a talented painter.

Ricky Tomlinson (Actor) .. DCI Charlie Wise

Born: September 26, 1939 in Blackpool

Best Known For: Playing Jim in The Royle Family.

Early-life: Born Eric Tomlinson in Blackpool on September 26, 1939, but has lived mostly in Liverpool. His father was a baker, while his mother had three jobs. He wanted to be a footballer, but playing the banjo in clubs and pubs became more important. After marrying, he moved to Wrexham and worked as a plasterer - which led to his involvement in a 1972 strike and a subsequent prison sentence. Upon his release in 1975, he set himself up as an entertainer, and in 1980 he had a small part in Alan Bleasdale's Boys from the Blackstuff.

Career: Tomlinson's big break came when he landed the role of Bobby Grant in Channel 4 soap opera Brookside. He stayed with the show for six years until 1988, after which he featured in Ken Loach's gritty drama Riff-Raff. TV projects since then have included Roughnecks, Cracker, Playing the Field and Clocking Off, while his film CV boasts offerings such as The 51st State and Mike Bassett: England Manager. He became a comedy icon 1998 thanks to his role in the comedy series The Royle Family. He opened his own cabaret club, The Green Room, in Liverpool in May 2010. He has reportedly donated £1million to the Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool.

Quote: "I never had acting lessons so I'm still an old ham, probably playing myself most of the time."

Trivia: A play entitled United We Stand tells the story of Tomlinson's incarceration. It toured the UK in 2014.

Barbara Flynn (Actor) .. Judith Fitzgerald

Geraldine Somerville (Actor) .. DS Jane Penhaligon

Lorcan Cranitch (Actor) .. DS Jimmy Beck

Colin Tierney (Actor) .. DC Bobby Harriman

Wilbert Johnson (Actor) .. PC Skelton

Kieran O'Brien (Actor) .. Mark Fitzgerald

Best Known For: A string of roles.

Early-life: Kieran was born in Oldham in 1973. He made his acting debut at a young age in the children's drama Jossy's Giants. Guest appearances followed in One by One, Bulman, Bellman and True and Gruey. He also had a role on Children's Ward, playing Lee Jones. In the early 1990s, he had recurring roles in Coronation Street and Cracker.

Career: In 1999, O'Brien made his film debut in Virtual Sexuality. His other film credits include 24 Hour Party People (2002), 9 Songs (2004), Goal! The Dream Begins (2005) and Goal II: Living the Dream (2007). More recently, he has starred on the small screen in Bluestone 42, Silk, Grantchester, The Syndicate and Prey.

Quote: On his graphic sex scenes in the film 9 Songs: "To me they were just scenes we were shooting, and I was surprised how ordinary and how natural it was."

Trivia: In 2013, O'Brien toured in a UK stage production of The Full Monty.

Jim Carter (Actor) .. Kenneth Trant

Born: August 19, 1948 in Harrogate

Best Known For: Being a popular character actor.

Early-life: Jim was born in Harrogate on August 19, 1948. At the University of Sussex, he studied law and was a member of their drama society. He dropped out of university after two years to join a fringe theatre group, the Brighton Combination.

Career: In 1977, Carter joined the National Theatre Company and a year later became a member of the Young Vic Company. In the same year, he went to America to learn juggling, unicycling and tightrope walking. Over the years, Carter has starred in a number of National Theatre productions, including The Mayor of Zalamea, Guys and Dolls and The President of an Empty Room. One of the busiest character actors around, his TV credits are numerous and include A Monocled Mutineer, The Singing Detective, A Very British Coup, Lipstick on Your Collar, Minder, Cracker, Midsomer Murders and Cranford. Equally prolific on the big screen, he has starred in A Private Function (1984), Brassed Off (1996), Shakespeare in Love (1998), 102 Dalmations (2000), Ella Enchanted (2004), The Golden Compass (2007) and My Week with Marilyn (2011). In 2010, he began playing butler Mr Carson in the hugely popular Downton Abbey, a role that has brought him international recognition.

Quote: "I've been recognised a lot more since playing Carson, although in England people are naturally quite diffident about leaping up to you. In America it's a different story."

Trivia: Carter has been chairman of Hampstead Cricket Club since 2010.

Samantha Morton (Actor) .. Joanne Barnes

Born: May 13, 1977 in Nottingham

Best Known For: A series of exceptionally varied roles.

Early-life: Born Samantha Jane Morton in Nottingham on May 13, 1977, to parents who divorced when she was three. They both subsequently remarried, and she has eight brothers and sisters. Samantha was inspired by a teacher to think about a career in acting, and went on to train at the Central Junior Television Workshop. She left at the age of 16 and joined the Royal Court theatre group. At the same time, she appeared in episodes of Soldier Soldier, Boon, Peak Practice and Cracker, and first attracted major attention playing a young prostitute in Band of Gold. She followed that up with leading roles in adaptations of Emma and Jane Eyre.

Career: Samantha's first major movie, Under the Skin gained her a Best Actress Award from the Boston Film Critics Society. The attention made director Woody Allen take notice and he cast her as Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Samantha then played a heroin addict in Jesus' Son, gave another superb performance in Morvern Caller, and was subsequently cast by Steven Spielberg for the sci-fi thriller Minority Report opposite Tom Cruise. The 2002 In America role, which saw her as a young Irish mother coping with life in New York City, won her numerous accolades and another Academy-Award nod. She gained more critical acclaim for her portrayal of Moors murderer Myra Hindley in Channel 4's drama Longford. She made her directorial debut in 2009 with Channel 4 drama The Unloved.

Quote: "Acting and music are self-indulgent professions. I have a love/hate relationship with what I do."

Trivia: In 2012, Morton supported the Fostering Network's annual campaign Foster Care Fortnight.

James Fleet (Actor) .. Michael Trant

Born: March 11, 1954 in Bilston, Staffordshire

Best Known For: The Vicar of Dibley and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Early-life: James Edward Fleet was born in Bilston, Staffordshire, on March 11, 1954 to a Scottish mother, Christine, and an English father, Jim. He moved to a town near Aberdeen at the age of 10 with his mother when his dad died. He studied engineering at university before training as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He began his career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in several plays in the early 1980s.

Career: Fleet is best known for playing the bumbling Tom in the 1984 romantic comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the dim-witted Hugo Horton in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. He had a stint in Coronation Street in 2010 and his other TV credits include roles in Midsomer Murders, Being Human, Death Comes to Pemberley and Bad Education. On the big screen, he has appeared in Sense and Sensibility (1995), The Phantom of the Opera (2004) and Charlotte Gray (2001).

Quote: "Casting directors tend to see me as a posh idiot."

Trivia: Fleet is a keen biker.

Maureen O'Brien (Actor) .. Virginia Trant

Cherith Mellor (Actor) .. Norma Trant

Darren Tighe (Actor) .. Dean Saunders

Roger Sloman (Actor) .. Mr Barnes

Ellie Haddington (Actor) .. Mrs Barnes

Emma Cunniffe (Actor) .. Sarah Jennings

Ted Whitehead (Writer)

Julian Jarrold (Director)

Paul Abbott (Producer)

Cracker: The Big Crunch - Part One

11:20 pm - 12:20 am, Today on That's TV 3 (71)

About this Broadcast

The Big Crunch - Part One
Season 2, Episode 4

Cast & Crew

More Information

Did You Know..

Before / After