Career: Mayall made his small-screen debut in 1981 as the protagonist in Kevin Turvey Investigates, closely followed by TV series A Kick Up the Eighties and small roles in films Eye of the Needle and An American Werewolf in London. He shot to fame a year later when he co-wrote and starred in the BBC sitcom The Young Ones. With partner Adrian Edmondson, Mayall created The Dangerous Brothers for Saturday Live, then reteamed with fellow Young One Nigel Planer for Filthy Rich & Catflap in 1987. The same year, he won huge acclaim and a new fanbase with political satire The New Statesman. Other offerings include the movie Drop Dead Fred, Eat the Rich, Carry On Columbus, Guest House Paradiso, Rik Mayall Presents... and the hugely successful Bottom. In 2013, he starred in Channel 4 sitcom Man Down. He died on June 9, 2014

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: Following a spell with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Parker made his TV debut in 1988's Piece of Cake. He has worked constantly ever since, including a four-year stint abroad during which he appeared in Hollywood films Hamlet and The Bodyguard, although he didn't become a well-known face until ITV's 1998 adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowd. Since then he's starred in the BBC's Vanity Fair, and took over from John Hannah in McCallum. Other notable projects include Othello (directed by his brother), Wide Sargasso Sea, The Haunted Mansion, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries and Stardust. More recently, he has starred in Merlin.

Career: Clunes made his TV debut in a 1983 Doctor Who adventure, followed by a regular role in sitcom No Place Like Home. In 1990 he appeared alongside Sean Connery in The Russia House and two years later in the much-maligned comedy Carry On Columbus. He turned to directing again with comedy film Staggered, in which he also starred. Men Behaving Badly made him a household name - but not until original co-star Harry Enfield was replaced by Neil Morrissey and the series moved from ITV to the BBC. He has chalked up a major success for ITV as über-grumpy GP Doc Martin. Clunes has also presented several documentaries, and appeared in such series as William and Mary, A is for Acid, The Town and Reggie Perrin.