Career: After graduating, Palin presented TV show Now! and worked in light entertainment. In 1966, he and Jones began writing for BBC comedy shows. Three years later, they joined forces with John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam to front ground-breaking sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. A huge hit, 45 episodes were made between 1969 and 1974, as well as five films. Palin has also starred in movies including A Fish Called Wanda, A Private Function, and American Friends (which he also wrote), and appeared in acclaimed TV drama GBH. Since the mid-1980s, he's become famous for globetrotting programmes such as Around the World in 80 Days and Pole to Pole. He's written books to accompany each series, as well as two novels; three volumes of his diaries have also been published. He delivered 2013's Royal Television Society lecture.

Career: After the war, Le Mesurier returned to the stage and made his film debut in 1948 in Death in the Hand. He appeared in a number of films and television series during the 1950s and 1960s, including I'm All Right Jack, I Was Monty's Double, Hancock's Half Hour and The Pink Panther. In 1968, he landed the role that made him famous, playing Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad's Army. He won a Best Actor Bafta in 1971 for his performance in Dennis Potter's Traitor. He continued to be in demand after Dad's Army finished in 1977, appearing in a number of TV programmes, including Ripping Yarns, Worzel Gummidge, Brideshead Revisited and Hi-de-Hi! He died from a stomach haemorrhage on November 15, 1983, at the age of 71.

Career: Bresslaw went on to star in 14 Carry On films, including Carry On.. Up the Khyber, Carry on Camping, Carry on Abroad, and Carry On Screaming! Other films included Jabberwocky (1977), Krull (1983) and Leon the Pig Farmer (1992). On the stage, he appeared in a number of pantomimes and also performed with the Young Vic Theatre Company, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. He died of a heart attack at the age of 59 on June 11, 1993, the day after fellow comedy actor Les Dawson.

Career: Gilliam created the animated segments for Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python's Flying Circus before co-directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Terry Jones in 1974. He made his solo project Jabberwocky in 1977 and was art director on Monty Python's Life of Brian. His first blockbuster was 1981's Time Bandits, which paved the way for the controversial Brazil four years later. His follow-up, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, was one of the industry's most expensive flops, but Gilliam redeemed himself with The Fisher King in 1991. Other movies include Twelve Monkeys, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the much-delayed The Brothers Grimm, Tideland, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.