Career: Following a successful spell on stage he turned to movies, making a massive impact as Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy in 1986, and Prick Up Your Ears a year later. Alcoholism threatened his career, but he has now quit booze. His roles include playing Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, the title role in Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Mason Verger in Hannibal. Other projects include Lost in Space, Leon, and The Fifth Element. His directorial debut, the acclaimed Nil By Mouth, was a heart-breaking, semi-autobiographical movie about his childhood. Oldman suffered a career slump around the Millennium, when he concentrated more on raising his young family than he did on acting. But he came back stronger than ever with roles in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy (for which he was Oscar nominated) and the Batman franchise.

Career: Firth worked steadily throughout the 1980s in notable projects such as Falklands drama Tumbledown, A Month in the Country (opposite Kenneth Branagh) and the period offering Valmont. But it was the 1995 costume drama Pride and Prejudice that made him a superstar. Since then, he's notched up roles in several successful films, including The English Patient, Fever Pitch, Shakespeare in Love, The Importance of Being Earnest, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Love Actually, both Bridget Jones movies, both St Trinian's films, The Accidental Husband, Mamma Mia! and A Single Man. It was 2010 movie The King's Speech that really consolidated his reputation. It garnered a number of glittering awards and Firth's Bafta Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role was consolidated by an Academy Award for Best Actor. Films since include Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Magic in the Moonlight.

Career: Hardy made his film debut in Black Hawk Down in 2001. A year later he starred in Star Trek: Nemesis and in 2003 he won the London Evening Standard Theatre Award for his performances in Blood and In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. He continued to make a name for himself on the small screen in The Virgin Queen, Meadowlands, Oliver Twist and The Take, and on the big screen in RocknRolla, Bronson, Inception, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, This Means War and Lawless. He delivered a standout performance as the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, before scoring a critical hit with Locke in 2013. More recently he's taken the lead role in Mad Max: Fury Road, and played both Kray twins in Legend.

Career: Hurt made both his London stage debut (in the acclaimed Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger) and his first film, The Wild and the Willing, in 1962. More theatre work and films such as A Man for All Seasons and 10 Rillington Place followed. In 1975, he won a Bafta for his portrayal of Quentin Crisp in TV drama The Naked Civil Servant, which made his name. He received Oscar nominations for Midnight Express and The Elephant Man. Other acclaimed projects included Nineteen Eighty-Four, Scandal, Alien and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He also portrayed the Tory politician Alan Clark in The Alan Clark Diaries for the BBC. He reprised his role as Quentin Crisp in 2009 in An Englishman in New York. He went on to appear in the final two Harry Potter films, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Doctor Who. He died on January 27, 2017, at the age of 77.

Career: Cumberbatch has divided his professional time between stage, film and TV. He's performed in various London venues, including the Royal Court and National Theatre, and in 2011 he shared the Olivier Award for Best Actor with his Frankenstein co-star Jonny Lee Miller. His first film was 2003's To Kill a King; projects since include Starter for 10, Amazing Grace, The Other Boleyn Girl, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and War Horse. His biggest successes, however, have come on TV in Hawking, The Last Enemy, Parade's End and, of course, Sherlock. He's also worked on The Hobbit movies and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Career: Jones' TV credits include Cadfael, Midsomer Murders, The Last Detective, Doctor Who, Poirot and the miniseries Titanic. On the big screen, the in-demand actor has starred in Infamous (2006), St Trinian's (2007), Frost/Nixon (2008), W (2008), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), My Week with Marilyn (2011), The Hunger Games films, Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Serena (2014). More recently, he has starred on TV in Agent Carter, Wayward Pines, Capital, Detectorists and The Secret Agent. He plays Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army (2016). He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Alfred Hitchcock in the TV movie The Girl.

Career: Strong made his TV debut in a 1989 episode of After Henry and followed this up with a number of guest roles in the likes of The Bill, Inspector Morse, Prime Suspect 3 and Kavanagh QC. In 1996, he had a starring role in acclaimed BBC miniseries Our Friends in the North. Since then he has appeared in dozens of TV shows and featured in a number of films, including Revolver (2005), Syriana (2005), RocknRolla (2008), Kick-Ass (2010), Robin Hood (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), John Carter (2012) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). In 2013, Strong played a detective in short-lived AMC crime drama Low Winter Sun, reprising the lead role he played in the original 2006 British miniseries.

Career: Roger's first film was 1968's The Magus, opposite Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn. He then featured in movies including Hamlet, The Go-Between and Fiddler on the Roof. Appearances in cult shows The Protectors and Jason King followed. He went on to feature in acclaimed programmes The Naked Civil Servant and Play for Today before accepting the role which made him a household name - Trigger in Only Fools and Horses. He went on to star in a wide variety of projects, including The Vicar of Dibley, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Vanity Fair, Doctor Who, Poirot, The Borgias and The Old Guys. He died of pancreatic cancer on January 15, 2014. He was 69.