Career: Hill went on to become one of British TV's most reliable character actors. The projects I, Claudius, Professional Foul and Pit Strike brought him great acclaim. However, it was Alan Bleasdale's 1980 series Boys From the Blackstuff that made him a household name. It brought him to the attention of director Peter Jackson who considered him for the role of Gandalf, before eventually casting him as King Theoden in The Lord of the Rings movies, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. On stage, Hill has appeared in A View from the Bridge, The Cherry Orchard and Macbeth. His other high profile roles on the big screen include parts in Gandhi, Shirley Valentine, The Bounty, The Ghost and the Darkness, Titanic, The Scorpion King, Wimbledon and Joy Division. On the small screen, he played David Blunkett in A Very Social Secretary to great acclaim.

Career: Since becoming an actor he had stints as a theatre director (running the Little Theatre Company in Bristol and directing the premiere of Raymond Briggs' 'When The Wind Blows' at the Whitehall Theatre, London), taught drama at RADA Central and Rose Bruford College, and written plays. His TV roles include Z Cars, Up Pompeii, Bergerac, Casualty, Boys from the Blackstuff, Terry & Julian and Heartbeat. But it was as the incredibly geeky Roy Cropper on Coronation Street that he is best known. He has appeared on the famous cobbles since 1995.