1.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, a West End theatre, is a Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane, the building is the most recent in a line of four theatres which were built at the same location, the earliest of which dated back to 1663, making it the oldest theatre site in London still in use. According to the author Peter Thomson, for its first two centuries, Drury Lane could reasonably have claimed to be Londons leading theatre. For most of time, it was one of a handful of patent theatres. The first theatre on the site was built at the behest of Thomas Killigrew in the early 1660s, when theatres were allowed to reopen during the English Restoration. Initially known as Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, the proprietors hired a number of prominent actors who performed at the theatre on a regular basis, including Nell Gwyn. In 1672 the theatre caught fire and Killigrew built a theatre on the same plot, renamed the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. This building lasted nearly 120 years, under the leaderships of Colley Cibber, David Garrick and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, in 1791, under Sheridans management, the building was demolished to make way for a larger theatre which opened in 1794. This new Drury Lane survived for 15 years before burning down in 1809, the building that stands today opened in 1812. It has been the residency of a number of known actors including, Edmund Kean, comedian Dan Leno. From the Second World War, the theatre has primarily hosted long runs of musicals and my Fair Lady, 42nd Street and Miss Saigon, the theatres longest-running show. The theatre is owned by the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, soon after, Charles issued Letters Patent to two parties licensing the formation of new acting companies. One of these went to Thomas Killigrew, whose company became known as the Kings Company, the new playhouse, architect unknown, opened on 7 May 1663 and was known from the placement of the entrance as the Theatre Royal in Bridges Street. It went by names as well, including the Kings Playhouse. The building was a wooden structure,112 feet long and 59 feet wide. Set well back from the streets, the theatre was accessed by narrow passages between surrounding buildings. The King himself frequently attended the productions, as did Samuel Pepys. The day after the Theatre Royal opened, Pepys attended a performance of Francis Beaumont, performances usually began at 3 pm to take advantage of the daylight, the main floor for the audience, the pit, had no roof in order to let in the light
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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The interior of the third and largest theatre to stand at Drury Lane, c. 1808
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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Thomas Killigrew as he appeared in 1650
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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David Garrick, the theatre manager 1747–1776, is portrayed in the title role of
Richard III in this painting by
William Hogarth.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
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The theatre pictured as it was in 1809 (from an 1811 engraving). The view is from the north-east, looking down Russell Street at its intersection with Drury Lane. This shows the rear of the theatre with its dressing rooms and stage door.
2.
Graham Norton
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Graham William Walker, better known as Graham Norton, is an Irish television and radio presenter, DJ, comedian, actor, and writer. He is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show, previously shown on BBC Two, it took the prestigious Friday night slot on BBC One from The Jonathan Ross Show in 2010. He also presents on BBC Radio 2 and is the BBC television commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest, Norton is known for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style. In 2012, he sold his company, So Television. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Norton was named the eighth most influential person in British culture, Norton was born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, and grew up in Bandon, County Cork. His family are members of the Church of Ireland and his fathers family were from County Wicklow, while his mother was Northern Irish, from Belfast. Norton took part in the TV programme Who Do You Think You Are. to trace his ancestry. Norton was educated at Bandon Grammar School, in West Cork, and then University College, Cork, in June 2013, he received an honorary doctorate from University College Cork, he occasionally mentions this in order to win on-air arguments on his BBC Radio 2 show. Norton moved to London and attended the Central School of Speech and he also worked as a waiter during that time. Upon joining the actors union Equity, he chose Norton as his stage name, as there was already an actor called Graham Walker. His rise to fame began as one of the successes of Channel 5. In 1996, he co-hosted the late-night quiz show Carnal Knowledge on ITV with Maria McErlane. In 1996, Norton played the part of Father Noel Furlong in three episodes of the Channel 4 series Father Ted, which was set on the fictional Craggy Island off the west coast of Ireland, Father Furlong was often seen taking charge of the St. Lukes Youth Group. After this early success, Norton moved to Channel 4 to host his own shows including So Graham Norton. As a performer who is not only gay, but also camp and flamboyant, it was here that Nortons act was fully honed as a cheeky. In 2003, he was the subject of controversy in the United Kingdom when, on his show on Channel 4, also in 2003, Norton was listed in The Observer as one of the 1000 funniest acts in British comedy. In the summer of 2004, Norton ventured into American television, the Graham Norton Effect debuted on 24 June 2004 on Comedy Central, and was also broadcast in the UK on BBC Three. In the midst of controversy surrounding Justin Timberlake and Janet Jacksons Super Bowl performance, Norton was wary of moving into the market
Graham Norton
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Norton in 2004.
Graham Norton
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Norton at 2009 BAFTA awards
Graham Norton
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Norton with
Josh Dubovie at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Graham Norton
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Norton with his dog Bailey in 2006, supporting
Crusaid.
3.
The Graham Norton Show
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The Graham Norton Show is a British comedy chat show broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom. It was shown on BBC Two from February 2007 to May 2009 and has been on BBC One since October 2009. The show mirrors So and V with strong adult humour along with Grahams monologue at the beginning of the show, although the rude objects in Grahams drawer did not survive, the phone calls and hidden camera surprises have. Some of the surprises, such as the wine-tasting, have been arranged through ideas submitted by viewers, at the end of the show, after any band or artist performance, an extra 5 minute section of the show was recorded, known as the Cooldown. This section was seen in an extended weekend repeat, called Graham Norton Uncut, as well as showing the Cooldown, it also included previously unseen parts from the original episode. This section often involved the audience, such as guessing an audience members partner, after Grahams short monologue, he always introduced two guests. If there was a third guest, they were introduced later in the show. If the two guests are connected in some way, they were the ones introduced at the start. If musical guests were involved in the show, one of things happened. Some performers, such as Enrique Iglesias, were on stage from the very beginning, others, such as Gareth Gates came on stage about 5 to 7 minutes before their performance for a short interview. Also, some guests only performed during the end credits. However, all performed during the credits and were interviewed in the Cooldown segment. Once the show moved to BBC One, it moved to Monday nights, a typical show consisted of one big celebrity name, a comedian sitting in the aforementioned comedy chair and a well-known musical personality who would all be introduced after the monologue. Sometimes three guests are introduced at the top of the show with the musical guest brought in about 10 to 15 minutes before the end of the show. Graham and his guests listen to the stories and if Graham gets bored, he – or occasionally a guest – pulls the lever, the red chair segment was inspired by comedian Ronnie Corbetts longwinded armchair monologues. After the end of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, it was announced that The Graham Norton Show would be taking over the coveted Friday night slot, the show premiered on 22 October 2010. The first series began at 10pm on 22 February 2007 on BBC Two and was slated to end on 24 May 2007 after 13 episodes. However, the series proved such a hit that it was extended for an additional six episodes, a 12-week second series began on 11 October 2007, and culminated with a Boxing Day special and New Years compilation from previous episodes
The Graham Norton Show
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The Graham Norton Show
4.
Happy Valley (TV series)
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Happy Valley is a British crime drama television series filmed and set in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire in Northern England. The series, starring Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran, is written and created by Sally Wainwright, and directed by Wainwright, Euros Lyn, the first series debuted on BBC One on 29 April 2014, and the second series debuted on 9 February 2016. In May 2015, Happy Valley won the BAFTA Award for best Drama series, Sarah Lancashire initially said that she would not return for a third series, but later confirmed to the news media that she will return. However, no date has been set because Sally Wainwright has previous commitments to work on other projects, Sally has told us she wants to write another series, which will be the final one. We dont know when it happen, Sarah Lancashire said in September 2016. Producer Nicola Shindler has confirmed that the series would not air until 2018 at the earliest, Catherine Cawood is a strong-willed police sergeant in West Yorkshire, still coming to terms with the suicide of her teenage daughter, Becky, eight years earlier. Cawood is now divorced from her husband and living with her sister, Clare, an alcoholic and heroin addict, who is helping her bring up Beckys young son, Ryan. Neither Catherines ex-husband nor their son, Daniel, wants anything to do with Ryan. Catherine soon becomes obsessed with finding Royce, unaware that he is involved in the kidnapping of Ann Gallagher, things quickly take a dark turn as the abductors scramble to keep the kidnapping secret, although Catherine is onto them. But when Royces mother is killed, Catherine finds herself implicated in a string of murders, while trying to prove her innocence, Catherine is tasked with investigating a human trafficking operation linked to the serial killings. Gradually their investigation starts to lead them towards Victorias actual killer – police detective, John Wadsworth, Catherines grandson, Ryan, develops a friendship with a new teaching assistant, Miss Wealand, who is secretly a prison groupie infatuated with Royce. Royce, whom the court has forbidden having any contact with Ryan, is using Wealand to try to build a relationship with Ryan, Ryan increasingly concerns his family by asking questions about his father and even suggests Royce should be forgiven. The programme was written by Sally Wainwright, produced by Karen Lewis, and directed by Euros Lyn, Sally Wainwright, filming began in the Calder Valley in November 2013. Locations in the area included Todmorden, Luddenden, Mytholmroyd, Bradford, Keighley, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds, and other West Yorkshire cities are mentioned, though not main filming locations. A former West Yorkshire police station was used for some scenes, the name Happy Valley is what local police in the Calder Valley call the area because of its drug problem. In the series one episode, Ryan points out to Catherine, who is visiting her daughter Beckys grave in the next row. A second series was commissioned on 18 August 2014, filming began in August 2015, and the first episode was broadcast on 9 February 2016. The second series was written by Wainwright, produced by Lewis, Catherines workplace is a former police station in Sowerby Bridge, and her home and local pub are based in Hebden Bridge
Happy Valley (TV series)
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Happy Valley
5.
Jessica Hynes
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Tallulah Jessica Elina Hynes is an English actress and writer. Known professionally as Jessica Stevenson until 2007, she was one of the creators, writers and stars of the British sitcom Spaced and has worked as a writer, Hynes has been nominated for a Tony, a Laurence Olivier Award, four BAFTAs, and three British Comedy Awards. Hynes was born in Lewisham, London, and grew up in Brighton, as a teenager Hynes was a member of the National Youth Theatre company, and made her stage début with the company in Lionel Barts Blitz in 1990. In 1992–93 she played a season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, in the same year she appeared in Peter Greenaways 1993 film The Baby of Mâcon, playing the first midwife. For the first fourteen years of her career, Hynes used her name as a stage name. She also guest starred in the first episode of Midsomer Murders in 1997, from 1998–2000 Hynes played the supporting role of Cheryl in the hit sitcom The Royle Family and reprised the role for special episodes in 2006,2009 and 2010. Also in 1999, she co-wrote and starred in Spaced and her London theatre début was in April 2002, playing the tough ex-prisoner Bolla in Jez Butterworths The Night Heron at the Royal Court. In 2004 she played a part as Yvonne in horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, again working with Pegg. In the same year she was also cast as Magda, friend of the character, in the Hollywood sequel Bridget Jones Diary 2 also called Bridget Jones Diary. In 2005 Hynes took the role in the BBC One sitcom According to Bex. In early 2007, Hynes took a role in the film Magicians, starring alongside comic duo David Mitchell. Later that year she starred in Learners, a drama television movie which she also wrote. She also provided the voice of Mafalda Hopkirk in Harry Potter, Hynes played Joan Redfern in the 2007 Doctor Who episodes Human Nature and The Family of Blood. She then appeared in two of the story The End of Time, playing a character named Verity Newman, who is Joans great granddaughter. Hynes has appeared in Big Finishs Eighth Doctor audio adventure Invaders from Mars, in 2007 she starred in Son of Rambow, playing Mary Proudfoot opposite the star of the film, Bill Milner. Hynes co-wrote the pilot Phoo Action, based on the cartoons of Jamie Hewlett, in the same year Hynes appeared in the film Faintheart and in a revival of Alan Ayckbourns The Norman Conquests at the Old Vic. In 2009 she made her Broadway début in the transfer and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance. In 2009 she returned to the Royal Court in The Priory, in 2008 Hynes stated that she planned to pursue a solo career as a stand-up comedian and was working on a childrens book Ants in the Marmalade
Jessica Hynes
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Hynes at the 2008
San Diego Comic-Con
6.
W1A (TV series)
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W1A is a British comedy television series that was first broadcast on BBC Two on 19 March 2014, created by John Morton. The series is the follow-up to Twenty Twelve, a BAFTA-winning comedy series by the BBC about the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the first series began on 19 March, concluding on 9 April 2014. A second series was announced later in 2014 which launched on 23 April 2015 with a one-hour special, on 14 May 2015, RadioTimes. com quoted series writer John Morton as having high hopes of another series to perhaps air in Spring 2016. In August 2016 RadioTimes. com announced the series had been recommissioned for a third series, the series revolves around Ian Fletcher, formerly the Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, who has been chosen to be the Head of Values at the BBC. His task is to clarify, define, or re-define the core purpose of the BBC across all its functions, the series deals with the everyday events at the corporation, and how the team deal with these. Such events include the arrival of Prince Charles, problems surrounding a new programme entitled Britains Tastiest Village, bonnevile reprises his role of Ian Fletcher from W1As predecessor, Twenty Twelve, as does Hynes, who plays Siobhan Sharpe the Head of Perfect Curve, a brand consultant agency. Also returning are Sharpes team, consisting of Barney Lumsden, Coco Lomax and Karl Marx, W1A was written and directed by John Morton, who previously worked on Twenty Twelve and People Like Us. The Producer is Paul Schlesinger and the Executive Producer is Jon Plowman, a second series was commissioned in September 2014, with Bonnevilles return also confirmed. On 15 September 2014, it was announced that W1A would return for a series in 2015. This began with a 60-minute special on 23 April, followed by three 30 minute episodes, in August 2016, the BBC announced that W1A would return for a third series, due to be produced and broadcast in 2017. W1A at BBC Programmes W1A at Radio Times W1A at the Internet Movie Database W1A at British Comedy Guide
W1A (TV series)
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Main cast of W1A (series two)
W1A (TV series)
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W1A
7.
Matt Berry
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Matthew Charles Matt Berry is a BAFTA award-winning English actor, writer, and musician. Berry is perhaps best known for his role as Douglas Reynholm in The IT Crowd from 2007 until the final episode in 2013. He is also known for his appearances in Garth Marenghis Darkplace, The Mighty Boosh, Snuff Box. He plays Beef in House of Fools and the character in Channel 4 sitcom Toast of London. He also starred in and composed AD/BC, A Rock Opera, Berry is renowned for his voice. He has voiced several advertisements, most notably for Volvic, The Natural Confectionery Company, Absolute Radio and he has regularly worked closely with The Mighty Boosh and other associated actors such as Richard Ayoade and is known for playing eccentric, flamboyant, woman-obsessed characters. Berry was born in Bromham, Bedfordshire, to Pauline and Charles Berry and he has one older sister, Johanna. He attended Nottingham Trent University, where he received a BA in Contemporary Arts in 1997 and he began his career as a runner before appearing in the video game magazine show Game Over on BSkyBs computer and technology channel. tv, between 1998 and 1999. Though commissioned as a show on the subject matter, episodes contained a large number of comedy sketches with Berry as the main performer. These showcased a range of characters, one of which was a sketch about The Exorcist entitled Fear Pushed Through the Ring. It was this sketch and others like it that resulted in Berry, berrys first prominent TV role was playing Todd Rivers/Dr Lucien Sanchez in the cult 2004 comedy series Garth Marenghis Darkplace and the 2006 spin-off Man to Man with Dean Learner. He later appeared as the eccentric and sinister tycoon/explorer Dixon Bainbridge in The Mighty Boosh, Berry first met The Mighty Boosh duo while performing at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, where they were resident in 2000. He can be seen in a cameo performance in the The Mighty Boosh Live DVD. Berry wrote and starred in the comedy show Snuff Box on BBC Three with Rich Fulcher, Fulcher co-starred as Bainbridges lackey, Bob Fossil. Berry starred as Douglas Reynholm since the series of The IT Crowd. He was nominated as Best Male Comedy Newcomer in the 2007 British Comedy Awards for this role, in November 2007, Berry starred alongside Simon Farnaby and Boosh regular Rich Fulcher in The Golf War on E4. Film appearances include The Devils Chair and Moon, in 2008 he became the face of Adult Swims spoof charity appeal Save the Workers. Berry featured in Season 2, episode 15 of The Sarah Silverman Program, Berry stars in the video for the 2007 Super Furry Animals song Run-Away
Matt Berry
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Matt Berry's Black & White Headshot by Ben Meadows
8.
Toast of London
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Three series have so far been broadcast. Matt Berry as Steven Toast, the character of the series. A bumbling, self-important actor, a ladies man and often the bearer of bad fortune. However, Toast considers himself a success despite his failing career. Doon Mackichan as Jane Plough, Toasts unhelpful agent, prim and posh, she sees herself as superior to Toast, despite her failure to provide him with decent work. She was played by Fiona Mollison in the pilot, robert Bathurst as Ed Howzer-Black, Toasts landlord and an idle retired actor. At times Ed often seems to be Toasts only friend, though he shows himself to be somewhat of a pervert and has an unusual taste in women. Harry Peacock as Ray Purchase, Toasts fellow actor and rival, the two hate each other with a vengeance and are constantly in competition. While Purchase often seems to have the hand, Toast is still sometimes able to come out on top. Tim Downie as Danny Bear, a sound recordist and stereotypical hipster who regularly hires Toast for voiceover work in a London studio, shazad Latif as Clem Fandango, another hipster who is doing work experience in the recording studio. Tracy-Ann Oberman as Mrs. Purchase, the wife of Ray Purchase, despite being a prostitute, the only person she ever charges for sex is her husband. Adrian Lukis as Colonel Blair Toast, Stevens eccentric older brother, an army veteran, he lost his hand in the Falklands War and now uses a stuffed rubber glove as a replacement. Amanda Donohoe as Ellen, Toasts abusive and volatile ex-wife, despite her poor treatment of him, Toast continues to have feelings for her. Alan Ford as Alan, who is both a hypnotist and a homeopath, Ford also appeared as a taxi driver called Mick Carriage Peter Davison plays a fictional version of himself in several episodes. Morgana Robinson has made one appearance in each of the three series, each time as a different character, geoffrey McGivern appeared as three separate one-off characters, all of which were temperamental directors working with Toast. In 2015, Matt Berry and Arthur Mathews published Toast on Toast, Cautionary tales and candid advice and it was also released as an audio book read by Matt Berry. Toast of London at channel4. com Toast of London at British Comedy Guide Toast of London at the Internet Movie Database
Toast of London
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Toast of London
9.
BBC One
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BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service and it was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of sister channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted in 1997. The channels annual budget for 2012–13 is £1.14 billion, the channel is funded by the television licence fee together with the BBCs other domestic television stations, and therefore shows uninterrupted programming without commercial advertising. It is currently the most watched channel in the United Kingdom, ahead of its traditional rival for ratings leadership. As of June 2013 the channel controller for BBC One is Charlotte Moore, the BBC began its own regular television programming from the basement of Broadcasting House, London, on 22 August 1932. BBC Television returned on 7 June 1946 at 15,00, Jasmine Bligh, one of the original announcers, made the first announcement, saying, Good afternoon everybody. Do you remember me, Jasmine Bligh, the Mickey Mouse cartoon of 1939 was repeated twenty minutes later. The competition quickly forced the channel to change its identity and priorities following a reduction in its audience. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and it therefore decided that Britains third television station should be awarded to the BBC. The station, renamed BBC TV in 1960, became BBC1 when BBC2 was launched on 20 April 1964 transmitting an incompatible 625-line image on UHF. The only way to all channels was to use a complex dual-standard 405- and 625-line, VHF and UHF, receiver. Old 405-line-only sets became obsolete in 1985, when transmission in the standard ended, although standards converters have become available for enthusiasts who collect, BBC1 was based at the purpose-built BBC Television Centre at White City, London between 1960 and 2013. In the weeks leading up to 15 November 1969, BBC1 unofficially transmitted the occasional programme in its new colour system, to test it. At midnight on 15 November, simultaneously with ITV and two years after BBC2, BBC1 officially began 625-line PAL colour programming on UHF with a broadcast of a concert by Petula Clark, colour transmissions could be received on monochrome 625-line sets until the end of analogue broadcasting. In terms of share, the most successful period for BBC1 was under Bryan Cowgill between 1973 and 1977, when the channel achieved an average audience share of 45%. On 30 December 1980, the BBC announced their intention to introduce a new breakfast television service to compete with TV-am. On 17 January 1983, the first edition of Breakfast Time was shown on BBC One, becoming the first UK wide breakfast television service and continued to lead in the rating until 1984. The first major overhaul was to axe the deeply unpopular Sixty Minutes current affairs programme and its replacement was the BBC Six OClock News, a straight new programme in a bid to shore up its failing early evening slot
BBC One
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Replica of an Emitron camera used to make the earliest 405-line programmes broadcast on the channel
BBC One
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Logo of BBC1 from 16 February 1991 to 4 October 1997
BBC One
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The BBC One 'Hippos' ident
10.
British Academy Television Awards
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The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. They have been awarded annually since 1955 and it is the British equivalent to the Emmy Awards in the United States. The first ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories, until 1958, they were awarded by the Guild of Television Producers and Directors. From 1958 onwards, after the Guild had merged with the British Film Academy, in 1976, this became the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The Television Awards are usually presented in April, with a ceremony for the Television Craft Awards on a different date. The Craft Awards are presented for more technical areas of the industry, such as effects, production design. Individual performances, such as actors, can either be entered by the performers themselves or by the broadcasters. The programmes being entered must have been broadcast on or between March and February of the year to be eligible for the years awards. Entry is free, and entry forms are available between November and January each year. After all the entries have been received, they are voted for online by all members of the Academy. The programmes and performances attracting the most votes, usually four in each category, are shortlisted as the nominees for each award. The winner is chosen from the four nominees by a jury of nine academy members for each award. These Awards are suggested by the Television Committee and awarded by the Academys Council and they are not necessarily always given every year, but as and when appropriate. The Awards ceremony is broadcast on British television, usually the day after it has taken place, between 1998 and 2006, it was alternated between ITV and BBC One. But since 2007, it has been broadcast by BBC One, in 1991, a controversial selection was made in the Best Drama Serial category, when Prime Suspect beat G. B. H. to win the award. Following the ceremony, four of the seven voting members of the signed a public statement declaring that they had voted for G. B. H. to win. B. H. Price claimed that the papers could not be recounted as they had subsequently been destroyed. No blame was attached to Shubik by the four judges
British Academy Television Awards
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Richard Armitage attending the British Academy Television Awards in 2007.
11.
Benedict Cumberbatch
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Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch CBE is an English actor who has performed in film, television, theatre and radio. He is the son of actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, Cumberbatch graduated from the University of Manchester and continued his training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, obtaining a Master of Arts in Classical Acting. He first performed at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park in Shakespearean productions, since then he has starred in the Royal National Theatre productions After the Dance and Frankenstein. In 2015, he played William Shakespeares Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre, Cumberbatchs television work includes appearances in Silent Witness and Fortysomething before playing Stephen Hawking in the television film Hawking in 2004. He has starred as Sherlock Holmes in the series Sherlock since 2010 and he has also headlined Tom Stoppards adaptation of Parades End and The Hollow Crown, The Wars of the Roses. From 2012 to 2014, through voice and motion capture, he played the characters of Smaug, Cumberbatch portrays the Marvel Comics character Dr. Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first appearing in the film Doctor Strange. Cumberbatch has received awards and nominations for acting including three Laurence Olivier Award nominations, winning Best Actor in a Play for Frankenstein. He has also received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Sherlock and his performance in The Imitation Game earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In addition, he has received six BAFTA nominations, five Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, in 2014, Time magazine included him in its annual Time 100 as one of the Most Influential People in the World. He was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2015 for his services to the performing arts, Cumberbatch was born at Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in the White City district of West Londons Hammersmith and Fulham borough, to actors Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham. He grew up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and he has a half-sister, Tracy Peacock, from his mothers first marriage. His grandfather, Henry Carlton Cumberbatch, was an officer of both World Wars, and a prominent figure of London high society. His great-grandfather, Henry Arnold Cumberbatch, was Queen Victorias consul general in Turkey, Cumberbatch attended boarding schools from the age of 8, he was educated at Brambletye School in West Sussex and was an arts scholar at Harrow School. He was a member of The Rattigan Society, Harrows principal club for the dramatic arts and he was involved in numerous Shakespearean works at school and made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies, in A Midsummer Nights Dream when he was 12. Cumberbatchs drama teacher, Martin Tyrell, called him the best schoolboy actor he had worked with. After leaving Harrow, Cumberbatch took a gap year to volunteer as an English teacher at a Tibetan monastery in Darjeeling and he then attended the University of Manchester, where he studied Drama. He continued his training as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art graduating with an MA in Classical Acting. Since 2001, Cumberbatch has had roles in a dozen classic plays at the Regents Park Open Air, Almeida, Royal Court
Benedict Cumberbatch
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At the 2014
San Diego Comic-Con International
Benedict Cumberbatch
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During rehearsals for
Frankenstein, April 2011
Benedict Cumberbatch
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Filming
Sherlock in
Chinatown, London, March 2010
Benedict Cumberbatch
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At the Los Angeles premiere of
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, December 2013
12.
Sherlock (TV series)
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Sherlock is a crime drama television series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyles Sherlock Holmes detective stories. Created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, thirteen episodes have been produced, with three-part series airing from 2010–2017, and a special episode airing on 1 January 2016. The series is set in the present day, while the special features a Victorian period fantasy resembling the original Holmes stories. The series is filmed in Cardiff, Wales, with North Gower Street in London used for exterior shots of Holmes. Critical reception has been positive, with many reviews praising the quality of the writing, performances. Sherlock has been nominated for awards including BAFTAs, Emmys. Two years later, it won Outstanding Television Movie, in addition, the show was also honoured with a Peabody Award in 2011. The third series has become the UKs most watched series since 2001 while interest in the fourth series appeared to slip by approximately twenty percent. Sherlock has been sold to 180 territories, all of the series have been released on DVD and Blu-ray, alongside tie-in editions of selected original Conan Doyle stories and original soundtrack composed by David Arnold and Michael Price. In January 2014, the show launched its mobile app called Sherlock. Sherlock depicts consulting detective Sherlock Holmes solving various mysteries in modern-day London, Holmes is assisted by his flatmate and friend, Dr John Watson, who has returned from military service in Afghanistan with the Royal Army Medical Corps. In part through Watsons blog documenting their adventures, Holmes becomes a reluctant celebrity with the reporting on his cases. Both ordinary people and the British government ask for his help, although the series depicts a variety of crimes and perpetrators, Holmes conflict with archnemesis Jim Moriarty is a recurring feature. Molly Hooper, a pathologist at St. Barts Hospital, occasionally assists Holmes in his cases, other recurring roles include Una Stubbs as Mrs Hudson, Holmes and Watsons landlady, and series co-creator Mark Gatiss as Holmes elder brother Mycroft. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock Holmes fans with experience of adapting or using Victorian literature for television, Moffat had previously adapted the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for the 2007 series Jekyll, while Gatiss had written the Dickensian Doctor Who episode The Unquiet Dead. Moffat and Gatiss, both Doctor Who writers, discussed plans for a Holmes adaptation during their numerous journeys to Cardiff where Doctor Who production is based. Moffat and Gatiss invited Stephen Thompson to write for the series in September 2008, Benedict Cumberbatchs Sherlock uses modern technology, such as texting, the internet and GPS to solve crimes. Its just a modern day version of it and he will use the tools that are available to him today in order to find things out
Sherlock (TV series)
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Sherlock
Sherlock (TV series)
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Benedict Cumberbatch (left) and
Martin Freeman (right) during filming of Series 1
Sherlock (TV series)
Sherlock (TV series)
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North Gower Street in London was used for exterior shots of the location of Holmes' "Baker Street" residence
13.
Toby Jones
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Toby Edward Heslewood Jones is an English actor. After appearing in supporting roles in films between 1992 and 2005, Jones made his breakthrough as Truman Capote in the biopic Infamous and he also provided the voice of Dobby in the Harry Potter films, and Aristides Silk in The Adventures of Tintin. Jones television credits include the 2012 Titanic miniseries, Agent Carter, Wayward Pines and he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film for his role as Alfred Hitchcock in The Girl. In 2017, he portrayed Culverton Smith in The Lying Detective, Jones was born in Hammersmith, London, the son of actors Jennifer and Freddie Jones. He has two brothers, Rupert, a director, and Casper, also an actor and he attended Christ Church Cathedral School and Abingdon School in Oxfordshire in the 1980s. He studied drama at the University of Manchester from 1986 to 1989, Jones has appeared in more than 20 films since his first acting role in the 1992 film Orlando. He voiced Dobby in two Harry Potter films, Chamber of Secrets and The Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and he played Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury in the HBO/Channel 4 production Elizabeth I. In 2006, he portrayed Truman Capote in the biopic Infamous and he appeared in the film adaptation of Stephen Kings The Mist in 2007. In 2008, he portrayed Karl Rove in Oliver Stones W and he appeared alongside his father in the 2004 film Ladies in Lavender. Jones appeared in the 2010 episode Amys Choice, of Doctor Who, as the Dream Lord and he also played the role of Samuel Ratchett in Agatha Christies Poirot TV Series 12 episode Murder on the Orient Express. In 2012, he had a role in the ITV mini-series Titanic, starred as one of the seven dwarves in Snow White and the Huntsman, played Dr. Paul Shackleton in Red Lights. He appears in the video for Gomezs song Whippin Picadilly. He played Neil Baldwin in the BBC drama Marvellous in 2014, sam Wollaston, in The Guardian, praised Joness lovely, very human, performance, one that earned him his second British Academy Television Award nomination. In 2014, he appeared in the BBC Four television series Detectorists. In 2015, Jones played the part of Roger Yount, a banker, discussing working with Jones on Capital, writer Peter Bowker said, I think Toby is a genius and thought that long before I worked with him. He always wants to know a characters needs, and whats beneath those needs, then he takes all that material and somehow embeds it into the character and physically inhabits the character, so that you never think hes playing the character. Its fascinating to watch him close up and he carries the emotional complexities in every tiny gesture that his character makes so that you immediately can see what his character is like. A character like Roger is full of contradictions, a city banker with an air of entitlement, Toby can portray that in his walk alone
Toby Jones
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Jones in October 2003.
14.
Marvellous
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Marvellous is a British drama television film that was first broadcast on BBC Two on 25 September 2014. The 90-minute film, directed by Julian Farino and written by Peter Bowker, is about the life of Neil Baldwin, from Westlands in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Baldwin, who is a graduate of Keele University, was appointed as Stoke City Football Clubs kit-man by the manager Lou Macari in the 1990s. Baldwins autobiography, Marvellous, Neil Baldwin – My Story, was published in hardback in 2015, the executive producers were Patrick Spence and Peter Bowker for Fifty Fathoms and Tiger Aspect Productions, and Lucy Richer for the BBC. Marvellous was filmed mostly in Staffordshire, several of the scenes were set at and filmed at Keele University. Crewe Alexandra Football Clubs Alexandra Stadium and the Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium in Wrexham, writing in The Guardian, Sam Wollaston praised Joness lovely, very human, performance. Andrew Anthony, for The Observer, said Jones realised its potential with such poignant insight into character that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else playing the part, S life has been a triumph of unselfconsciousness, which is easier read about than captured. But in a story fraught with the danger of sentimentality, Bowker located a sort of truth about an innocent at home. Sarah Crompton, for The Daily Telegraph, described Marvellous as sweet, on the whole a great number of people emerge well from this film, including Stoke City’s former manager Lou Macari and many long-suffering clergy. It might have been too cute in different hands, but both Toby and Gemma Jones gave performances that were almost as miraculous as the story itself, jim White, writing in The Sunday Telegraph, described it as a wonderful, uplifting, life-affirming 90 minutes of television. And the most compelling argument yet that – despite all the evidence presented by previous filmic depictions of the beautiful game – it is possible to extract telling fiction from football, julie McDowall for Scotlands The Herald, described it as 2014s best TV programme. Rachel Cooke in the New Statesman said of Toby Jones portrayal of Baldwin that he played him brilliantly, turning in an performance that combined innocence. Reviewing the programme for the Stoke Sentinel, John Woodhouse said It says everything for Neil that Marvellous was ever made, for in times when TV is seduced by vacuity and celebrity, it doesnt sound that promising a pitch. A drama, set in Newcastle, about a man saddled with the tag of learning difficulties who reveals himself to be so much more, and yet here it is – primetime BBC2. Stoke Sentinel columnist Simon Lowe described it as the most human of stories, part biopic, part musical and part incredible journey, Marvellous was life-affirming and inspirational. Lou Macari was quoted in the Stoke Sentinel as saying, The film really captures Nello as he was, there are many moving moments, and it must be the best 90 minutes viewing Stoke-on-Trent has had for a long time. Baldwin collected the award and made an acceptance speech. The DVD and a Digital Download of Marvellous was released on the 1st December 2016, baldwins autobiography, Marvellous, Neil Baldwin – My Story, written with the help of Keele University alumnus Malcolm Clarke, was published in hardback by John Blake Publishing in August 2015
Marvellous
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Gemma Jones, who portrayed Baldwin's mother
15.
James Nesbitt
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William James Nesbitt, OBE is an actor and presenter from Northern Ireland. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Nesbitt grew up in the village of Broughshane, before moving to Coleraine. He wanted to become a teacher like his father, so he began a degree in French at the University of Ulster and he dropped out after a year when he decided to become an actor, and transferred to the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating in 1987, he spent seven years performing in plays that varied from the musical Up on the Roof to the political drama Paddywack and he made his feature film debut playing talent agent Fintan ODonnell in Hear My Song. His first significant film role came when he appeared as pig farmer Pig Finn in Waking Ned, with the rest of the starring cast, Nesbitt was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. In Lucky Break, he made his debut as a film lead, the next year, he played Ivan Cooper in the television film Bloody Sunday, about the 1972 shootings in Derry. A departure from his previous cheeky chappie roles, the film was a point in his career. He won a British Independent Film Award and was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor, Nesbitt has also starred in Murphys Law as undercover detective Tommy Murphy, in a role that was created for him by writer Colin Bateman. The role twice gained Nesbitt Best Actor nominations at the Irish Film & Television Awards, in 2007, he starred in the dual role of Tom Jackman and Mr Hyde in Steven Moffats Jekyll, which earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination in 2008. Nesbitt has since appeared in more dramatic roles, he starred alongside Liam Neeson in Five Minutes of Heaven. He also starred in the movies Outcast and The Way and he portrayed Bofur in Peter Jacksons three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit. In 2014, Nesbitt starred in the role as the father character Tony Hughes in the acclaim BBC One drama series The Missing. Nesbitt was married to former actress Sonia Forbes-Adam, with whom he has two daughters and he is an advocate of numerous charities, and in 2010 he accepted the ceremonial position of Chancellor of the University of Ulster. James Nesbitt was born on 15 January 1965 in Ballymena, County Antrim and his father, James Jim Nesbitt, was the headmaster of the primary school in Lisnamurrican, a hamlet near Broughshane, while his mother, May Nesbitt, was a civil servant. Jim and May already had three daughters—Margaret, Kathryn and Andrea, the family lived in the house adjoining the one-room school where Nesbitt was one of 32 pupils taught by Jim, the other pupils were all farmers children. Nesbitt grew up completely around women, and spent a lot of time alone and he had ambitions to play football for Manchester United, or to become a teacher like his father. The family was Protestant, and Lisnamurrican was in Paisley country, the Nesbitts spent Sunday evenings singing hymns around the piano. Jim marched in the Ballymena Young Conquerors flute band and Nesbitt joined him playing the flute, after the Drumcree conflicts, they stopped marching with the band
James Nesbitt
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Nesbitt at the
UNICEF Halloween Ball, November 2013
James Nesbitt
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Nesbitt at the
2009 BAFTA Television Awards
James Nesbitt
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Nesbitt in July 2008
James Nesbitt
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Nesbitt presenting an award for Retailer of the Year, one of the many awards ceremonies he hosts
16.
The Missing (TV series)
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The Missing is a British television drama series first broadcast on BBC One in the UK on 28 October 2014 and in the US on Starz on 15 November 2014. It is a co-production between BBC and Starz, the eight-part series about the search for a missing boy in France, was written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams, and was directed by Tom Shankland. It stars Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, the French detective who leads the case with James Nesbitt and Frances OConnor as the boys parents. The second eight-part series, featuring a new case of a missing girl set in Germany, was broadcast in the UK on BBC One from 12 October 2016. Tchéky Karyo returns as Julien Baptiste, with David Morrissey and Keeley Hawes as the girls parents. Both series received positive reviews, with critics praising the cast, especially Tchéky Karyos performance. The series was originally titled The Breakdown, filming began in February 2014 with help from the Belgian governments tax shelter scheme. The distributor is All3Media who sold the series at MIPCOM, the Missing was commissioned by Charlotte Moore and Ben Stephenson for BBC One. Only a few scenes were shot in Paris and London, Tony Hughes, his wife Emily and their five-year-old son Oliver, are traveling from the United Kingdom to northern France for a holiday. It is the summer of 2006, during the FIFA World Cup, soon after entering France, their car breaks down. They are forced to spend the night in the small town of Chalons du Bois. That evening, Tony and Oliver visit an outdoor bar. Tony loses sight of his son, never to him again. Eight years later, Oliver has not been found, the police have closed their investigation, Tony and Julien Baptiste, the retired detective who led the original investigation, start to put the pieces together. The police decide to reopen the case. James Nesbitt as Tony Hughes, father of the missing boy, Tony feels partly responsible for his disappearance and has therefore devoted his life to finding his son. Frances OConnor as Emily Hughes, mother of Oliver and wife of Tony in 2006, Emily is devastated by the disappearance of her son and her relationship with Tony breaks down, leading her to start a relationship with detective Mark Walsh, to whom she is engaged in 2014. Tchéky Karyo as Julien Baptiste, lead detective on Olivers case, Julien rejoins Tony when they find further evidence in 2014, but is still scarred by past events. His daughter is an addict who refuses his help regularly
The Missing (TV series)
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The Missing
17.
Keeley Hawes
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Clare Julia Keeley Hawes is an English actress and model. She starred in the version of The Last September and has voiced roles in video games. Hawes was born in Marylebone, London, the daughter of a cab driver and she was trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, which included ten years of elocution lessons. She left home at age 17 and worked in a casino until she was spotted by a scout on Oxford Street. Hawes appeared in adaptations of classic and modern literature, Our Mutual Friend, Wives and Daughters, Tipping the Velvet. From 2002 to 2004, she appeared as Zoe Reynolds in the spy drama series Spooks, among the co-stars was her future husband Matthew Macfadyen. In 2003, she appeared in the BBCs re-telling of The Canterbury Tales, from 2006 to 2007, she appeared as Rosie in the British comedy The Vicar of Dibley. She was also cast as Jane in the 2007 comedy Death at a Funeral, in February 2006, it was revealed that Hawes had replaced Jonell Elliott as the voice of Lara Croft. She voiced the role in Tomb Raider, Legend, reprising her role in the 2007 remake of the original Tomb Raider game, Tomb Raider, Anniversary, and again in 2008s Tomb Raider, Underworld. She has also recorded her lines for the arcade-style Tomb Raider game Lara Croft and she returned to voice Lara again in Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light sequel Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, released in 2014. In 2007, Hawes was cast as Alex Drake in Ashes to Ashes, the series, broadcast in 2008, follows her fighting to wake up from the world of 1983 so she can get back to the present day and save her daughter. She was awarded the Best UK Television Actress Award in 2008 by the Glamour Awards for her role, in September 2009, Hawes filmed the final series. The finale aired in May and gained seven million viewers. In April 2008, Hawes began filming the BBC drama Mutual Friends and she appeared in the BAFTA award winning That Mitchell and Webb Look, and in 2010, was a guest on the comedy panel show Would I Lie to You. In 2009, she portrayed Det Supt Martha Lawson in a six episode ITV series, in December 2010, she starred as Lady Agnes Holland in the three episode relaunch of Upstairs, Downstairs. On 25 April 2011, Hawes narrated the documentary Kate and William, A Royal Love Story on BBC One, prior to the wedding of Prince William, on 20 June 2011, she narrated the ITV1 documentary Four of a Kind as part of ITVs Extraordinary Families season. She appeared as Catherine Mundi in the adventure film Mariah Mundi. In 2014, she starred as Detective Inspector Lindsay Denton on the series of the BBC Two drama Line of Duty
Keeley Hawes
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Hawes at the 2014
British Academy Television Awards
18.
Line of Duty
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Line of Duty is a British police procedural television series created by Jed Mercurio that premiered on 26 June 2012. It is the most popular series broadcast on BBC Two in the multichannel era and is a winner of the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series. The first series was BBC Twos best-performing drama series in ten years, the drama was recommissioned for a second series and the first episode was broadcast on 12 February 2014. The second series achieved widespread public and critical acclaim, and on 8 April 2014, in an interview on 28 April 2016, creator Jed Mercurio said that a fourth series would begin filming in the autumn of that year. It commenced broadcast on BBC One on 26 March 2017, in the United States, the first series was aired on Hulu in August 2012 as an exclusive series. It is this reputation, however, that leads AC-12 to his team, suspected of corruption, Gates faces an internal affairs investigation that adds further complications to his troubled home-life. As the sole survivor, Denton is arrested and charged shortly thereafter, during series 2, Denton attempts to convince AC-12 of her innocence and regain her reputation. In series 3, Denton is granted a trial, and is acquitted on the basis of an improper sexual relationship with Arnott. After refusing to accept a bribe, she is murdered by The Caddy, prior to her death, Lindsay discovered crucial evidence pertaining to the Danny Waldron murder investigation and historic child sex abuse. Daniel Mays as Sergeant Daniel Waldron Series 3 Danny is a police officer who is investigated by AC-12 as a matter of routine following an on-the-job shooting. When Arnott and Fleming discover the shooting may not have been necessary, however, Danny is shot and killed during series 3, with his death leading to the capture of The Caddy, as well as the opening of an investigation into historic child sex abuse. During a short interim in her leadership of the case, she becomes Duty S. I. O. of Major Crimes, martin Compston as Detective Sergeant Steven David Steve Arnott Series 1-4 Arnott is a detective sergeant assigned to AC-12, the anti-corruption unit within Central Police. He initially served as an officer, but was transferred after he refused to collude with his fellow colleagues following the shooting death of an innocent man. During series three, Arnott is accused of being an informant known as The Caddy, framed for the murder of DI Lindsay Denton. He is cleared of all charges, vicky McClure as Detective Sergeant Kate Fleming Series 1-4 Fleming is originally a detective constable and an undercover specialist. A consummate professional, Kate is willing to investigate officers both within, and outside of, AC-12, in series two, Kate begins investigating DI Lindsay Denton. She is promoted to Sergeant at the end of series three, Kate has children, though her ex-husband retains custody. Adrian Dunbar as Superintendent Edward Gareth Ted Hastings Series 1-4 Hastings and he personally recruited Arnott, Fleming, and Cottan, and has a black-and-white view of the law
Line of Duty
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Line of Duty
19.
Sarah Lancashire
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Sarah Lancashire is an English television, film and theatre actress, from Oldham. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 1986, to support herself, she taught drama at Salford University for five years alongside her acting career. Following a stint in the musical Blood Brothers in Londons West-End in 1990, after leaving the series in 1996, Lancashire found further success with roles in Where the Heart Is, Clocking Off and the television film Seeing Red. In the summer of 2000, Lancashire signed a two-year golden handcuffs contract with ITV, in 2004, Lancashire made her directorial debut on the anthology series The Afternoon Play. Subsequent acting roles included costume dramas such as the 2007 television adaption of Oliver Twist, Lark Rise to Candleford, in 2011, she played the female lead in the musical Betty Blue Eyes, for which she received an Olivier Award nomination. For her role as Caroline in the drama series Last Tango in Halifax. In 2014, Lancashire earned further accolades for her role as sergeant Catherine Cawood in the crime thriller series Happy Valley. Lancashire was born on 10 October 1964 in Oldham, Lancashire and her father, Geoffrey Lancashire, was a television scriptwriter noted for his work on the soap opera Coronation Street and situation comedies such as The Cuckoo Waltz. Her mother, Hilda, worked as Geoffreys personal assistant and she has three brothers, one her elder, one younger and a twin. Lancashire was educated at Oldham Hulme Grammar School between 1976 and 1981, at the age of 17, she started to suffer from clinical depression. Lancashire states that she was never driven by the ideas of fame and her background had inspired an initial interest in working behind the scenes in television. She did not give serious thought to the performing until the age of 18, after winning a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama — where her contemporaries included Shirley Henderson, Maggie ONeill and Niamh Cusack — Lancashire realised that she enjoyed acting. She graduated in 1986, describing her time as a student there as tremendous but seriously hard work, Lancashire performed two plays with the company, Pacific Overtures and The Beauty Game, which she states formed the start of my career as an actor. She found her first professional acting experience terrifying as a result of the audiences, recalling that, because I wore a bathing costume in some of the scenes. She also realised that taking risks or underperforming could have had consequences for her acting career, at the age of 22, Lancashire married her first serious boyfriend, Gary Hargreaves, a music lecturer 11 years her senior, whom she had met four years earlier. Thomas, her first child with Hargreaves, was born in 1987, during her early career, Lancashire found herself with large breaks between theatre appearances. To support herself financially, she worked as a teacher for five years at Salford University alongside her acting work. In 1987, she made a appearance in Coronation Street as Wendy Farmer
Sarah Lancashire
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Lancashire at the
2013 British Academy Television Awards
Sarah Lancashire
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The Coronation Street set, pictured in 2005. Lancashire starred in the serial for five years between 1991 and 1996.
Sarah Lancashire
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Lancashire's husband, the television executive
Peter Salmon, pictured in 2012
Sarah Lancashire
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Lancashire portrayed
Angela Cannings (pictured) in the 2005 television film
Cherished, a dramatisation of the activist's bereavement and subsequent wrongful imprisonment.
20.
Sheridan Smith
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Sheridan Smith, OBE is an English actress, singer and dancer. Smith came to prominence on television for her roles in comedy shows Two Pints of Lager and she went on to star in television dramas like Mrs Biggs, The 7.39 and Cilla. Her film credits include Tower Block, Quartet, Powder Room, Smith made her West End debut in a National Youth Music Theatre production of Bugsy Malone and has performed in musicals Into the Woods, Little Shop of Horrors, Legally Blonde and Funny Girl. In 2017, she was nominated for the Best Actress in a Musical award for her work in Funny Girl, Smith was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to drama. Smith was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, the daughter of Colin and Marilyn Smith and she studied dance at the Joyce Mason School of Dancing from an early age. She later attended South Axholme Community School, where she received the highest possible grade in GCSE performing arts and she completed further education at John Leggott College in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Her great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Doubleday, was a banjo player in Yorkshire. From 1999 to 2000, Smith played Emma in The Royle Family and she played Janet in the long-running series Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps from 2001 until her departure from the show in 2009. In February 2003, she appeared in Immediate Care, an episode of The Royal, where she played the part of Francesca Wheeler, a teenage girl who was suffering from leukemia. In 2004, she made a appearance in Mile High as Suzy. She also featured in The Comic Strips 2005 episode Sex Actually as Angie, Smith played Cleo Martin in Love Soup and starred as Michelle, a hypocritical nutritionist, in three series of the sitcom Grownups. She has also appeared on The Lenny Henry Show as M. E. Westmocott, in the 2009 Two Pints of Lager Comic Relief special, which crossed over with Grownups, she played her characters from both series. Smith has also appeared in a number of shows including the BBCs Eyes Down, in which she played Sandy. She featured as Rudi in the second and third series of the BBC Three sitcom Gavin & Stacey and she guest starred in the Christmas 2008 episode of Lark Rise to Candleford. Since 2009, she has played Joey Ross in special episodes of Jonathan Creek, namely The Grinning Man, The Judas Tree. She played Brandy in the series of Benidorm. During 2010, Smith acted as a mentor to the contestants of the BBC show Over the Rainbow, sky Arts Chekhov Comedy Shorts also featured Smith in 2010 when she starred as Natasha in The Proposal. She appeared in the 2011 film Hysteria, about the invention of the vibrator, for the factual hospital series Bizarre ER, she took over narration duties from Freema Agyeman
Sheridan Smith
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Sheridan Smith
OBE
21.
Stephen Rea
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Stephen Rea is an Irish film and stage actor. Rea has appeared in films such as V for Vendetta, Michael Collins, Interview with the Vampire. Rea was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Fergus in the 1992 film The Crying Game. He has during later years had important roles in the Hugo Blick TV series The Shadow Line and The Honourable Woman, Rea was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Protestant parents, his father was a bus driver and his mother a housewife. He attended Belfast High School and the Queens University Belfast, taking a degree in English, Rea trained at the Abbey Theatre School in Dublin. In the late 1970s, he acted in the Focus Company in Dublin with Gabriel Byrne and he is a frequent collaborator with Irish film-maker Neil Jordan. Rea has long associated with some of the most important writers in Ireland. His association with playwright Stewart Parker, for example, began when they were together at the Queens University of Belfast. Rea helped establish the Field Day Theatre Company in 1980 with Tom Paulin, Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney, in recognition for his contribution to theatre and performing arts, Rea was given honorary degrees from both the Queens University Belfast and the Ulster University in 2004. Rea returned to the Abbey in 2009 to appear in the world première of Sebastian Barrys Tales of Ballycumber, Rea was hired to speak the words of Gerry Adams when Sinn Féin was under a 1988–94 broadcasting ban. In 2011, Rea featured in the BBC crime drama The Shadow Line, in April 2012, Rea read James Joyces short story The Dead on RTÉ Radio 1. He also narrated for the BBC Radio 4 production of Ulysses for Bloomsday,16 June 2012, Rea starred in Enda Walshs 2014 play Ballyturk and portrayed Jordan in Out of the Dark, in which he co-stars Julia Stiles, Scott Speedman and Alejandro Furth. Rea was married for 17 years to Dolours Price, a former Provisional Irish Republican Army bomber and hunger striker who later became a critic of Sinn Féin and they had been divorced when she died on 23 January 2013. Rea is an Ambassador for UNICEF Ireland, Stephen Rea at the Internet Movie Database Stephen Rea at the Internet Broadway Database Stephen Rea at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Stephen Rea
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Stephen Rea
22.
The Honourable Woman
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The Honourable Woman is a 2014 British political spy thriller television miniseries in eight parts, directed and written by Hugo Blick for the BBC and SundanceTV. Featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal in the role, it aired on BBC Two in the United Kingdom on 3 July 2014. An advance screening of the series was held on 7 April 2014 at the MIPTV Media Market, the Honourable Woman received positive reviews, with Gyllenhaal winning a Golden Globe Award for her performance, and the series was awarded a Peabody Award in 2015. When her new business partner dies in a suicide, Lady Stein is forced to delay the third phase of an ambitious and long-planned project. Various stakeholders manoeuvre for influence in connection with this venture, the stakes become the highest possible for the family when Kasim, the son of Atika Halibi, a Palestinian translator/housekeeper and Nessa Steins very close friend, is kidnapped. Soon, a mystery around his parentage comes to light, stephen Rea as Sir Hugh Hayden-Hoyle, Bt, the outgoing head of MI6s Middle East desk. Lubna Azabal as Atika Halibi, a Palestinian translator who is a friend of Nessas as well as being Ephras housekeeper. Janet McTeer as Dame Julia Walsh, the head of MI6, katherine Parkinson as Rachel Stein, Ephras very pregnant wife. Tobias Menzies as Nathaniel Bloom, Nessas personal bodyguard, eve Best as Monica Chatwin, a British Foreign Office tactician stationed in Washington, D. C. Igal Naor as Shlomo Zahary, an Israeli businessman and surrogate uncle to Nessa, genevieve OReilly as Frances Pirsig, Nessas private secretary and confidante. Lindsay Duncan as Anjelica, Lady Hayden-Hoyle, Hayden-Hoyles ex-wife, Hugo Blick re-uses several actors from his previous series The Shadow Line. The eight-part series was announced in June 2013 and it was commissioned by Ben Stephenson and Janice Hadlow, and co-funded by the Sundance Channel. Written and directed by Hugo Blick, it was made by production companies Drama Republic and Eight Rooks, with Hugo Blick, Stephenson describes the drama as really grown up, complicated and said he was keen to work with Blick again following the 2011 series The Shadow Line. The President of the Sundance Channel Sarah Barnett said that it is a superbly wrought character piece about hope, compromise, guilt, speaking about her casting, Gyllenhaal said, I couldnt put the scripts down. Nessa is such an exciting and intricate character, I cant wait to begin filming. The three-month filming schedule began in July 2013 in London and Romney Marsh in Kent, with filming in the Middle East. The series was received upon its initial debut in the UK, with The Guardians Gabriel Tate summarising the series as the most satisfying. Julia Raeside of The Guardian wrote that it concluded as a taut, nicholas Blincoe of The Telegraph, claimed that the series achieved the must-watch label of the summer
The Honourable Woman
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The Honourable Woman
23.
Utopia (UK TV series)
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Utopia is a British thriller drama action television series that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 15 January 2013 to 12 August 2014. The show is written by Dennis Kelly and stars Fiona OShaughnessy, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Alexandra Roach, Oliver Woollford, Alistair Petrie, a second six-episode series was commissioned by Channel 4 and went into production in late 2013. Series 2 started airing with a spread over two nights on Monday 14 July and Tuesday 15 July 2014. It ended on 12 August 2014, on 9 October 2014, it was revealed by the official Utopia Twitter feed that there would not be a third series. An American adaptation was planned for HBO, but budget disputes between HBO and director David Fincher led to the project being cancelled in July 2015 and this leads them to be targeted by an organisation known as The Network, which they must avoid to survive. Using the manuscript, they must uncover the hidden in its pages before the disasters depicted become reality. Fiona OShaughnessy as Jessica Hyde, a woman who has been on the run from The Network for as long as she can remember and her father, Philip Carvel, created the Utopia manuscripts. It is later revealed that she carried the Janus protein in her. Aine Garvey portrays a young Jessica, Alexandra Roach as Becky, a soon-to-be post-grad student. Her mother died when she was young, in her late teens, convinced there is a conspiracy surrounding her fathers death connected to the Utopia manuscript, she is determined to find out the truth. She is revealed to have the mysterious Deels syndrome, for which she has been taking medication to stop the symptoms, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Ian Johnson, an IT consultant in his late twenties, who still lives with his mother. Adeel Akhtar as Wilson Wilson, a survivalist geek and conspiracy theorist and he is tortured by Arby and Lee on Jessicas whereabouts and has his right eye gouged out with a spoon by Lee. After learning of what Janus true purpose is from Letts, he begins to doubt whether or not the group is right, Oliver Woollford as Grant Leetham, a troubled 11-year-old boy. Originally pretending to be 24 years old on the forum the group first contact each other on, Grant ends up with the Utopia manuscript which he hides with Alice. He is later framed for a murder at a school by Arby and is forced to go on the run. Paul Higgins as Michael Dugdale, a civil servant who, while having an affair with Anya. As a result, he is blackmailed by members of the Network and is forced to complete tasks for them, Neil Maskell as Arby, a killer for The Network who is searching for Jessica Hyde and the Utopia manuscript. Arbys name is revealed to be initials for Raisin Boy
Utopia (UK TV series)
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Utopia
Utopia (UK TV series)
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Utopia (Original Television Soundtrack)
24.
Ken Stott
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He is more recently known for his role as the dwarf Balin in The Hobbit film trilogy, and as Ian Garrett in the 2014 BBC TV mini-series The Missing starring alongside James Nesbitt. His mother, Antonia, was a Sicilian lecturer whose own father had previously been a priest and his father, David Stott, was a Scottish teacher and educational administrator. Stott was educated at George Heriots School, for three years in his youth he was a member of a band called Keyhole, members of which later went on to form the Bay City Rollers. This is echoed in the character he plays in Takin Over the Asylum, stotts early work focused on theatre with a notable leading role in the dramatisation of Dominic Behans play about the Northern Ireland troubles The Folk Singer. Stott appeared in roles in BBC series such as Secret Army, The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare. He also featured in an advert for the British COIs Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives campaign and he eventually began to earn starring roles on television in the 1990s. He created the role in The Princes Play, a translation and adaptation by Tony Harrison of Victor Hugos Le Roi samuse, for the National Theatre. 2006 saw him take over the character in detective series Rebus. In 2008 Stott was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA for his performance as comedian Tony Hancock in BBC Fours Hancock and he played the father of cookery writer Nigel Slater in the BBC One adaptation of Slaters autobiographical novel Toast, opposite Helena Bonham Carter and Freddie Highmore. In 2015, Stott played Arthur Birling in Helen Edmundsons BBC TV adaptation of J. B, however, he has had occasional starring roles in the cinema, most notably opposite Billy Connolly and Iain Robertson in The Debt Collector and Plunkett and Macleane of the same year. Most recently, he has starred as Balin in the adaptation of The Hobbit. Stott played a role as Dexter Mayhews father in One Day starring Anne Hathaway. In 2008 Stott starred in another West End production of a Reza play, this time God of Carnage, alongside Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer and Ralph Fiennes at the Gielgud Theatre. He starred in a revival of Arthur Millers A View From The Bridge at the Duke of Yorks Theatre in early 2009 and he returned to the Duke of Yorks Theatre in 2016 to play Sir in Ronald Harwoods The Dresser to great critical acclaim. Stott has a son, David, by his marriage, which ended in divorce, Stott currently lives with his girlfriend, the artist Nina Gehl. Stott is a supporter of Heart of Midlothian, with an irony, in that the character portrayed by him, Ian Rankins most well known character, Inspector John Rebus, is in fact a Hibernian supporter. 0 win,3 nominations 2 win,2 nominations 1 win,4 nominations 0 wins 1 nomination Ken Stott at the Internet Movie Database
Ken Stott
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Ken Stott as Balin in
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
25.
Gemma Jones
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Jennifer Gemma Jones is an English character actress on both stage and screen. Her film appearances include Sense and Sensibility, Bridget Joness Diary, for her role in the BBC TV film Marvellous, she won the 2015 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. Jones was born in Marylebone, the daughter of Irene and Griffith Jones and her brother, Nicholas Jones, is also an actor. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she won the Gold Medal, Jones had a relationship with the actor and director Sebastian Graham-Jones with whom she had a son Luke, who is a film producer. Gemma Jones appeared at Nottingham Playhouse in 1965, as Anya, Jones became known to television viewers after starring in the BBC serial Kenilworth as Queen Elizabeth I, and in BBC 2s 1970 dramatisation of The Spoils of Poynton. In 1980, she played the role of Portia in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of The Merchant of Venice, in 1966, she played the great soprano Giuseppina Strepponi in After Aida at the Old Vic Theatre. Jones played Mrs. Dashwood alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in the Academy Award-winning period drama Sense, other notable roles include Mrs. From 2007 to 2008 she played Connie James in the BBC1 drama Spooks. In 2010, she appeared in the Woody Allen film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, in 2011 she appeared in the BBC1 series Merlin, as the Cailleach, the gatekeeper to the spirit world. She received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Neil Baldwins mother, Mary, in 2015, Jones played the part of Petunia Howe in the three-part BBCs series Capital based on John Lanchesters novel of the same name. When Love Speaks - Shakespeares Sonnet 50 Gemma Jones at the Internet Movie Database
Gemma Jones
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Jones at the screening of
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger at the 2010
Toronto International Film Festival
26.
Vicky McClure
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Vicky Lee McClure is an English actress best known for her work in the films of director Shane Meadows. She is also known for roles in the BBC series Line of Duty and her other film roles include Filth and Wisdom, Hummingbird, and Svengali. McClure won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Actress for This is England 86 in 2011, McClure was born in Wollaton, Nottingham, and educated at the Fernwood Comprehensive School. She also attended the Central Junior Television Workshop where she was spotted by fellow Nottingham-born actress Samantha Morton who helped launch her career, McClure has worked on the This is England films for a period of over 9 years, portraying the role of Frances Lorraine Lol Jenkins. In an April 2007 interview with Time Out, McClure spoke of Meadows approaching her for the role while she was in a pub with Andrew Shim and she described the making of the film, which was highly improvised, as constant laughing and jokes. In 2011, her performance as Frances Lorraine Lol Jenkins in This is England 86 won her the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress, McClure co-starred in the London-based comedy film Filth and Wisdom, the first feature film directed by pop singer Madonna. She admitted to being slightly star-struck upon first meeting Madonna, I tried to act as cool as possible but inside Im like, Oh my God, the film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival on 13 February 2008. She also joined the cast of the British police procedural series, Line of Duty in 2012 as DC Kate Fleming, continuing in the role in Series 2, Series 3. In 2013, she appeared in the British action-thriller film Hummingbird opposite Jason Statham, in July 2016, she appeared as Winnie Verloc in The Secret Agent, based on the eponymous novel by Joseph Conrad. She starred in the BBC TV thriller The Replacement in 2017 and she was also featured alongside Kaya Scodelario, Abbey Butler, Andy Crane and Paul Young in Plan Bs music video She Said. In 2010, McClure appeared in a number of short films for the English cosmetics brand Illamasqua. In 2012, McClure appeared in the video for Jake Buggs song Two Fingers along with Line of Duty co-star Craig Parkinson, on 18 March 2014, McClure appeared on BBC Radio 1s Innuendo Bingo. McClure lives in Nottingham with director Jonny Owen, Vicky McClure Official Website Vicky McClure at the Internet Movie Database
Vicky McClure
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McClure at the
London premiere of
Svengali, March 2014
27.
Amanda Redman
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Amanda Jacqueline Redman, MBE is an English actress, known for her role as Sandra Pullman in the BBC One series New Tricks. She received BAFTA TV Award nominations for At Home with the Braithwaites and Tommy Cooper, Not Like That and her film roles include For Queen and Country, Sexy Beast and Mike Bassett, England Manager. Her father, Ronald, was from Yorkshire and her mother, redmans father died in 1980, when she was in her early twenties. Redman is badly scarred on her left arm as a result of an accident when she was 15 months old. She was scalded with a pan of boiling soup and suffered burns to 75 per cent of her body. Her arm was the part of her body permanently affected. Redman trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, in 1984 she appeared as Marina in the BBC Shakespeare production of Pericles, Prince of Tyre opposite Mike Gwilym. She also played Maxine in Oxbridge Blues, a British television mini-series, produced by the BBC, in 1985 she played Janet in the touring version of The Rocky Horror Show. In 1986 she played Miss Fairfax in the BBC Drama production of The Importance Of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde and she played opposite Liv Ullmann in Richards Things, took over from Alfred Molina in the 1990s comedy drama El C. I. D. Playing a new lead in the series, and played Diana Dors in the TV film The Blonde Bombshell. She presented an MTV show on satellite TV in the 1990s and she co-starred in the first two series of Dangerfield in 1995, playing Dr Joanna Stevens, and played a role in Taggart the same year. In 2000 she played Deedee Dove in the feature film Sexy Beast, from 2000 until 2003 she played Alison Braithwaite, a woman whose life is turned upside down after she wins the lottery, in ITVs At Home with the Braithwaites. Beginning in 2003, Redman took the role of DSI Sandra Pullman in the BBCs New Tricks. In June 2006 Redman performed in Childrens Party at the Palace as Cruella DeVil for the Queens 80th birthday, a programme that explored her family history. In July 2013, she announced that she would be leaving New Tricks, in 2015, she played the role of Jackie Rose in the three-part ITV drama The Trials of Jimmy Rose, starring alongside Ray Winstone. In 2017, she played Dr. Lydia Fonseca in the ITV drama series The Good Karma Hospital, Redman is the founder and principal of the Artists Theatre School. She is credited with having encouraged her then-brother-in-law, Philip Glenister and she once desired more children, but after nine miscarriages and two ectopic pregnancies her hopes ended with menopause. Having been together since 1999, Redman married the Virgin designer Damian Schnabel in September 2010 and she is a supporter of Coventry City FC
Amanda Redman
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Redman at the
2015 British Academy Television Awards, May 2015
28.
Leigh Francis
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Francis was born in Beeston, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 30 April 1973 and brought up on a council estate in Old Farnley, Leeds. His father died aged 47 of cancer, Francis attended Farnley Park High School. He later studied at the Leeds College of Art and received a qualification in graphic design, before making his major television breakthrough, he was discovered and encouraged by television presenter Davina McCall, performing in-role stand-up comedy in a southern comedy club. McCall landed Francis his first television role on Dom and Kirks Nite O Plenty, where he portrayed Bobby Stark, the series aired on Paramount Television from January to July 1996. Francis second television role was as Barry Gibson, a music paparazzo, Francis also starred as various characters, including Gibson, Keith Lemon and Avid Merrion in the series Whatever I Want, which aired late night on ITV in 2000. In his early career, Francis did a series of shorts for Paramount Comedy called Stars in Their Houses, some of the shorts can be found on YouTube. was born. The series featured Francis portraying a series of celebrities by wearing masks to impersonate them, as well as portraying the main, non-celebrity character. The programme lasted for five series, airing between 2002 and 2006, however, the last two series were loosely based on the original three. Season 4 was subtitled A Bears Tail, and was based on another of his characters, season 5 returned to Avid Merrion and was called Bo. in the USA. Following the axing of Bo Selecta, Francis took one of the series characters, Keith Lemon, and created a brand new show, Keith Lemons Very Brilliant World Tour, which aired on ITV2 in April 2008. The show was a success, and subsequently, Francis created another new show featuring Lemon, Celebrity Juice, Lemon also co-hosted Sing If You Can with Stacey Solomon, and, since 7 April 2012, he has hosted his new show Keith Lemons LemonAid on ITV. In November 2011, it was revealed that Lemon would make his film debut in Keith Lemon, The Film. Since 31 August 2013, Francis has presented ITV panel show Through the Keyhole in character as Keith Lemon, since 5 February 2015, he has appeared in the ITV2 comedy show The Keith Lemon Sketch Show. On 30 October 2002, at Allerton Castle, North Yorkshire, Francis married Jill Carter, in February 2009, their daughter, Matilda, was born. Francis lives in north London with his wife and daughter, Francis is known to conduct almost every interview in one of his celebrity guises, being interviewed as Avid Merrion during Bo Selecta. s run between 2002 and 2006, and as Keith Lemon ever since. In an out-of-character interview with On, Yorkshire Magazine, Francis confirmed that Avid Merrions accent and dialects were inspired by his tutor at Jacob Kramer College. He also pointed out that Merrion is a misspelling of Mieriņš and has nothing to do with the Merrion Centre in Leeds, Francis conducted further interviews as himself for The Frank Skinner Show, Loose Women, Big Brothers Little Brother and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Leigh Francis
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Francis as
Keith Lemon at the
National Television Awards in 2011
29.
Celebrity Juice
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Celebrity Juice, often referred to as Celeb Juice, is a British television comedy panel game on ITV2, broadcast since 24 September 2008. The show is written and presented by Keith Lemon, the alter-ego of comedian Leigh Francis, the format for the series was first suggested in 2007, after the final series of Leigh Francis Channel 4 sketch show Bo Selecta. The shows regular team captains are Holly Willoughby and Fearne Cotton, for the ninth series Kelly Brook replaced Fearne Cotton while she was on maternity leave. Willoughby appeared in episode 1 of series 12, but was replaced by Gino DAcampo for the rest of the series, DAcampo became a regular panelist from series 13 following the return of Willoughby. The show also features a regular comedic pannelist, who appears on Fearnes, or Kellys. From the eighth series onwards, Chris Ramsey took up a role on Cotton or Brooks team to replace Hound. Lemon is also renowned for mocking both team captains, often referring to Willoughby as Holly Willoughbooby and mocking Cotton for her large nostrils, during the ninth series, he also often referenced the fact that Brook was sacked from several of her previous television projects. The first series featured The Bear from Bo Selecta. in this role, in the cover story round, which also features a celebrity guest, a particular category entitled Doggy Style also features, in which a bulldog appears dressed as a particular celebrity. A bulldog called Gary appeared until series eight, due to his death in 2012, Celebrity Juice was filmed at the Riverside Studios from 2008 until 2014. For its first seven series, the show was produced by Talkback Thames, the show is produced by Dan Baldwin and Leon Wilson. In 2011, the won the Best Entertainment Show Award at the TV Choice Awards and in 2012, it won an NTA for best comedy panel show. A Celebrity Juice calendar was released by Danilo Promotions, it features 68 pages of classic moments from the show, a Celebrity Juice book was released by Orion. It features 160 pages and was published on a hardback format, the following have made more than one appearance on the show as a guest panellist, In 2009,2010 and 2011, the show was voted Worst British TV Panel Show in the British Comedy Guides annual awards. Celebrity Juice at itv. com Celebrity Juice at UKGameshows. com Celebrity Juice at British Comedy Guide Celebrity Juice Videos Celebrity Juice at the Internet Movie Database
Celebrity Juice
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Celebrity Juice
