Barbara Jane Horrocks is a British actress. She portrayed the roles of Bubble and Katy Grin in the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. She was nominated for the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for the title role in the stage play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for the role in the film version of Little Voice.
Stephen Rea is an Irish actor of stage and screen. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he began his career as a member of Dublin's Focus Theatre, and played many roles on the stage and on Irish television. He came to the attention of international film audiences in Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan's 1992 film The Crying Game, and subsequently starred in many more of Jordan's films, including Interview with the Vampire (1994), Michael Collins (1996), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), and Greta (2018). He also played a starring role in the Hugo Blick 2011 TV series The Shadow Line.
Jennifer Lesley Ellison is an English actress, former glamour model, television personality, dancer and singer. Ellison is perhaps best known for playing Emily Shadwick in the television soap opera Brookside until 2003, and as Meg Giry in the 2004 film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Ellison also starred on the reality television show Dance Mums with Jennifer Ellison, the UK version of the American show Dance Moms.
Elizabeth Mary Driver, was a British actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams in the long-running ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, a role she played for 42 years from 1969 to 2011, appearing in 2732 episodes. She had previously appeared as Mrs Edgley in Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression (1965–1966) opposite Arthur Lowe. In her early career she was a singer, appearing in musical films such as Boots! Boots! (1934), opposite George Formby, and in Penny Paradise (1938), directed by Carol Reed. She was made an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.
Julie Claire Hesmondhalgh is an English actress and narrator. She is known for her role as Hayley Cropper in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street between 1998 and 2014. For this role, she won "Best Serial Drama Performance" at the 2014 National Television Awards and "Best Actress" at the 2014 British Soap Awards.
Betty Smith, known by the stage name Liz Smith, was a British character actress, known for her roles in BBC sitcoms, including as Annie Brandon in I Didn't Know You Cared (1975–1979), the sisters Bette and Belle in 2point4 Children (1991–1999), Letitia Cropley in The Vicar of Dibley (1994–1996) and Norma ("Nana") in The Royle Family (1998–2006). She also played Zillah in Lark Rise to Candleford (2008) and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1984 film A Private Function.
Jack Wynne May was an English actor.
Sandra Dickinson is an American-British actress. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She has often played characters within the trope of a dumb blonde with a high-pitched voice.
Reeson Wayne Shearsmith is an English actor, comedian, writer and magician. He was a member of The League of Gentlemen, with Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Jeremy Dyson. Jointly with Pemberton, created, wrote and starred in the sitcom Psychoville and the dark comedy anthology series Inside No. 9. He had notable roles in Spaced and The World's End.
Betty Astell, born Betty Julia Hymans, was an English actress, best known for comedy and pantomime productions on stage, screen, and radio with her husband, Cyril Fletcher. She was one of the first performers to appear on television, in experimental broadcasts by the BBC in 1932.
Georgia Elizabeth Tennant is an English actress and producer. She played Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon's daughter Abigail in The Bill, Jenny in the Doctor Who episode "The Doctor's Daughter" and Lady Vivian in the show Merlin.
Ashley Jensen is a Scottish actress. She is best known for her roles as Maggie Jacobs in Extras, Christina McKinney in Ugly Betty (2006–2010), Agatha Raisin in Agatha Raisin (2014–present), and DI Ruth Calder in Shetland (2023–present).
Alison Steadman is an English actress. She received the 1977 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for Abigail's Party, the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film Life Is Sweet and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Mari in the original production of The Rise and Fall of Little Voice. In a 2007 Channel 4 poll, the '50 Greatest Actors' voted for by other actors, she was ranked 42.
Mary Wimbush was an English actress whose career spanned sixty years.
Rosemary Anne Leach was a British stage, television and film actress. She won the 1982 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a New Play for 84, Charing Cross Road and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her roles in the films That'll Be the Day (1973) and A Room with a View (1985).
Beverly Bayne was an American actress who appeared in silent films beginning in 1910 in Chicago, Illinois, where she worked for Essanay Studios.
Helen Mack was an American actress. She started her career as a child actress in silent films, moving to Broadway plays and touring one of the vaudeville circuits. Her greater success as an actress was as a leading lady in the 1930s. She made the transition to performing on radio and then into writing, directing, and producing shows during the Golden Age of Radio. She later wrote for Broadway, stage and television. Her career spanned the infancy of the motion picture industry, the beginnings of Broadway, the final days of vaudeville, the transition to sound movies, the Golden Age of Radio, and the rise of television.
Julia Hills is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Rona in all eight series of the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children. She also portrayed various roles in Channel 4's first late night satirical sketch show Who Dares Wins, Beryl in two series of the sitcom Dad and Caroline Joyner in Casualty.
Betty Violet Marie Baskcomb was a British actress who appeared in roles for theatre, film, television and radio productions. She was born in London in 1914 and made her stage debut as a stooge opposite her father, the comedian A.W. Baskcomb, in 1931. Her screen debut was in the Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). Hitchcock insisted she played a part in the remake, and she was flown over to Hollywood for the role, although she was uncredited in both versions. On the radio, she was a member of the BBC Drama Repertory Company from the 1940s through to the 1970s. In 1956 she appeared on stage in Ring For Catty at the Lyric Theatre in London.
Clare Perkins is an English actress, known for her roles as Denise Boulter in Family Affairs and Ava Hartman in EastEnders.
