Dame Margaret Natalie Smith is an English actress. Known for her wit in comedic roles, she has had an extensive career on stage and screen over seven decades and is one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses. She has received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, four Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award, making her one of the few performers to earn the Triple Crown of Acting.
Samantha Jane Bond is an English actress. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. On television, she played "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She also originated the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. She is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Carnival Film & Television Limited, trading as Carnival Films, is a British production company based in London, UK, founded in 1978. It has produced television series for all the major UK networks including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Sky, as well as international broadcasters including PBS, A&E, HBO and NBC. Productions include single dramas, long-running television dramas, feature films, and stage productions.
A cook or private chef is a household staff member responsible for food preparation.
Susan Pammenter OBE, better known by her stage name Sue Johnston, is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera Brookside (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family (1998–2012), Grace Foley in the BBC drama Waking the Dead (2000–2011), Gloria Price in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street (2012–2014) and Miss Denker in the ITV drama Downton Abbey (2014–2015). She won the 2000 British Comedy Award for Best TV Comedy Actress and was nominated for the 2000 BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Performance for The Royle Family.
Lesley Sharp is an English stage, film, and television actress whose roles on British television include Clocking Off (2000–2001), Bob & Rose (2001) and Afterlife (2005–2006). She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1997 film The Full Monty. Her other film appearances include Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1986), Naked (1993), Priest (1994), From Hell (2001), and Vera Drake (2004). Between 2011 and 2016, she starred as DC Janet Scott in the ITV drama Scott & Bailey.
Phyllis Logan is a Scottish actress, widely known for her roles as Lady Jane Felsham in Lovejoy (1986–1993) and Mrs Hughes in Downton Abbey (2010–2015). She won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for the 1983 film Another Time, Another Place. Her other film appearances include Secrets & Lies (1996), Shooting Fish (1997), Downton Abbey (2019) and Misbehaviour (2020).
Michelle Suzanne Dockery is an English actress. She is best known for starring as Lady Mary Crawley in the ITV television period drama series Downton Abbey (2010–2015), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She reprised her role in the films Downton Abbey (2019) and Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022).
Joanne Froggatt is a British actress. From 2010 to 2015, she portrayed Anna Bates in the ITV period drama series Downton Abbey, for which she received three Emmy nominations and won the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. From 2017 to 2020, she starred as Laura Nielson in the ITV/Sundance drama series Liar.
Siobhan Margaret Finneran is an English actress. She made her screen debut in the 1987 independent film Rita, Sue and Bob Too, and subsequently worked consistently in television drama including roles in Coronation Street (1989–1990), Clocking Off (2000–2002) and The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006). In 2005, Finneran originated the lead female role in the stage play On the Shore of the Wide World and was awarded the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Also a comedy performer, Finneran appeared as Janice Garvey, a leading character in the first seven series of ITV sitcom Benidorm (2007–2015).
Mark Mueller is an American songwriter. A two-time winner of the ASCAP Pop Award for writing one of the Most Performed Songs of the year, he has had three Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten singles and one #1 Adult Contemporary hit. He co-wrote #1 hits "Crush" by Jennifer Paige and "That's What Love Is For" by Amy Grant and wrote both words and music for the Top 10 hit "Nothin' At All" by Heart. Songs he has written have been featured on RIAA-certified gold and platinum records in four consecutive decades: the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; and on the Billboard Top 10 charts for 30 years.
Jeremy Paul Swift is an English actor. He studied drama at Guildford School of Acting from 1978 to 1981 and worked almost exclusively in theatre throughout the 1980s, working with companies such as Deborah Warner's Kick Theatre company and comedy performance-art group The People Show. During this period he also appeared in numerous television commercials. In the 1990s, he acted at the National Theatre alongside David Tennant and Richard Wilson in Phyllida Lloyd's production of What the Butler Saw.
Downton Abbey is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United States on PBS, which supported its production as part of its Masterpiece Classic anthology, on 9 January 2011. The show ran for six series and fifty-two episodes, including five Christmas specials.
Sophie McShera is an English actress known for her roles as Ros McCain in the fifth series of the BBC television series Waterloo Road, as Daisy Mason in the ITV television series Downton Abbey, and as Drizella Tremaine in the 2015 Disney film Cinderella.
Rose Eleanor Arbuthnot-Leslie is a Scottish actress. She is known for her roles as Gwen Dawson in the ITV drama series Downton Abbey and Ygritte in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, as well as playing Maia Rindell in three seasons of the CBS All Access legal and political drama The Good Fight and starring as Clare Abshire in HBO's The Time Traveler's Wife.
Thomas Cullen is a Welsh actor and director. He had roles in the independent film Weekend (2011), as Anthony Foyle, Viscount Gillingham in the television series Downton Abbey, and as Sir Landry in the historical drama series Knightfall. He also appeared in another historical drama playing the role of Thomas Seymour in Becoming Elizabeth.
Cara Louise Theobold is an English actress. She made her debut as Ivy Stuart in the ITV period drama Downton Abbey (2012–2013). She has since starred in the BBC series The Syndicate and Together, the E4 comedy Crazyhead (2016), and the Amazon Prime thriller Absentia (2017–2020).
Beecham House is a short-lived British historical drama television series set in 1795, co-created, directed and produced by Gurinder Chadha. The six-part series was announced in August 2018 and was broadcast between Sunday 23 June 2019 and Sunday 21 July 2019. The series, set in Delhi during the Mughal period, depicts the lives of the Beecham family in their newly bought house. The family is headed by John Beecham, a former soldier with the East India Company who is "determined to make the house his safe haven".
Bessie Beatrice Carter is an English actress. She is known for her role as Evie Wilcox on the BBC television series Howards End (2017) and Violet Woodhouse on the ITV television series Beecham House (2019). She most recently starred in the 2024 National Theatre revival of Dear Octopus.
