Sir Ian Murray McKellen is an English actor. With a career spanning more than sixty years, he is noted for his roles on the screen and stage in genres ranging from Shakespearean dramas and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. He is regarded as a British cultural icon and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1991. He has received numerous accolades, including a Tony Award, six Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and five Emmy Awards.
Paul John McGann is an English actor. He came to prominence for portraying Percy Toplis in the television serial The Monocled Mutineer (1986), then starred in the dark comedy Withnail and I (1987), which was a critical success and developed a cult following. McGann later became more widely known for portraying the eighth incarnation of the Doctor in the 1996 television film Doctor Who, and its audio drama continuations. He is also known for playing Lieutenant William Bush in the TV series Hornblower (1998–2003).
Colin Charles Baker is an English actor. He played Paul Merroney in the BBC television drama series The Brothers from 1974 to 1976 and the sixth incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1984 to 1986. Baker's tenure as the Doctor proved to be a controversial era for the series, which included a hiatus in production and his subsequent replacement on the orders of BBC executives. His performances as the Sixth Doctor in audio plays published by Big Finish Productions have been generally well received by fans.
Sir Derek George Jacobi is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.
Dervla Kirwan is an Irish actress. She has received a number of accolades, including two IFTA Awards for her performances in the film Ondine (2009) and the RTÉ thriller series Smother (2021–2023) respectively.
Roger William Allam is a British actor who has performed on stage, in film, on television and radio.
Frances J. de Lautour, better known as Frances de la Tour, is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom Rising Damp from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and three-time Olivier Award winner.
William Charles Anthony Gaunt is an English actor. He became widely known for television roles such as Richard Barrett in The Champions (1968–1969), Arthur Crabtree in No Place Like Home (1983–87) and Andrew Prentice in Next of Kin (1995–97). He has had many other roles on television and also an extensive stage career as an actor and director, including performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Caroline Frances John was an English actress. She played classical roles on the stage as well as several television roles. She is best known for playing Elizabeth "Liz" Shaw in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who
Matthew Waterhouse is an English actor and writer, best known for his role as Adric in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who from 1980 to 1982.
Trevor Gordon Martin was a British stage and film actor known for playing popular British characters.
Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King, known professionally as Jonathan "Nash" Hyde, is an Australian actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the comedy film Richie Rich (1994), Samuel Parrish and Van Pelt in the fantasy adventure film Jumanji (1995), J. Bruce Ismay in the epic romantic film Titanic (1997), Culverton Smith in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Warren Westridge in creature feature film Anaconda (1997), Dr. Allen Chamberlain in the adventure horror film The Mummy (1999), and Eldritch Palmer in the FX TV series The Strain. Although an Australian citizen, he has mostly lived in the United Kingdom since 1969, after his family left Australia.
Simon Gipps-Kent was an English theatre and film actor in the 1970s and 1980s, known for his teenage portrayals of British royalty and nobility. He was born into a show business family in Kensington, London. His television debut was on the BBC in 1971 followed with a London West End theatre debut in 1972. He continued to act on stage, film and television until the year before his death in 1987.
Julian Harries is a British actor and playwright.
Robert Leadam Eddison, OBE was an English actor, who despite his lengthy career as a classical stage actor, is probably most widely remembered in the role of the Grail Knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He also played Merlin in the BBC television series The Legend of King Arthur, and the tragic ferryman in The Storyteller episode "The Luck Child".
The Hobbit is a series of three fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. The films are subtitled An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). The films are based on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, but much of the trilogy was inspired by the appendices to his 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings, which expand on the story told in The Hobbit. Additional material and new characters were created specially for the films. The series is a prequel to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
Dominic Mafham is an English stage, film and television actor. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
David Weston is an English actor, director and author. Since graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1961 he has acted in numerous film, television and stage productions, including twenty-seven Shakespeare plays and prominent guest roles in two Doctor Who serials. With Michael Croft, he was a founder member of the National Youth Theatre. Much of his directing work has been for that organisation; he has directed also at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre and a number of other theatres in London. He wrote and narrated a series of non-fiction audio books, including Shakespeare His Life and Work, which won the 2001 Benjamin Franklin Award for best audio non-fiction book.
The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot is a 2013 comedy spoof and homage to the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. It appeared on the BBC Red Button service after the broadcast of "The Day of the Doctor", the official 50th anniversary special. The programme was written and directed by Peter Davison, who stars alongside fellow former Doctor actors Sylvester McCoy, Colin Baker and Paul McGann. It features appearances from then-stars of the show Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman as well as former stars David Tennant and John Barrowman. Additionally, then-Doctor Who executive producer Steven Moffat, his predecessor Russell T Davies and numerous others connected to the programme all appear as themselves in a more or less parodic manner.
The Dresser is a 2015 British television drama film directed by Richard Eyre and based on the 1980 play by Ronald Harwood. It stars Ian McKellen, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Watson, Vanessa Kirby, Sarah Lancashire and Edward Fox. The story examines the relationship between an aging Shakespearean actor and his theatrical dresser, as well as the other members of his theatrical company, as he grapples with the approach of senility and irrelevance. Like the play which serves as its basis, the film's central relationship draws inspiration from Shakespeare's King Lear. The film premiered on BBC Two on 31 October 2015.
