In the French courts during the 17th Century, ballet first begins to flourish with the help of several important men: King Louis XIV, Jean Baptiste Lully, Pierre Beauchamps, and Molière. The combination of different talents and passions of these four men shaped ballet to what it is today.

Louis XIV, the King of France from 1643 to 1715, was a ballet enthusiast from a young age. He was strongly supported and encouraged by the court to take part in the ballets. However it was not until his teenage years when he made his debut starring role as Apollo, the sun god, in The Ballet of the Night or in French, Le Ballet de la Nuit, that his influence on the art form and its influence on him became apparent. His fancy golden costume was not soon forgotten, and his famous performance led to his nickname, the Sun King. His debuting role was the start of many similar roles that made audiences wonder at the glory of King Louis XIV and his absolute authority both on and off the dance floor. The ballets that young King Louis performed in were not as strenuous as the ballet that is familiar today. The form of entertainment was actually called ballets d’entrées. This refers to the small divisions, or “entries,” that the ballets were broken up into. For example, Le Ballet de la Nuit, comprised over forty of such entries.

Sylvie Guillem CBE (born 23 February 1965 in Paris) is a French ballet dancer. She was the top-ranking female dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet from 1984 to 1989, before becoming a principal guest artist with the Royal Ballet in London. She is currently performing contemporary dance as an Associate Artist of London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. Her most notable performances have included those in Giselle and in Rudolf Nureyev's stagings of Swan Lake and Don Quixote.

Sylvie Guillem was born on the 23 February 1965 in Paris, France. As a child, she trained in gymnastics under the instruction of her mother, a gymnastics teacher. In 1977 at age 11, she began training at the Paris Opera Ballet School where Claude Bessy, then director of the school, immediately noticed her exceptional capacities and potential, and in 1981 at age 16, she joined the company's corps de ballet.

In 1983 Guillem won the gold medal at the Varna International Ballet Competition, which later in the year earned her her first solo role, dancing the Queen of the Driads in Rudolf Nureyev's staging of Don Quixote. In December 1984, after her performance in Nureyev's Swan Lake, she became the Paris Opera Ballet's youngest-ever étoile, the company's top-ranking female dancer. In 1987 she performed the lead role in William Forsythe's contemporary ballet In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated. In 1988 she was given the title role in a production of Giselle staged by the Royal Ballet to celebrate Nureyev's 50th birthday. Her performance was a success, and in the following year she left Paris for London, to become a freelance performer and one of the Royal Ballet's principal guest artists. Her desire to work independently from a company gained her the nickname Mademoiselle Non.

Darcey Andrea Bussell CBE (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pembleton Crittle on 27 April 1969 in London) is a retired English ballerina. Trained at the Arts Educational School and the Royal Ballet School, she was later employed by the Royal Ballet, where she was promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer and would become recognised as one of the greatest English ballerinas of all time. She has performed as a guest artist with leading international ballet companies and, since retiring from professional ballet in 2007, has continued to be active in the world of dance. She has performed with Katherine Jenkins in the show Viva La Diva, appeared as guest judge on the BBC television show Strictly Come Dancing in 2009, and authored a series of dance books for children. Darcey will be replacing Alesha Dixon on the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel for the 2012 series.

Darcey Bussell was born to businessman John Crittle and his English wife Andrea. After the couple divorced when Darcey was three, her mother remarried and Darcey was adopted by her mother's new husband, Australian dentist Philip Bussell. The family spent some time in Australia, where Darcey attended school before they returned to London for Darcey to be educated at the Fox Primary School.

Sir Anthony James Dowell, CBE (born 16 February 1943 in London, United Kingdom) is a retired English danseur and former Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet. He studied at the Hampshire School and The Royal Ballet Schools, before joining the Royal Ballet in 1961. He was ultimately promoted to the most senior rank of Principal Dancer, and is recognised as one of the companies star dancers of the 1970s and early 80s. He is most noted for the role of Oberon in The Dream by Sir Frederick Ashton and for his filmed performance as Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake with Natalia Makarova in 1980. He also formed a famous partnership with dancer Antoinette Sibley. After retiring as a principal dancer, in 1984 he was appointed Assistant to the Director of the Royal Ballet, being promoted to Associate Director in 1985. He was appointed as artistic director of the Royal Ballet in 1986, and held the position until 2001 when he officially retired. He continues to be active in the dance industry as a guest teacher and lecturer. He is a Governor of the Royal Ballet School and is also a member of organisations such as the Royal Academy of Dance and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

The Vicar of Dibley is a British sitcom created by Richard Curtis and written for its lead actress, Dawn French, by Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer, with contributions from Kit Hesketh-Harvey. It aired from 1994 to 2007. The Vicar of Dibley is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes in the Church of England that permitted the ordination of women. The main character was an invention of Richard Curtis, but he and Dawn French extensively consulted the Rev. Joy Carroll, one of the first female priests, and garnered many character traits and much information.

In ratings terms, the programme is among the most successful in the digital era, with the various Christmas and New Year specials in 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 all entering the top 10 programmes of the year.The Vicar of Dibley received multiple British Comedy Awards, two International Emmys, and was a multiple British Academy Television Awards nominee. In 2004, it placed third in Britain's Best Sitcom.