Kay Mellor, OBE (born Kay Daniel in 1951) is an English actress, scriptwriter, and director best known for her work on several successful television drama series.

Mellor was born in Leeds, Yorkshire to a Catholic father and a Jewish mother. She attended Bretton Hall College at the University of Leeds and graduated in 1983. She still lives in Leeds and has been married to her husband Anthony since 1967. She has two daughters: actress Gaynor Faye and television producer Yvonne Francas.

As a writer, she began working for Granada Television in the 1980s, writing for their hugely popular soap opera Coronation Street, the most watched programme on the ITV network. In 1989 Mellor also wrote seven episodes for the popular Channel 4 soap Brookside.

She also wrote for the anthology drama series Dramarama, before in 1988 co-creating the long-running children's drama Children's Ward with her Coronation Street colleague Paul Abbott. She also created the soap opera Families, which aired from 1990 until 1993.

Billie Paul Piper (born Lianne Piper, 22 September 1982, in Swindon, Wiltshire) is an English singer and actress.

She began her career in the late 1990s as a pop singer and then switched to acting. She started in acting and dancing and was talent spotted at the Sylvia Young stage school by Smash Hits magazine who wanted a "face" for their magazine. A recording contract was the route given to her. She later decided to retire from singing and refocus on her original ambition, acting. Her most famous role is as Rose Tyler, companion to the Doctor, in the television series Doctor Who from 2005 to 2006, a role she reprised in 2008 and 2010. In 2007, Broadcast magazine listed Piper at no. 6 in its "Hot 100" list of influential on-screen performers, the top woman on the list. From 2007 until 2011, she starred as the high-flying escort Belle de Jour in the TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

When she was selected to appear on the Saturday morning children's television show Scratchy & Co. Piper later landed a role in a television commercial promoting the pop magazine Smash Hits. Piper was offered a record deal at the age of 15, and in 1998 became the youngest artist ever to debut at number one in the UK singles chart with "Because We Want To", released under the stage mononym "Billie". Her follow-up single "Girlfriend" also debuted at number one.

The Inspector is a series of 1960s theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The titular character is based on Jacques Clouseau, a comical French police officer who is the main character in the Pink Panther series of films.

Although the titular character was never given a name, in contrast to the completely inept Inspector Clouseau, the cartoon character was generally competent, if prone to moments of bad judgement. Humor came from the sometimes surreal villains and situations the Inspector was exposed to, with a healthy dose of stylized cartoon slapstick. Through these difficult circumstances, criminals often get the better of him and he must face the wrath of his ill-tempered, bullying Commissioner (based on Herbert Lom's Commissioner Dreyfus) who holds him in well-deserved contempt.

Pat Harrington, Jr., provided the voice (and voiceover narration) for the Inspector and, with the exception of one cartoon, his assistant, a Spanish gendarme named Deux-Deux (common nickname in French for Eduard or Eduardo). In Spain, the character was named "Totó", and in the Mexican dubbing, Dodó. The name in the English version of the cartoon sounds like Ju-Du. The frustrated Commissioner was voiced by Larry Storch in the first two cartoons, Paul Frees in most of the following ones, and Marvin Miller in the final few cartoons. The first entry, The Great DeGaulle Stone Operation, was the short featured before screenings of the James Bond film Thunderball.

Susan "Sue" Johnston, OBE (born, 7 December 1943) is a BAFTA nominated English actress best known for playing Sheila Grant in the long-running soap opera Brookside (1982–90), Grace Foley in Waking the Dead from 2000 to 2011 and Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy The Royle Family from 1998. In 2012, Johnston will appear in soap opera Coronation Street as Gloria Price, the mother of character Stella Price (Michelle Collins).

Johnston was born in Warrington, Cheshire, and grew up in Prescot, Lancashire. She was educated at Whiston Infants School, Eccleston Park Junior School and Prescot and Huyton Grammar School for Girls which she left aged 17 after one year of her A-level course, having decided to become an actress.

After working as a Higher Grade tax inspector, when her boyfriend was one of the pop group the Swinging Blue Jeans, she worked for Brian Epstein. From the age of 21, Johnston attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

From 1982 to 1990, she appeared as Sheila Grant in the soap opera Brookside. She appeared in the show's first ever episode on 2 November 1982 - aired on the day that Channel 4 went on air - and her last episode was aired in September 1990, when the character was written out of the series following her divorce from Bobby Grant (Ricky Tomlinson) and re-marriage to Billy Corkhill (John McArdle).

Theo James (born Theo Taptiklis.; 16 December 1984) is an English actor, known for portraying Jed Harper in Bedlam and Kemal Pamuk in Downton Abbey. In 2012 he recently appeared with Kate Beckinsale in the fourth installment of Underworld: Awakening.

James was born in Oxford. He has a degree in philosophy from the University of Nottingham, and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

Outside his acting career, James is a singer and guitarist with the London-based band Shere Khan.

James made his television debut in A Passionate Woman, starring opposite Billie Piper. He played Turkish diplomat Kemal Pamuk in one episode of Downton Abbey. James starred in Bedlam, playing the lead role of Jed Harper. He will appear in the forthcoming adaptation of John Braine's Room at the Top, playing Jack Wales.

His film credits include You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Red Tails and The Domino Effect. James was cast in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and Red Tails while still in his final year at drama school. His most notable role is of James, an obnoxious night club rep in The Inbetweeners Movie.