Martin Shaw

Martin Shaw (born 21 January 1945) is an English actor. He is known for his roles in the television series The Professionals, The Chief, Judge John Deed and Inspector George Gently. He has also acted on stage and in film, and has narrated numerous audiobooks and presented various television series, including the 2006 series Martin Shaw: Aviators.

Early life

Shaw was born in Birmingham. His childhood was spent in Erdington and then Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham. According to him, his first stage appearance was at age three, during an amateur show in which his parents were performing.

Shaw attended Great Barr School, where he excelled in English literature and drama lessons. At sixteen, he was offered a scholarship to a Birmingham drama school. Declining the scholarship, he left school and, on the advice of his parents, he sought employment. One job was in the office of a brass foundry.

In his youth, Shaw was involved in a drunken brawl with a friend, suffering broken teeth, injuries to his face and a fractured skull. A mid-face fracture involving the right cheekbone required surgical rebuilding.

Rick Warden

Richard George Warden (born 29 September 1971) is an English television and movie actor.

Warden studied at Dr Challoner's Grammar School and received a B.A. Honours in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, 1994. He married actress Lucy Barker on 1 May 2004.

He is probably best known for his appearances in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers as 1st Lt. Harry Welsh, the BBC docudrama Dunkirk as Major Phillip Newman RAMC, and the HBO/BBC2 historical drama, Rome, as Quintus Valerius Pompey. He also appeared in Evol (2006) (with his wife) and in the film adaptation of Bravo Two Zero. He performed in the BBC serial production, Apparitions, as the character Michael, who is possessed by a demon. He played Mike Taylor, a police inspector, in the 2014 crime drama Happy Valley.

He also appears in the Chemical Brothers music video Hey Boy Hey Girl.

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Siobhan Finneran

Siobhan Margaret Finneran (born 2 January 1966) is an English television and film actress. She is known for her regular roles in the BBC drama Clocking Off (2000-2002), ITV comedy Benidorm (2007-2015), ITV drama Downton Abbey (2010-2013) and BBC drama Happy Valley (2014). She also starred as Rita in the 1986 film, Rita, Sue and Bob Too and as Mrs. Swift in the 2013 film, The Selfish Giant.

Career

Finneran's first major role was as Rita in the 1986 film, Rita, Sue and Bob Too opposite Michelle Holmes and George Costigan. She went on to appear in the British soap operas Coronation Street (1989) and Emmerdale (1998). Since 2007, she has played Janice in ITV's comedy drama Benidorm, appearing in all 6 series and both specials. She was also a regular cast member of period drama series Downton Abbey, appearing as Miss O'Brien from 2010-2013. Since leaving Downton Abbey, she has had regular roles in The Syndicate (2013) and Happy Valley (2014). For her role as Mrs. Swift in the film The Selfish Giant (2013), she was nominated for a British Independent Film Award.

John Shrapnel

John Shrapnel (born April 27, 1942) is an English actor.

Early life

Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards) and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel.

Education

Shrapnel was educated at the City of London School, an independent school for boys in the City of London, and Mile End School, Stockport, where he was first involved in acting as a member of the school Drama Society, followed by St Catharine's College at the University of Cambridge, where he obtained an M.A..

Life and career

As a stage actor, Shrapnel was a member of Laurence Olivier's National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company and most recently appeared as Sir Oliver Surface in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre in 2011.

Shrapnel has also appeared extensively on television in roles in Elizabeth R, Z-Cars, Edward and Mrs. Simpson, Space: 1999, Inspector Morse, Coogan's Run and Foyle's War. He presented an episode of the 1983 BBC television travel series Great Little Railways. He gave performances in three entries in the BBC Television Shakespeare plays and as Creon in the BBC's productions of the Three Theban plays (1986) of Sophocles. He also played Pompey in the second episode of Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire and the Jail Warden in The 10th Kingdom, an epic fantasy miniseries.

Apparitions (TV series)

Apparitions is a BBC drama about Father Jacob Myers, a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, played by Martin Shaw, who examines evidence of miracles to be used in canonisation but also performs exorcisms. As he learns, Jacob's duties run deeper than just sending demons back to Hell; he later must prevent them all from escaping.

Unlike most portrayals of exorcism and spirit possession in fiction, Apparitions is more religiously accurate and fact-based, incorporating the nature of demonic possession as described by the Church. It also recounts historical events associated with Christianity and other Abrahamic religions, which may have been caused by (or directly influenced) Heaven or Hell, indicating that the War described in the Bible may not have fully concluded.

The series is written by Joe Ahearne.

Episodes

Episode 1

In Rome, a meeting is being held at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Father Jacob, a London priest and investigator of miracles for the Congregation, has presented a case that may lead to Mother Teresa's canonization: Vimal, a young man who is currently training to enter the priesthood, was cured of leperosy (without antibiotics) after praying to Mother Teresa.