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Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British military, his family moved around a lot. Their mother loved the going to the movies and instilled a love of cinema in her children. At age 16, Tony made his first appearance on screen as 'the boy' in his brother's directorial debut, the short film Boy and Bicycle (1965). In 1969, Tony directed his own short film One of the Missing (1969) about a soldier in the American civil war.

Tony had a talent for art and painting. He spent a year in Leeds College of Art and Design and went on to study for a fine arts degree at the School of Art at the University of Sunderland. He won a scholarship to study for his Masters of fine arts at the Royal College of Art. Following university, he spent several years as a painter. But life as a painter proved a struggle, so he decided to forge a different career path and partnered with Ridley in advertising at Ridley Scott Associates. It was there that he began shooting commercials. In 1971 he wrote, produced and directed Loving Memory however his vampire movie The Hunger (1983) starring Susan Sarandon, David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve wasn't a critical success but it attracted attention from Hollywood. He was asked by producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to direct Top Gun (1986) starring Tom Cruise. He would work again with Cruise on another high adrenaline film Days of Thunder (1990), which proved less successful. He followed the success of Top Gun with the sequel Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) with Eddie Murphy, which was well received.

In 1993, he directed True Romance (1993), which was written by emerging director Quentin Tarantino. Scott had a lot of control over the film and received some great reviews.

Tony has worked five times with actor Denzel Washington with Crimson Tide (1995), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Deja Vu (2006), Man on Fire (2004) and Scott's final film in the director's chair Unstoppable (2010).

Tony Scott passed away at age 68 on August 19, 2012 in California, USA.

Katy Cavanagh-Jupe is an English actress and writer who trained at RADA in London and has appeared regularly on British television since 1997. Her breakout role was Mel in the award-winning series The Cops from 1998 to 2001. In 2004, she had a regular role as Sergeant Dawn "Spike" Milligan in the television series Dalziel and Pascoe. Then in 2008, she joined the ITV soap opera Coronation Street to create the irrepressible Julie Carp. After 7 years on the show (and 3 kids later), Katy decided to explore other creative avenues. She has since appeared in a wide variety of film, TV and theatre, as well as forging a path as a screenwriter, with her first short film in post production and several feature and TV projects in development.

Prendergast was born in North Shields, educated at Collingwood School, Oswin terrace North Shields, Norham High and Tynemouth Sixth Form College and trained at Bretton Hall College (BA Hons). Predergast's first play Potter's Wheel, written when a student, won five awards at the 1980 National Student Drama Festival including Best New Play and was subsequently presented at the Old Vic as part of an NSDF showcase season. He is married to Niki Winterson (of Wintersons Talent Management) and has a stepson Domenic and a daughter, Molly. They live in London.

He was an actor and playwright in residence for Northumberland Theatre Company before joining the BBC Radio Drama Company, and subsequently became a founder member of Kenneth Branagh's newly formed Renaissance Theatre Company. Awards include a Sony Award, a Writers Guild Award and a Time Out Award.

Christmas of 2010 saw Shaun play the role of Sarah the Cook in the pantomime Dick Whittington at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, directed by Steve Marmion.

Dennis Kirkland was one of Britain's top television comedy producers and directors and best-known for his long association with Benny Hill. He worked with Hill for more than 18 years, first as a floor manager, then as a director and producer. He was, finally, Hill's best friend and confidant and wrote a revealing memoir of the comedian.

Born in North Shields, Northumberland, he originally wanted to become an actor but decided to go into television and worked initially as a props man at Tyne Tees Television. Later, he worked at the Royal Opera House and the Windmill Theatre in London, before joining ATV as a floor manager.

He joined Thames TV as a floor manager in 1968 and quickly worked his way up from children's programmes to become a leading comedy director and producer. He took over the reins of the Benny Hill Show in the eighties when the comedian was at the height of his creative powers. Hill's saucy seaside humour and cleverly written sketches made the show an international hit. The series was screened in more than 100 countries and by 1985 not a single day passed without The Benny Hill Show being screened somewhere in America.

In 1988, however, the Broadcasting Standards Council denounced the show as being "increasingly offensive" and the following year Hill was called into the office of Thames TV's new head of light entertainment, John Howard Davies, and sacked. Whatever the reason, the board of Thames TV was unaware of the decision and attempted to entice Hill back. Kirkland was furious and persuaded Hill to go to Central TV to make a new series of programmes.

Sadly, this was never to materialise. During the Easter weekend of 1992, Hill died alone at his flat near Teddington Studios. He was found two days later by Kirkland. On the day that Hill died there was a contract in the post to him from Central TV.

Kirkland remained bitter towards Thames TV, not least because the company went on to make a fortune through their archive sales of Hill's show. He continued working in television both in the UK and Ireland until ill health forced him to retire in 2005.

Ryan Molloy was born in 1976 in North Shields, Northumberland, England, UK. He is an actor, known for Jerry Springer: The Opera (2005), Blonde. Purple (2021) and Everybody Knows My Name (2011).

Tom Hadaway was born on 18 March 1923 in North Shields, Northumberland, England, UK. He was a writer and actor, known for In Fading Light (1990), When the Boat Comes In (1976) and Second City Firsts (1973). He was married to Barbara. He died on 3 March 2005 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

Rod Clements was born on 17 November 1947 in North Shields, Northumberland, England, UK.