Sharon Duce

Sharon Duce: 

An acclaimed stage actress, but best known to TV audiences for a string of roles in series through the 1980s including 'Big Deal', 'The Hard Word', 'Funny Man' and 'Coming Home' starred with Duggie Brown in both 'The Hard Word' in 1983 and Shelagh Delaney's  'The House That Jack Built'. Earlier work saw her establishing a precedent of attractive, but serious young women characters - a doubtless uphill struggle in the aftermath of the dolly-bird era. She played a WPC in 'Z Cars', and was Terry's old flame in the memorable 'Minder' episode where he thinks he has a long-lost son.     

As Lu in Shelagh Delaney's 1977 drama series 'The House That Jack Built'

As Jan Oliver in 'Big Deal' 

The 1990s and 2000s saw her appear in the most popular primetime fodder of the day: 'Peak Practice', 'Boon', 'Holby City' etc, and crime dramas such as 'Dalziel & Pascoe' and  'Wycliffe'.   

Enjoying Christmas with the 'Royle Family' in 2000. 

More recently there have been forays into the world of soaps, with featured roles in 'Coronation Street' and 'Emmerdale', and of course the ever-present 'Midsomer Murders' and the likes of 'Casualty', 'London's Burning', 'The Bill' and 'Doctors'.     

As the self-reliant Hermione Hepworth in 'In Loving Memory'

Television comedy has included 'In Loving Memory', 'Singles' and the much loved 'Royle Family At Christmas', while sporadic feature film appearances were in 'Outland' (1981), 'Funny Man' (1981), 'Rogue Trader' (1999) and Conviction' (2004).  
    
Sharon Duce - imdb

Ray Brooks

Ray Brooks:

'As if by magic, the shop keeper appeared.'

Possibly the great tragedy of Ray Brooks's career is our impermeable national affection for the kids' TV classic 'Mr Benn', a short 1971 series of five-minute illustrated stories about a nice ordinary man who tries on fancy dress costumes and has surprising adventures. Despite Mr Brooks's good looks and mellifluous voice, he seems to have been excluded from the meatiest dramatic roles by the resonances of Festive Road. 

Perhaps not. He was solid, rather than outstanding, in a decent run of '60s TV cult faves, from 'The Power Game' and 'Emergency Ward 10' to 'Danger Man', 'The Avengers', a nice episode of 'Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)' in which he appeared as a bogus Marty Hopkirk, and as Reg in the groundbreaking Wednesday Play 'Cathy Come Home'. He also played shady young nightclub impressario Norman Phillips in 'Coronation Street' in a couple of 1963/64 beat-boom storylines. He hit the cinema screen in Michael Winner's 'Play It Cool' (1962) with Billy Fury, before graduating to oddball mod lothario Tolen in 'The Knack... And How To Get It' (1965) and Peter Cushing's dynamic assistant in 'Daleks Invasion Earth 2125' (1966).  

"The Knack… and How To Get It' (1965)

For whatever reason, the '70s and '80s seem a bit bare in comparison. He appears in 'Carry On Abroad' (1972), and the Brit schlockers 'The Flesh & Blood Show' and 'The House Of Whipcord' (1974), and on TV in a few shows of the 'Softly Softly' calibre, before lending his voiceover talents to the sub-Mr Benn antics of fairytale half-wit 'King Rollo'. In 1984 came 'Big Deal', and a starring role as seedy gambler Robbie Box, in which he finally threw off the Mr Benn millstone, but largely failed to capture the public's affection. Since then, not much. A long stint in 'EastEnders' as Pauline Fowler's love interest, Joe, ended badly when he caused her death by hitting her with a frying pan. He later fell out of a window after a fatal showdown with Dot Cotton… 

I imagine he kept the frying pan. To help him remember.                          

Ray Brooks - imdb profile