John Nettles

From his early beginnings in the UK hit comedy "The Liver Birds" (1969), he became a household name overnight playing the Jersey detective "Jim Bergerac". The series, "Bergerac" (1981), was a huge hit in Britain and was exported to many countries across the world including France, Spain and Greece, gaining him thousands of fans.

His new found fame as Bergerac gave him almost film-star-like fame and fortune, not to mention thousands of female admirers!

Despite "Bergerac" (1981) being mothballed in the early 1990s, the series still has a considerable fan base and lingering popularity abroad, especially in Jersey, where images of John Nettles are still used for advertising tourist attractions and other services on the island.

Nettles' polished Shakesperean performances have won him critical acclaim and many consider him to rival fellow British stalwarts of theatre such as Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen.

Oddly enough, however, he has never really ventured onto the big screen and has seemed happy to stick to stage and television throughout his successful career.

Most recently he has enjoying continued success playing the straightforward DCI Tom Barnaby in ITV's _"Midsomer Murders" (1997). He is on record as wanting to create a TV detective without any of the usual tics, and consequently Tom Barnaby is a happy family man, who just happens to live in the most murderous part of an otherwise stereotypically idyllic English countryside.